Another day, another high-profile Champions League player being offered a king’s ransom to move to Saudi Arabia. Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have surrendered, N’Golo Kante has signed up too and although Lionel Messi rejected overtures and headed to Inter Miami instead, Sergio Busquets, Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang, and Kylian Mbappe are among others being considered.
While Al-Nassr now have Ronaldo, Al-Ittihad have signed Benzema and Kante, Al- Hilal pursued Messi and want Aubameyang and Mbappe and Al- Shabab, too, are after Aubameyang. Kante has been offered about €100mn (£86mn) per year, Benzema and Ronaldo are being paid about twice that offer, and the sum offered to Messi surpassed even those numbers. Mbappe’s proposed Al-Hilal deal, which with a fine commercial agenda is worth a potential £770mn, something that would be far beyond the generous leveraging facilities that a super club like Real Madrid has to offer.
Meanwhile, Al-Hilal on Wednesday completed the signing of Malcom Filipe Silva from Zenit Saint Petersburg on a four-year deal. The 26-year-old winger had played the past four seasons for the Russian club.
Also Read: Saudi Arabia lures another soccer star as Steven Gerrard agrees to manage Al-Ettifaq
It is worth noting that there is a long-held ambition in Saudi to host the FIFA World Cup, with a potential bid for 2030 being worked on. Reports have claimed talks were held with Egypt and Greece over a joint bid. The country’s leader, Mohammed bin Salman, can see the political gain in playing the hosts after being marginalised by other nations for Saudi Arabia’s actions, most importantly, the bombing of Yemen and restrictions imposed on women’s rights.
Saudi Arabia is attuned to how sport could ameliorate the country’s profile and arouse interest among the youth. The Saudis have a huge football addict base but frequently their eyes wander to the European game, which has made the domestic league a sideshow time and again. In the past, their big- name signings have been over the hill or signings who would not have attracted the same attention in Europe. The country has a young and energetic demographic that can be tapped into and star names will concentrate their minds on domestic matters. The ambition to produce an advanced football structure from top to bottom will be realised too in the process.
Ronaldo, Messi, Benzema and Kante are no more in the prime of their careers but Madrid still didn`t want to let go of Benzema, Barcelona also were keen to bring Messi back and Chelsea have been in continuous talks to extend Kante’s contract.
Regardless of accusations of ‘sportswashing’, Saudi Arabia’s aim is to become a global sporting hub sooner rather than later with growing involvement in international (read European) football and other major events such as Formula One, golf and boxing.
The 2027 Asian Cup is nearly official, there is a never-ending bid for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and there are reports of a World Cup bid coming soon, conceivably along with Egypt and Greece.
Much on the expected lines, Al-Hilal was to hold initial talks with Fayza Lamari, Mbappe’s agent and mother, early this week, according to three people with fair knowledge of the offer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It is likely that the club will have to commit hundreds of millions of dollars more in salary to persuade the 24-year-old, who is regarded as the likely heir to Ronaldo and Messi as the finest player in the world, to bid adieu to Paris for another team in what was most recently ranked as soccer’s 58th strongest domestic league.
Should the deal go through, it would make Mbappe the most expensive player in the history to a great extent, cutting a sorry figure to the $263 million PSG paid for his Brazilian teammate Neymar six years ago.
The official bid was sent to PSG’s chief executive, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, on Saturday. It was signed by Al Hilal’s chief executive, and it confirmed the price the club was prepared to pay and requested permission to discuss salary and the length of a contract with Mbappe. Furthermore, some news outlets reported on Monday that PSG had granted the request.
Let us be honest to ourselves here.
It cannot be guaranteed that Mbappe is even interested in a move. According to the Associated Press, he has refused even to enter into any formal discussions. This is, after all, one of the world’s outstanding forwards, and there is an understandable hesitation to decamp to an uncompetitive league with a small-scale international audience.
Mbappe’s future has been the subject of active speculation since the start of June, when the player informed his club that he intended to see out the final year of his current deal and walk away as a free agent in 2024. PSG, in return, has insisted that it will not contemplate losing such a prized possession for nothing, informing him that he must sign a new contract or face an uncertain future.
Here is one of the world’s greatest footballers essentially trapped by his own successful numbers, much like Messi before him. Of all the world’s top clubs, how many could realistically even afford him? Not Liverpool or Arsenal, not Bayern Munich or Juventus, and barely Madrid, who have already pledged around £860m to the refurbishment of the Bernabeu.
However, on a more serious note, there is a heartbreaking inefficiency within a market that compels its top performers to make a painful decision between accepting a substantial pay cut or facing significant limitations on their ambitions.
And so, in effect, it makes very little difference if Mbappe ultimately decides to move to Al-Hilal or not. The structures and power imbalances that generated his predicament are perfectly capable of generating others.
Wise and sane minds have spent years warning that this was football’s inexorable future. Now is the time. Truly, it is. Inescapable, to say the least.
Disclaimer: The author contributed to this article in her personal capacity. The views expressed are her own and do not necessarily represent the views of the organisation.
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