10 September 2023 , 01:00
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There is an increasingly popular website on which people sell accessories they no longer need. It is named Vinted.
The Saudi Pro League is the Premier League’s Vinted.
For all the talk of the threat from the bottomless pockets of Saudi, did they recruit anyone from the Premier League in the summer transfer window that was actually key to their English club’s plans? No.
When you had waded through the hypocritical nonsense from Jordan Henderson in his extensive interview with The Athletic, the most intriguing snippet of information was that NO-ONE at Liverpool Football Club asked him to stay.
Henderson, 31, was a flagship signing for the Saudis but, going by his word, was not wanted at Anfield. Presumably, the same went for 29-year-old Fabinho, who cost Al Ittihad £40million. Henderson went to Al Ettifaq for £12million.
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Liverpool signed 22-year-old Dominik Szoboszlai for £60million and 24-year-old Alexis Mac Allister, a World Cup winner, for £35million. No wonder Liverpool - for all its principles - had no qualms taking the Saudi dollar. It has heavily subsidised two excellent upgrades.
And there is the fundamental irony. We can talk all we want about the Saudi Pro League being a threat to the Premier League but it actually subsidises the Premier League’s spending. As well as Liverpool, Manchester City took an edge off their net spend by selling Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez - neither automatic starters at the Etihad - to the Saudis.
Liverpool replaced Henderson with the impressive Dominik Szoboszlai (Getty Images)The sales of Edouard Mendy, N’Golo Kante and Kalidou Koulibaly made a dent in Chelsea’s net spend figure. Of course, these are all accomplished players but they are, in the main, Premier League squad players.
And while the Saudis have hit the headlines for spending well over £750million in the window - and for making the odd eye-catching capture, such as Neymar - they failed in an attempt to lure Mohamed Salah that was, for all its gargantuan numbers, spectacularly clumsy.
Wrexham made a huge profit on selling Demarai Gray (Craig Galloway/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)They will have plenty of high-end agents working for them but, don’t forget, this transfer business is still relatively new to the Saudis. And analysing and dealing with this level of playing talent is also relatively new to them.
Make no mistake, if a Premier League club wants to get what it considers to be an expensive dud off its books, the first place they are going to turn to is the Saudi Pro League.
Now, he was not quite a dud but a £10million fee for Demarai Gray is some gift for Everton, who paid £1.7million for the player a couple of years ago. Gray has not been terrible but has hardly set Goodison Park alight.
The Saudis have had to start somewhere and the players they have recruited will clearly improve the standard of their domestic league competition. There is every chance they will send even more money next year and will come back for the likes of Salah.
But there is also every chance that Premier League clubs - especially the elite - will still only sell them accessories they no longer need.