European football chief Ceferin plays down fears of talent drain to Saudi Pro League
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin insists he is not worried about the Saudi Pro League’s ambitious transfer policy stripping European football of its top stars.
Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Neves have already followed Cristian Ronaldo in moving to Saudi, where a major investment programme from the Public Investment Fund is also reported to be targeting Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez and Kalidou Koulibaly.
It comes after Lionel Messi also opted to leave Europe for a move to Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
“We didn’t lose them, they still play football, but they are at the end of their career,” said Ceferin.
“At the end of their career, some players go somewhere to earn some money. But it’s not only about money. Players want to win top competitions and top competitions are in Europe.”
Ronaldo led the influx to the Saudi Pro League by signing a reported £175m contract with Al-Nassr in December, while Benzema left Real Madrid for a deal worth an estimated £258m at Al-Ittihad this summer.
Rather than enticing stars with lucrative contracts, Ceferin said it would be better for Saudi Arabia to pump money into nurturing their own homegrown talent.
“They should invest in academies, they should bring coaches and they should develop their own players,” he added.
“The system of buying players that almost ended their careers is not the system that develops football.”