Does Saudi Arabia Threaten English football?

Big spending oil state targets top players.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp caused a commotion recently when he complained that the transfer window for the Saudi Arabian Pro League closes almost three weeks after the Premier League window. This leaves English clubs vulnerable to late raids for key players, causing havoc to their plans after the season has started.

One of Klopp’s own star players Mo Salah is reported to be in talks with Saudi side Al-Ittihad. If he leaves, he’ll follow an Anfield exodus, which has already seen captain Jordan Henderson move to Al-Ettifaq, and Roberto Firmino sign for Al-Ahli.

It’s not just Liverpool who’ve been targeted. Saudi Arabian clubs, with the backing of their government, have begun signing many of European football’s biggest names, including Christian Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, N’Golo Kante and Edouard Mendy.

The oil state has already signalled its intention to become a major player in global sport by setting up the LIV golf series to challenge traditional PGA tournaments. It now hosts major boxing bouts and has also staged a Grand Prix in each of the last three F1 seasons.

So does Saudi Arabia now pose a threat to the dominance of European club football, and especially the Premier League?

It’s a question I put to Charlton Athletic Director Charlie Methven for the latest episode of our podcast, ‘Where’s The Money Gone?’ - available now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

“It's a fascinating question that is exercising an awful lot of people in European football right now. The Saudi Investment Authority has said that they want the Saudi league to become the fifth pre-eminent League in world football - presumably after the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.

“In other words, they're effectively looking to displace the French league as the fifth most relevant league in the world.

“But when it comes to what matters in the hierarchy of TV money, [what matters is] how much of a TV audience a league has, because you can have quite significant players without that necessarily driving appetite for that league.

“Quite a lot of us saw Lionel Messi score a wonderful goal for Miami the other day on his debut in America.

“Does that then mean that we're all trying to pick up subscriptions to watch the MLS on a weekly basis? Possibly not. It drives continued interest in Messi himself and what he's doing.

“So there's quite a long way to go to get to a place where the the Saudi league is itself sufficiently competitive, with enough depth of players who are interesting on a consistent basis, to get the kind of TV deals which would then take it to the level where it can compete with the main European leagues.

“That’s not to say it won't happen. What if we've learned one thing from the Saudi approach to the golf industry, in particular, but also boxing is that they will be relentless in pursuing this aim.

“If I were the French league, or the German League, I would be a little bit concerned about potentially this league having more star names than my league.

“I think the Premier League is probably safe in its position for quite a long while, because you can have a game which is between Man United on the one hand, and Luton Town on the other hand, and it will almost inevitably be very competitive, very tight, very tough, very exciting.

“It's probably going to be quite a long time before the top two or three Saudi clubs will be able to get a significant level of competition from the Saudi clubs further down. That leaves an awful lot of dead rubbers and boring matches.”

You can listen to the full episode below