This summer, the Saudi Pro League has almost signed without limits. Star after star has left European football where, for example, the brass Neymar went to Al-Hilal and is reported to receive an annual salary of over one and a half billion kronor.
But Neymar is not the only star signed to Saudi Arabia for big money. After the Saudi transfer window closed, the total transfer sums paid by the clubs remained at $ 957 million, which corresponds to almost SEK 11 billion, according to the auditing network Deloitte & Touche.
"This is the first time since 2016 that a league has spent more than any of Europe's major five leagues during a transfer window," said Izzy Wray of Deloitte's sports affairs division, explaining that he believes this trend can continue going forward.
"The implementation of privatisations in the Kingdom will probably increase interest around the SPL, which could increase the pace of spending in future transfer windows.
Despite the nearly 11 billion that clubs in the league spent, there was one league that spent more money: the English Premier League. The English Premier League clubs spent $ 1,39 billion (SEK 15,48 billion).