Another big football name is officially a member of the newly formed Saudi circus as of last night.Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino has been promoted as a reinforcement of Al Ahly from Jeddah after several weeks of negotiations and agreements. The former Brazil international arrived as a free agent after the expiry of his contract with Liverpool and signed with Al Ahly until the summer of 2026.We are talking about one of the members of the “big four” of Saudi football, although Al Ahly lags behind the other three giants Al Hilal, Al Nassr and city rival Al Ittihad in terms of popularity. The ‘Fortress’ were state champions only three times, but that’s why they are the record holder in the national cup, having won as many as 13 times. And the King’s Cup in Arabia holds profound gravity. Like everything with the word “king” in its name.##NAJAVA_MECA_7354589##Unlike the mentioned three rivals, Al Ahly throughout history did not bring big names like Donadoni, Stoichkov, Bebeto, Denilson, Kanchelskis… The biggest foreign name in the history of Al Ahly until now was the former Barcelona and Tottenham midfielder Paulinho. Brazilians are by far the most numerous foreign nation to have played at Al Ahly – Firmino is 35th in line.Firmino is Al Ahly’s second big signing this summer. Before him, the Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy arrived at the club from Chelsea in a transfer worth 18,000,000 euros for a contract worth 11,000,000 euros per year. Firmino fared much better financially. In Al Ahly, he will earn as much as 20,000,000 euros per season for the next three years. For example, in Liverpool he had about 5,000,000 euros net per year.The Fortress is safe – Mendy signs with Al-AhlyAlready this summer, after the arrival of Darwin Nunez, it was clear that one of the trademarks of the Klopp era was leaving Anfield Road as part of a major reconstruction. Although he is only 31 years old and last season he had a double-digit goalscoring performance in the Premier League for the first time in four years, it was clear that this is no longer the same Firmino who made the killing trio with Mane and Salah. He had invitations from Italian, Spanish, Turkish and German clubs, but he still decided to spend the last years of his career in Saudi Arabia.A year ago, Al Ahly suffered the heaviest blow in the club’s history when it was relegated to the second division for the first time. They returned expressly to the top tier and are now building a team to match their biggest rivals. After Mendy and Firmino, some more sound reinforcements are expected, and the targets are Riyad Mahrez, Franck Kessie, Stanislav Lobotka…Official: Roberto Firmino resmi gabung Al Ahly on free transfer.Kontrak selama 3 tahun.CF/SS/31/🇧🇷Sejahtera! pic.twitter.com/zuZJ3S4Tvi— Siaran Bola Live (@SiaranBolaLive) July 4, 2023
