Rewind 2023: The year when mass exodus of footballers to Saudi Arabia took place
Saudi Arabia shook the world with its spending prowess
2023 was a year when world football witnessed a tectonic shift in power scales. European football, long touted as the fairytale destination for players had its sheen taken off by the rise of Saudi Arabia as potentially, the next powerhouse.
A mass exodus of players took place and some of the biggest names in world football packed their bags to secure a bag in the kingdom. Portuguese superstar and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo was the first to move the needle when he left Europe to join Al-Nassr in March, earlier this year.
With the precedent set, what followed was one of the most eventful summer transfer histories in modern football. The big splurging clubs of Saudi Arabia came calling and footballers playing in the big-five leagues of Europe could not say no to the proposition.
The likes of Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, N'golo Kante and Aymeric Laporte among others bid adieu to their European adventures and settled for a fat paycheck in the Saudi Pro-League.
While initially the Saudi league only came for the veterans who seemingly had reached the end of their playing peaks, it soon turned into a major headache for the European clubs as young players, still in their early 20s, decided to take the flight to Saudi.
Allan Saint-Maximin, Franck Kessie, Merih Derimal, Jota, Gabri Veiga, and Ruben Neves were a few of the many youngsters to have joined Saudi clubs when the majority believed that they would stay in Europe and pursue their dreams of winning the Champions League.
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Saudi Arabia's most ambitious punt
The biggest talking point of the window arrived when Saudi clubs turned their attention towards Liverpool winger and arguably the biggest Arab sports star at the moment, Mo Salah. Some believe that bids of more than $250 million were thrown Liverpool's way but the Merseyside club somehow managed to avoid the persuasion to sell the forward.
With the January winter transfer window afoot, one could see renewed interest from the clubs and another multi-million dollar proposal might be too hard to ignore for Liverpool this time.
Not only Liverpool, but several top Premier League clubs are worried that the winter window might see a poaching of talent by Saudi Arabia on a scale previously unseen.
In microcosm, 2023 was just the start of what might be the future of world football. The history of European football vs the moolah of Saudi Arabia - a fight that may go down to the wire.