At the start of 2022, the powers that be in Saudi Arabian football had their eyes fixed on one of the biggest names in European football, a star forward who might be entering his post-prime years but was surely guaranteed to draw attention to the Pro League. Al-Nassr could not so much as get a reply, however, when they asked Arsenal if they could loan Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. And the player himself showed little more interest, keeping his suitors waiting until the final days of the transfer window as he scrabbled in search for any other club that might take him.
Saudi Arabian football was not being taken seriously. More than $850 million later, it certainly is. One wonders now how different the global landscape of world football might be if Cristiano Ronaldo had not torched his standing at Manchester United and beyond in a dramatic interview with Piers Morgan just before the World Cup in November. In expressing his disrespect for Erik ten Hag, Ronaldo snuffed out what lingering hopes there were for him to continue at the highest level of the European game. Having first registered their interest the previous summer, Al-Nassr swept into action at a time when no one else wanted him.
There had long been ambitions within Saudi Arabia to turn the Pro League into a destination competition. Notable names such as Anderson Talisca and Moussa Marega had been lured to the kingdom, though the bigger names were in the dugout with the likes of Leonardo Jardim and former Brazil boss Mano Menezes briefly sojourning out east. Ronaldo’s arrival was a drop of nitrous on the Saudi motor. Within weeks, financing was being finalized for the billion euro offer to Lionel Messi and the biggest names of the last decade in European club football — Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and N’Golo Kante were among the first targets — had been sounded out. As more and more of those players ultimately signed on the dotted line,…
