Saudi clubs have a new strategy: buy up France’s best young footballers
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<p>Ligue 1 clubs such as Monaco, Rennes, Nantes and Reims need the money – and Saudi Pro clubs are willing buyers</p><p>By <a href="https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/">Get French Football News</a></p><p>Signing Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté brought eyes to the Saudi Pro League but, in their bid to hold that gaze and avoid a repeat of what happened to the Chinese Super League, Saudi clubs have implemented a new strategy and
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Saudi clubs have a new strategy: buy up France’s best young footballers Ligue 1 clubs such as Monaco, Rennes, Nantes and Reims need the money – and Saudi Pro clubs are willing buyers By Get French Football News S igning Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté brought eyes to the Saudi Pro League but, in their bid to hold that gaze and avoid a repeat of what happened to the Chinese Super League, Saudi clubs have implemented a new strategy and targeted a new demographic. Eighteen months ago, the league introduced an extra spot in squads for foreign players, provided they were under the age of 21 when recruited. Saudi clubs honed in on France, where they have found willing sellers and enthusiastic recruits. French football is not a self-sustaining ecosystem. Long dead is the dream of a €1bn broadcast rights deal, announced before last season. In the end, clubs earned less than €500m. This season, with the withdrawal of Dazn and the launch of the league’s own Ligue 1 Plus, broadcasting rights will total around €270m. BeIN Sports are pulling out of their deal to broadcast a game each weekend, so receipts will be even lower next season. The league’s channel is likely to earn just €120m for the 18 top-flight clubs. Alarm bells have sounded and salvation has come in an unfamiliar form. Luckily, France sits on what one recruiter with knowledge of the Saudi market calls the “biggest hotbed of talent in the world”. Developing and selling that talent has become the business model. Premier League clubs pay the highest fees, so tailoring players to sell to that market has become common practice in academies across France. “The only way for French clubs to survive is by selling many more players than we buy,” says Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro. The entry of a new client into the market was described as “positive” by Scuro after Al-Ittihad dug his club out of a hole in the winter. The club needed to make a sale before July or risk Uefa sanctions. The fear was that one o...
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