The Saudi Arabian league, which relies on billions to attract players, is still buying and selling. Saudi powerhouse Riyadh New Moon Club announced on the 26th that the team has signed 32 year old Chelsea center back Kulibari. It is reported that the transfer fee for Kulibari is 23 million euros, and the two sides have signed a three-year contract with an annual salary of up to 30 million euros. According to Sky Sports, in addition to Kulibari, there are also three Chelsea players who will make it to the Saudi league. This wave of summer window signings is far from over, and players such as Sergio Ramos, Bernardo Silva, and Sun Xingqian have recently received generous offers from Saudi clubs, ushering in new changes in the world of football.
According to CBS, with the support of Saudi Arabia's Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF), the Saudi Arabian League aims to attract 20 elite players out of over 50 signings, thereby enhancing the league's competitiveness and visibility, and attracting wider attention. After signing Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema, Saudi clubs have turned their attention to European giants including Chelsea.
Along with Kulibari, Kant, Mendy, and Ziyeh were also included in the packaged trade. Among them, Kant joined Jeddah United, which owns Benzema. The latter signed a two-year contract with the club, with a one-year renewal option and an annual salary of over 200 million euros. Mendy became a member of Jeddah Nationals for a transfer fee of approximately 18 million euros. The two sides signed a three-year contract with an annual salary of approximately 15 million euros. Ziyeh's transfer fee is about 10 million euros. He will go to Al-Nassr FC to win and join Ronaldo.
On June 8th, Saudi Jeddah and Benzema joined Jeddah to jointly attend a press conference.
In addition, Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers have announced that Ruben Nevis has joined Riyadh Crescent for a transfer fee of 55 million euros, setting a new record for the club. It is reported that the salary offered by Riyadh New Moon to Nevis is about 10 times that of Wolves (with a weekly salary of about 58000 euros).
Sky Sports stated that Saudi Arabia is seeking a path to develop a diversified economy to ensure the country's sustainable financial development in the future. For a country that relies on oil exports, achieving economic structural diversification is a wise move, and they achieve this through PIF. Football is very popular in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi national team defeated the champions Argentina in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.
Saudi Arabia hopes to develop its leisure and entertainment industry around its own football league, and the love of football among its residents is a solid foundation for this strategy. According to statistics, 70% of people in Saudi Arabia who are interested in football are under the age of 40. The Saudi government has seen such football enthusiasm and popular base, and they believe that "instead of letting outsiders use football enthusiasm to make money in Saudi Arabia, it is better for us to form a complete industry ourselves and keep wealth in Saudi Arabia."
Therefore, Saudi officials need to quickly enhance the competitiveness of the league in order to further improve Saudi Arabia's image in world football. Sports and geopolitical expert Chadwick told Al Jazeera's website, "In the next five years, I believe the Saudi league can enter the top five in the world. Of course, there is still a long way to go to achieve this, but at least Saudi Arabia has received attention from the world football community.".
