They may not have caused as much of a stir as last August when they spent a billion euros, but they are far from being satisfied with European stars and rising talents. The transfer window in Saudi Arabia officially closed last night (local time at midnight), and when the final tally was made, it reached a total of 475,552,415 euros spent on transfer fees. The quota for foreign players was raised from eight to ten (with two bonus spots for players under 21), leading to a significantly increased demand for younger players in the Middle East.Benzema got a French winger and a French coachAs usual, the biggest and wealthiest clubs spent the most (Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ahli), with Al-Qadisiyah, a newcomer to the league, joining them this year. The team, coached by Spanish expert and Real Madrid legend Míchel, spent as much as 80,000,000 on new players! The most important additions to the club from Al-Khobar are Spanish veteran Nacho, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (from Marseille), former Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels, Nahitan Nández, Ezequiel Fernández from Boca (the most expensive signing, close to 19,000,000), Cameron Puertas from Union Saint-Gilloise (15,000,000), Julián Quiñones from Club América (13,800,000), and Gastón Álvarez from Getafe (12,000,000).Another City player moves to Saudi ArabiaAll of this promises quite a bit, at the very least a fight for positions leading to international competitions. The biggest and probably the most high-profile transfer this summer in the Middle East was made by Al-Ittihad, purchasing Moussa Diaby from Aston Villa for 60,000,000. Benzema’s club also brought in Houssem Aouar from Roma, only to pull out at the last minute from signing Brazilian Galeno from Porto (a deal worth 50,000,000 was agreed upon) and turn instead to Steven Bergwijn from Ajax, whom they paid half as much for. Danilo Pereira from Paris Saint-Germain also completed his move yesterday for €5,000,000… Al-Ahli has Riyad Mahrez, Roger Ibañez, Merih Demiral, Franck Kessié, Roberto Firmino, Gabri Veiga, goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, and now they’ve added English center-forward Ivan Toney, paid 42,000,000 to Brentford. Alongside him, they also purchased a 20-year-old Brazilian bonus, Alexandre from Fluminense, for 9,000,000.From @Kafd Towers 💛Our new Star Mohamed Simakan signs his contract ✍️ pic.twitter.com/MOTmXLvtpr— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) September 2, 2024 Champion Al-Hilal, featuring Serbian national team players Aleksandar Mitrović and Sergej Milinković-Savić, whose star player Neymar is still injured, spent nearly 100,000,000. The biggest portion went to Marcos Leonardo (21) from Benfica (40,000,000). João Cancelo also moved to Riyadh (Manchester City received 25,000,000), while Moteb Al-Harbi (24) changed clubs but not cities. His transfer from Al-Shabab to Al-Ahli for nearly 30,000,000 is the largest in history when it comes to domestic players in Saudi Arabia.Beware, the Black Panther is here!Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr seriously strengthened their defense by bringing in Mohamed Simakan (24) from RB Leipzig for 45,000,000. The Frenchman will form a formidable center-back duo with Aymeric Laporte, and they will be backed by a new goalkeeper, who arrived from Brazilian side Atlético Paranaense—Bento (18,000,000). Al-Nassr also invested serious money in two players under the age of 21: Ângelo Gabriel from Chelsea (23,000,000) and Wesley from Corinthians (18,000,000). Among the smaller clubs, ‘big’ names were signed by Al-Fayha (Chris Smalling), Al-Shabab (Daniel Podence), Al-Oruba (Kurt Zouma), Al-Khaleej (Konstantinos Fortounis), Al-Ettifaq (João Costa). That there are still those who resist the lure of Arab millions is confirmed by the cases of Álvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala, both of whom turned down Al-Qadisiyah. Victor Osimhen’s case was somewhat different. It seemed the Nigerian would end up at Al-Ahli, but at the last minute, negotiations with Napoli ‘fell through.’##NAJAVA_MECA_8312799##
