7 players you had no idea moved to the Saudi Pro League this summer
Last summer, the Saudi Pro League stunned the world of football by signing Champions League-winning superstars including Neymar, Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane and Riyad Mahrez.
Fast forward 12 months and the unfathomably rich middle eastern league is continuing to build, with Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Joao Cancelo and Moussa Diaby among the most notable additions in the summer 2024 window.
But what about the names that leave for the Saudi Pro League with relatively little fanfare? We’ve identified seven signings from this summer’s transfer window that you might have missed.
Marek Rodak
It was only 12 months ago that the Saudi Pro League was taking some of the Premier League’s biggest household names, albeit ones that were probably past their best like Jordan Henderson and N’Golo Kante.
Diaby aside, there’s been little of that this time around. Slovenian ‘keeper Rodak, who has made two Premier League appearances for Fulham since they were promoted a couple of years back, is among the few names to leave England for the Saudi sunshine. He’s joined Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq.
Houssem Aouar
Transfer junkies were heartbroken when Aouar didn’t sign for Arsenal, back when he was a daily fixture of the gossip columns a few years back.
You look at how Mikel Arteta’s have risen since then, and the trajectory that the playmaker’s career has taken, and there might be a lesson in there that every reported transfer target need not be a matter of life and death.
After a relatively forgettable year on the fringes at Roma, where he fell out of favour under Daniele De Rossi, Aouar has joined Benzema, Kante, Fabinho and co at Al-Ittihad.
William Troost-Ekong
The Nigerian defender’s career has been fairly ordinary, having moved from Udinese to the Pozzo’s sister club Watford, where he inevitably yo-yoed between the Premier League and Championship.
But he’s recently enjoyed a couple of late-career highlights, having been named the 2023 AFCON’s Player of the Tournament after a starring role in Nigeria’s run to the final before going on to claim a Greek Super Lig title with outsiders PAOK.
Now Troost-Ekong has joined Al-Kholood, who have just come up from the Saudi second tier.
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Jean Michael Seri
Like Aouar at Arsenal, there was a period about eight or nine years back whereby Twitter tacticos swore blind that Seri was the future of Barcelona’s midfield.
The La Liga giants reportedly did hold an interest in the Ivorian when he was a highly-rated up-and-comer at Nice, but never landed his signature. Seri has instead gone from Fulham to loans at Galatasaray and Bordeaux, two years in the Championship with Hull City.
He’s now joined newly-promoted Al-Orobah on a free transfer, with Cristian Tello already there and Sergio Ramos reportedly set to join next.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson
Burnley started their bid to bounce straight back to the Premier League in fine fettle, thrashing Luton Town 4-1 and Cardiff City 5-0.
But the reality of life back in the second tier has started to bite for the Clarets, with something of an exodus from Scott Parker’s squad in the final weeks of the window.
Among those to leave is Icelandic international Gudmundsson, who has joined Seri, Tello and co at Al-Orobah for a €1million fee. That’s quite the squad they’re building on a budget.
Ezequiel Fernandez
It’s not just the European clubs that have been targeted by the Saudi Pro League over the past year or two, with a number of talented but lesser-known lights signed directly from Saudi Arabia.
Among them 20-year-old Brazilian rising star Alexsander, who has left Fluminense to join Al-Ahli and goalkeeper Bento, the biggest addition to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr squad – signed for €18million from Club Athletico Paranaense.
But the most head-turning South American arrival this summer is 22-year-old midfielder Fernandez, who Al-Qadsiah have signed from Boca Juniors. He’d been tipped for a future in the Argentina team and been linked with a number of top European clubs.
Al-Qadsiah are the Saudi Pro League club to watch out for this season, having also signed Nacho and Aubameyang alongside a host of less headline-grabbing names.
READ: Where are they now? 10 players the Saudi Pro League tried & failed to sign last summer
Giacomo Bonaventura
The 35-year-old Serie A veteran, who played over a hundred times for Atalanta, AC Milan and Fiorentina, has finally left Italy.
A classic final payday one, this. The midfielder, who received his 18th Italy cap earlier this year, has joined Al-Shabab – where he’ll be coached by Portuguese journeyman manager Vitor Pereira (Porto, Olympiacos, Fenerbahce, Flamengo to name but a few).