Saudi League players offer themselves to Barcelona, high salaries an obstacle – report

Over the summer, the main talking point in football was the emergence of the Saudi Arabian league. It started with the recruitment of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United on a free transfer, which was followed by several other huge names.

Initially, however, it was mostly players well past their primes looking to end their career on a financial high. Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Gini Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Jordan Henderson, and others, to name a few.

However, the Saudi Pro League then moved to poaching younger players who were interested in making a bag early in their careers. Several exciting talents, touted for big club transfers, like Jota, Gabri Veiga, Ruben Neves, and Malcom also shifted allegiances.

As per a report by SPORT, though, not all of these players have adapted well to their new home, and have been offered to Barcelona.

Barcelona attentive

A few of these players have found it difficult to adapt to Saudi Arabia, may be due to the weather, or due to the unpayable salaries they had been offered. Or simply due to the level of football.

Barcelona are attentive to the situation of these players as they believe there will be movements in the coming windows. They believe that these stars will be looking to come back to Europe, and the report states that they are also looking to forgo their high salaries.

A lot of these Saudi clubs are also willing to pay most part of the salaries to let them go on loans as the players have not been performing at the expected level.

Anyone Barcelona should be interested in?

There are definitely a few cracks in Barcelona’s teams that need to be covered, including the left-wing spot and defensive midfield, as priority.

One player they can keep an eye on is Al-Ittihad’s Jota. At 24, the Portuguese is very comfortable on either wing, and would fit in seamlessly into Barcelona’s system.

Ruben Neves is another star Barcelona should keep tabs on. They were already interested in signing him next summer on a free transfer, but should the player want to move away from the Middle East, he could have a home at the Camp Nou.

Honorable mention for Allan Saint-Maximin, who signed for Al Ahli from Newcastle United. The 26-year-old is a tricky left-winger, and is adept at stretching the pitch single-handledly, quite like Xavi’s favourite Ousmane Dembele.