Pep Guardiola spoke about the Saudi championship transfer window and warns other European clubs.
The Saudi league continues to splurge on the transfer market. After recruiting several stars from the European championships such as Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kanté, Roberto Firmino, Édouard Mendy and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, it was Riyad Mahrez who gave in to the Saudi sirens by joining Al-Ahli.
“Saudi Arabia has changed the market”
Before the friendly match between Manchester City and Atlético Madrid, Pep Guardiola spoke about the departure of the Algerian international. For him, the Saudi phenomenon is not ephemeral and should continue in the years to come. “Saudi Arabia has changed the market. A few months ago when Cristiano Ronaldo was the only one to leave, no one thought so many top players would play in the Saudi league. (…) In the future, there will be more. That’s why clubs need to be aware of what’s going on. Riyadh received an incredible offer and that’s why we couldn’t help him not to go”explained the Spanish technician.
The next big name to join the Saudi league could be Sadio Mané. Bayern Munich have confirmed that the Senegalese international is currently negotiating with another club, he is very close to joining Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.
