Saudi Pro League’s summer spend to overtake LaLiga as Jordan Henderson and Riyad Mahrez deals edge closer

When Cristiano Ronaldo predicted the Saudi Pro League would become one of the biggest leagues in the world, football fans were unconvinced.

But fast forward six months and supporters are no longer raising eyebrows at that statement.

6

6

Saudi Pro League sides are now snapping up Premier League talent left, right, and centre.

And they’re offering out some pretty eye-watering wages.

Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr in January following his dramatic exit from Manchester United, securing a £177million-a-year deal.

So it shouldn’t really have come as a shock, then, that other stars would want a piece of what one of football’s biggest icons is experiencing.

With Saudi clubs offering wages to players most teams in football’s current top five leagues could only dream of putting on the table, Ronaldo is now no longer the only big name star that will be playing in the Middle East this season.

Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema has fled to Saudi Arabia, as has now ex-Liverpool star Roberto Firmino, and it feels like everyday brings news of another player linked with moving to Saudi Arabia.

Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson and Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez are the latest big-name Premier League stars who look poised to make the move, with the former set to earn a tax-free £350,000 per-week.

But just how much money have Saudi Pro League sides paid for these players? How does this compare to the money spent by the other top leagues around the world? talkSPORT.com has you covered…

6

The Saudi Pro League have spent £183m on transfers so far this summer.

Should the deals for Henderson and Mahrez go through for the reported figures, that’ll take the league’s overall fees up to a whopping £225m.

That’s a huge leap from last summer’s total spending of £80m with their biggest transfer being Al Hilal’s £15m on buying Matheus Periera from West Brom.

A year on and the biggest fee so far has been the same club spending £47m on now-former Wolves captain Ruben Neves.

6

Al Hilal – who recently failed to bring Fulham talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic to the club – have also spent £34m on Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and £17m on Chelsea’s Kalidou Koulibaly.

That takes their spend alone to £98m.

Elsewhere, Al Ahli spent £16m on Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy, Al-Ittihad offered £25m for Jota from Celtic, and have picked up Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema and another Blues star, N’Golo Kante, on a free.

But how does the league’s overall spend compare to the top five leagues in the world so far this transfer window?

6

The Saudi Pro League is on the verge of overtaking one of the world’s biggest leagues that.

So far this summer in Spain, LaLiga have spent a total of £201m.

That includes the £85.5m Real Madrid paid to Borussia Dortmund for marquee summer signing and England superstar Jude Bellingham.

But despite the midfielder’s move being one of the most talked about transfers this summer, it won’t help LaLiga edge the Saudi Pro League’s spending, with the latter on the verge of forking out £24m more than them and counting.

6

The Saudi Pro League is still just over £100m shy of Ligue 1, with Paris Saint-Germain’s spend on Manuel Ugarte for £52m from Sporting Lisbon helping them to stay ahead.

The Bundesliga has spent £350m, whilst Italy’s Serie A is just ahead on £377m.

Meanwhile the Premier League is light years ahead of everyone in terms of spending, already forking out £973m and Declan Rice’s £105m move to Arsenal is the most expensive purchase so far.

It’s clear, then, that the Saudi Pro League won’t come close to competing with the Premier League just yet when it comes to spending on transfer fees.

But given the amount they’re forking out on wages, it’s likely it won’t be long before they’re offering as much as those at the top of English football are.