Saudi Arabia Pro League 2023-24

So with the huge increase of stars going to the league, I think will keep an eye on it for sure, even if just for occasional fun. Initially just didnt think much of it n would sitck, the big surprise is they really have actually gotten some of the stars in their prime to go, so not just semi retirement playground, but gonna be actual competitive league it seems, amazing stuff. Even more interest in many yrs than Messi MLS tbh which looks so easy but maybe its just Messi is too good

Quick look n it appears the league recently got ranked 1st in Asia instead of Japan, so dunno if its legit or bought lol, since it just says due to AFC performance which I also never watched Luckily the season is same times as big European leagues, making it easy to keep up with.

Just now watched highlights of Mane playing with CR and it seems hes already made a huge difference, working tirelessly creating chances n feeding CR naturally for a penaldo XD, which im sure will be the theme this season lol... looking forward to see the other big names n teams soon.

What players or teams will u be looking forward to or support? Will u even bother to watch the matches? Or just thoughts?

I'm glad CR7 found a new slave, it's when he's at his best and Mane needed a bit of humbling maybe

El Gunner wrote:who is in their prime that went there? it is all semi-retired players

i will not be watching this league, and personally i don't know anyone else who has gone out of their way to watch this league

Kessie is 26 and he just signed there.

To be honest I may actually watch some of it because the number of household names has become kind of ridiculous. I am genuinely intrigued. This is much more than the Chinese league boom from what I remember.

You’re talking about Kessie who was a bench player at Barca being a star signing!!

You could name a whole lot of Kessie types playing in MLS and that doesn’t make MLS any more watchable than 2nd or 3rd level European leagues.

Tbf Kessie is prolly a very good player that just didnt fit Barca... pretty sure we was great at Milan n could be useful for a ton of top clubs n he should score goals in SA.

Prolly and being are two different things. He was NOT great at Milan! He an average player!

Also, he's probably not 26. There are speculations about him being at least 6 years older than his official age going as far back as 10 years ago. I've followed African football long enough to know when there is smoke in these cases, there is always fire.

Expect him to start physically declining around "29" or so.

Kessie is a reliable player but definitely not a standout performer. Seems like a great guy outside of football too , I’d have kept him as a bench option

I always thought he looked way older than 26 too, good point

He’s not someone you tune in games for though, rather easily replaceable cog in the machine

Anyway, Messi alone has brought more light to MLS than all those signings to the Saudi league

Firmino with a hattrick on his debut lol? At this rate CR to gonna just go downhill n be outperformed by everyone arriving Mendy the GK though managed to make a fool of himself, n I thought he was good, interesting

Al Hilal's Malcolm our former players continues to score goals, hattrick Considering our position now with Dembele I especially miss him tbh So with Neymar going also definitely Al Hilal should be one to watch.

Benzemas team won without him scoring, while Mane scores in his teams defeat with CR out injured Kinda weird since they just won the cup comp... well actually into injury time 13th min lol... maybe similar thing happens there the state owned teams get Fergie/Perez ref favours

Neymar official.  Veratti next.  

Kind of an interesting league now.  A lot of stars... but they've also signed a lot of secondary good players.  Like Seko Fofana that was immense with Lens last year.

Might be worth watching.

????????????????????????????????: Alisson Becker is being targeted by Al-Nassr and the Brazilian would be tempted by a move to Saudi Arabia.

(Source: @sebnonda) pic.twitter.com/s3z4NYRALh

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) August 15, 2023

Is anyone left in PL. Feels like they are all moving to Saudi right now.

Still waiting on the Mendy bid

Bounou the Sevilla GK that just played the UEFA Supercup is joining Al Hilal ie. Neymars team? Wow? Dunno much about him but even at age 32 he seems to still be WC n top of his game, so yet another top player joins n are money happy joy joy?

This is not great, already seeing something online mentioning the SAs approaching UEFA to have them let them join playing in the CL?

Al Nassr...

The other 3 of the 4 state owned teams are pretty loaded as well, n who knows if the signings will continue before the window closes Too bad I think nobody knows anything about their local players, if they are any good?

Also there is a team with Steven Gerrard managing n pretty sure he would bring players in...

Vibe wrote:

Lloris
Sultan - Al-Amri - Laporte - Telles
Fofana - Brozovic - Otavio
Talisca - Ronaldo - Mane

Al Nassr...

Vs


Vs


Plenty of time left of the window. Still time to strengthen the teams further

BREAKING: Transfermarkt have removed the Arab Club Cup stats and the trophy from Ronaldo’s profile, they have seemingly confirmed that it was a FRIENDLY competition.pic.twitter.com/gZSZNsvuQb

— MC (@CrewsMat10)

CR hattrick, all 3 tap ins XD Mane with 2 as well... they score for fun there, so easy from the highlights

https://global.espn.com/football/story/_/id/38272219/ex-italy-boss-roberto-mancini-named-new-saudi-arabia-manager

This is the SA NT so Mancini they got for net 27M per yr according to the above? Dunno how much usual top NT coaches get but I am guessing it huge? Lol... will prolly flop as well which would make it even more funny?

Just realized in SA the weekends are Fri n Sat hence the games on these 2 days n not on Sun, Sun is a workday lol? Apparently there are some midweek games also as it was yesterday a Tue...

CR scores another two, a penaldo n a free header... lol gotta give him credit, continues to stat pad

Kessie scoring two in two games now for Al Ahli, Mahrez assisting him and scoring one too already...

Nassr vs Ahli, entertaining game.

Saudi League is a top 10 league in the world now.

Ronaldo is still a boss.

The keeper didnt even see anything

CRISTIANO RONALDO WHAT A GOAL! pic.twitter.com/gLNkGHFKZW

— TC (@totalcristiano) September 22, 2023