Plenty of big name players have been linked to the Saudi Pro League and some have already made the jump, but there haven’t been many managers taking their chances in the Middle East, Jose Mourinho one of the high profile coaches to say ‘no’.
So Steven Gerrard’s appointment as manager Al-Ettifaq is the standout managerial arrival so far and the former Rangers and Aston Villa boss will have his work cut out. He made a U-Turn early in July having previously turning down a move to Saudi and now seems happy with his decision. The ex Liverpool midfielder, now 43, says he ‘got a real family feeling’ and the move needed to be ‘right for my family first and foremost.’
Presumably that means right in a financial sense, as Stevie G is now the fourth highest paid manager in the world, after Diego Simeone, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. He was fired by Aston Villa last November after less than a year in charge and he has now signed a three year deal with Al-Ettifaq worth £15.2m a year.
Gerrard’s new side finished seventh last season and, while players, particularly from Chelsea have been making a beeline to the Saudi Pro League, Al-Ettifaq are yet to make a signing and they will meet Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in their season opener in just over three weeks time. The Saudi Pro League 2023 betting odds won’t pressure Gerrard to win the title in his first season, but surely the owners will want a return on their eye-watering investment within three.
The Liverpool legend will find himself in a totally different culture to the ones he experienced in his short spells as manager in Glasgow and Birmingham; and he will hope to get his own managerial career back on track at the team which has not won the title since 1987. Surely he can better the effort he made at Villa Park where he won just two of the first 12 games of the 2022/23 campaign before Unai Emery arrived to steer the Villains to a European place in seventh.
The new boss will hope to make a better start in Saudi and he is keen to persuade some experienced players to join him. Gerrard has already contacted current Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson who has a contract at Anfield running until 2025. Henderson would receive a chunky pay rise so it really depends where the 33 year old’s priorities lie.
The big money deals keep on coming
Gerrard has some catching up to do in the transfer market. In our recent Saudi report here at SBOTOP we covered the 55m Euros transfer of Ruben Neves from Wolves to Al-Hilal and Kalidou Koulibaly’s 23m switch from Chelsea to the same club. And in more recent Saudi Pro League 2023 news Lazio’s midfield general Sergej Milinkovic-Savic has joined Al-Hilal with a salary rise from 3.2m Euros in Italy to 20m per season in Saudi, and the same club has also made an offer for Galatasaray’s Nicolo Zanolio.
Milinkovic-Savic always looked like he was ready to move on from Rome and he has been linked with a host of top European clubs, including Juventus, Arsenal and Liverpool; but now he is ready to link up with Neves in a glittering midfield at Al-Hilal.
Another high profile move involves 24 year old Portuguese winger Jota who has moved from Glasgow Celtic to Al-Ittihad in a 29m Euros move. He will join Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante as the third big name arrival at the Saudi champions and they will be the team to beat again in 2023/24. Since transferring from Benfica in 2021, Jota contributed 28 goals and 26 assists in two seasons in the Scottish league and he is sure to be productive in his new environment.
Elsewhere, midfield general Marcelo Brozovic has moved from Champions League finalists Inter Milan to join Ronaldo at Al Nassr, while Roberto Firmino has moved to Al Ahli after his contract at Liverpool expired.
Lionel Messi has already turned down Al Hilal as has fellow Ballon D’Or winner Luka Modric, but another rumour has surfaced recently, suggesting that Messi’s former PSG team-mate Neymar is a target for Al Hilal. The 31 year old Brazilian missed much of the last Ligue 1 campaign through injury and he has been unhappy at the Parc des Princes in the company of Kylian Mbappe, with whom he has had a long running and quite public feud.
Now that his mate, Messi, has left PSG to go to Inter Miami, Neymar may also be tempted to move away from Paris; though Mbappe’s future at the club is far from certain. Either way, I suspect Neymar would rather stay in Europe or even go to the MLS. There is plenty of activity in the Saudi Pro League and now it’s time Gerrard got involved.
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