Saudi: Reigning Cash Cow For Players

<h4>Saudi<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Bayern Munich announced on Saturday that Senegalese striker Sadio Mane was in talks &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;about a change of club&comma; ” reports suggest he was destined for Saudi side Al Nassr&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is happening at a time Manchester City manager&comma; Pep Guardiola&comma; has disclosed that the huge spending from Saudi Arabia may end the English Premier League’s dominance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For Mane&comma; the German champions&comma; posting on Twitter&comma; said &colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Sadio Mane is in contract negotiations about a change of club and is therefore not in the line-up today&period;” Mane left out of a friendly match in Tokyo&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 31-year-old former Liverpool star is due to become the latest high-profile player to join the cash-rich Saudi league&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Bild and Kicker magazine reported he was on his way for a medical with Al Nassr&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mane would be another major signing for the club that pulled off the first coup of a raft of signings by Saudi clubs by luring Cristiano Ronaldo&comma; the five-time Ballon d’Or winner&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mane won the Champions League and Premier League in six seasons with Liverpool and was a key part of Jurgen Klopp’s devastating front three with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When Liverpool won their first English league title for 30 years in the pandemic-disrupted 2019-2020 season&comma; Mane scored 18 goals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But in the summer of 2022&comma; when he won the African Player of the Year&comma; Mane decided he wanted a new challenge — unconfirmed rumours said he was tired of sharing the limelight with Egypt’s Salah at Anfield&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Bayern made a big play for Mane&comma; promising to make him the focal point of an attack which had just lost the services of Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After a strong start to the season at Bayern&comma; it soon become clear that Mane was not clicking in Bavaria&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In a Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen in November&comma; Mane suffered an injury to his fibula and his season was put on hold&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The injury forced him to miss the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year in a crushing blow to Senegal’s chances&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While Mane returned to the Bayern team in 2023&comma; his problems were underlined when he became involved in a physical altercation with teammate Leroy Sane following a Champions League defeat to Manchester City&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bayern reportedly fined Mane around 350&comma;000 euros &lpar;&dollar;385&comma;000&rpar; and gave him a one-match suspension for his part in the incident&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He ended the season with an underwhelming 12 goals in 38 games across all competitions&period; He is set to quit Bayern with two years left on his contract&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Aside from Ronaldo&comma; Al Nassr have also signed Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic&comma; Brazil full-back Alex Telles and Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-21704" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;07&sol;Ronaldo&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Saudi&colon; Reigning Cash Cow For Players" width&equals;"162" height&equals;"116" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; the EPL has witnessed a massive exodus from the league to Saudi clubs&period; Players such as N’golo Kante&comma; Edouard Mendy&comma; Riyad Mahrez&comma; Ruben Neves&comma; Kalidou Koulibaly&comma; Jordan Henderson&comma; Roberto Firminho&comma; and others left this summer&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to The Athletic&comma; the 52-year-old now believes the Saudi League has the financial strength to compete&comma; and that could hurt the dominance of the EPL&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is not about the threat&semi; it is a reality&period; They want to create a strong league&comma; and so far&comma; they are the league who can do it&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Premier League spent more than the other &lbrack;leagues&rsqb; because the organisation of the Premier League is better and the broadcasts and the sponsors are higher than the other leagues&comma; so the clubs can spend what they have&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Right now&comma; the Saudi League—I don’t know how long they will sustain that but the feeling is that they will stay&period; I would say the players want to take this experience to play in that league and they are able to do it&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also agrees with Cristiano Ronaldo&comma; who said a few weeks ago that he &OpenCurlyQuote;opened the door’ to players signing for Saudi clubs&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A few months ago when Cristiano &lpar;Ronaldo&rpar; was the only one to go&comma; no one thought this many top&comma; top extraordinary players would go to play in the Saudi league&period; I think in the close future it is going to happen more and more&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;Cristiano Ronaldo&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;