Despite a relatively quiet transfer window in Saudi Arabia, the arrival of Ivan Toney and Joao Cancelo shows that the ambitions of the Saudi Pro League remain as high as ever, according to league chief executive Omar Mugharbel.
August ended with Al-Ahli of Jeddah signing deal with London club Brentford for Toney on Friday, three days after Premier League champion Manchester City sold Cancelo to Riyadh’s Al-Hilal.
“This is only the beginning with more transfers on the pitch and more development off the pitch,” Mugharbel told The Associated Press as the SPL summer transfer window ended Monday.
“The reality is that there have been a lot of signings this summer but maybe not the ones that the media are most interested in,” said Mugharbel, who became CEO in January.
He also said that last season they had a lot of opportunities to sign star players either "because they had the positions available in the clubs themselves or there were a lot of interesting players that we wanted to recruit into the league.”
“For the most part, most of the players that we brought in or the clubs brought in are actually still in the league, which is a positive sign that things are moving in the right direction,” he added.
“I think what we’ve managed to do last season is really open up the league and create an attractive proposition for star players,” stressed Mugharbel. “We are continuing on the same path.”
