The Saudi Professional League has become one of the hotspots in the football sphere where top players abound.
From champions league to world cup winners, the SPL has witnessed the arrival of some top players coming with a pool of experience gathered from some of the biggest clubs in European football.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund has pumped money into the league to attract some of the world’s finest players to the oil-rich country.
One of such big names is Portuguese captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Al-Nassr in late last December. He left his old club, Manchester United on a free transfer after he’d returned for a second spell.
French players, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante both signed for Al-Ittihad.
Former Liverpool midfield duo, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson signed for Al-Ittihad and Al-Ettifaq, respectively, and were joined by another formate Reds, Sadio Mane to Al-Nassr.
It’s reported that the PIF owns 75 per cent majority stake in four clubs in the SPL – Al-Nassr, Al Ahli, Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal.
The biggest transfer in the league, however, is Neymar, from PFremch giant, PSG.
The 31-year-old attacker, who won the treble with Barcelona, and is also Brazil’s joint highest goal scorer with Pele, has had some high and low moments in his former club PSG, as he had to battle with injuries and match fitness issues.
Here, we look at the top 10 most expensive football transfers in the SPL:
- Neymar: €90m (PSG – Al-Hilal)
- Malcom: €60m (Zenit to Al-Hilal)
- Ruben Neves – €55m (Wolves to Al-Hilal)
- Fabinho – €46.7m (Liverpool to Al-Ittihad)
- Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – €42m (Lazio to Al-Hilal)
- Riyad Mahrez – €35m (Man City to Al-Ahli)
- Sadio Mane – €30m (Bayern to Al-Nassr)
- Jota – €29.1m (Celtic to Al-Ittihad)
- Roger Ibanez – €28.5m (Roma to Al-Ahli)
- Allan Saint-Maximin – €27.2m (Newcastle to Al-Ahli)
