Several European clubs are calling for a "fair market investigation" into the deals that Saudi Pro League representatives are negotiating with Chelsea and Wolves.
"Hardly a day goes by these days without another string of Premier League players being linked with lucrative moves to Saudi Arabia," commented British newspaper Sportmail .
Chelsea benefited the most when they were able to push five players to the Middle Eastern country. N'Golo Kante has just joined Al Ittihad with a season salary of nearly 30 million USD. Following the French midfielder to play in Saudi Arabia next season, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kalidou Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy are likely to follow. Romelu Lukaku was also offered a contract with a season salary of 22 million USD by Al Hilal, but he refused and asked for a salary of 100 million USD.
Kante greets Al Ittihad fans after moving from Chelsea. Photo: Al Ittihad
Meanwhile, Wolves have agreed to sell Ruben Neves - a midfielder who has one year left on his contract - to Al Hilal for a fee of nearly $60 million. This is the biggest transfer deal in the history of the Saudi Pro League, breaking the record of $20 million that Al Hilal spent to sign Matheus Pereira from West Brom in the summer of 2021. At his new club, Neves will receive a salary 10 times higher than his income at Wolves.
According to the Telegraph , a number of European clubs are questioning and requesting investigations into some of the above deals in the context that both Chelsea and Wolves want to meet the rules of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) Law.
Chelsea are under pressure to recoup their capital through player sales by the end of this month after spending $668 million on two transfer windows for the 2022-23 season, in the first year of ownership by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. Chelsea's sales completed before June 30 will count towards their first full tax year, helping to mitigate losses to help with FFP compliance. Wolves, similarly, will take a big step towards 'easing' FFP requirements after selling captain Neves to Saudi Arabia.
"The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) has so many investments around the world that it has to prove there is no conflict of interest when it spends large sums on older players," one European club told the Telegraph.
“Clubs across Europe are using Saudi Arabia as a ‘get out of FFP jail free card’. Things get even murkier if the PIF has an investment interest in both buying and selling clubs,” said another club representative.
On Twitter on June 20, legend Gary Neville also called on the Premier League to conduct an immediate investigation into the huge amount of money that Saudi Arabia is pumping into English football during this transfer window.
PIF - The Saudi Public Investment Fund, which owns 80% of Newcastle, has led the spending spree. Yasir Al-Rumayyan is chairman of PIF and also chairman of Newcastle.
British newspaper Sportmail revealed that PIF are also major investors in Chelsea's major shareholder, Clearlake Capital. The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund has billions of dollars in assets under management by Clearlake Capital. Clearlake Capital bought a 60% stake in Chelsea in a $5.2 billion takeover last year, with Todd Boehly at the helm.
Chelsea insist there was no Saudi Arabian involvement in the takeover and therefore no potential conflict of interest with Newcastle competing in the same competitions.
Notably, Chelsea chairman Boehly was spotted meeting Al Hilal chairman Fahd bin Nafel in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. Also at the meeting was Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal - an Al Hilal fan who sold a minority stake in his investment company to PIF last year.
In the last two transfer windows, Chelsea spent $668 million and earned back about $78 million with a net outlay of $590 million. The Blues also suffered a net loss of $154 million in the 2021-2022 season. As a result, in September 2022, Chelsea was added to UEFA's "black list" of 19 clubs whose finances will be closely monitored in the coming period. The budget was also affected as Chelsea finished 12th in the Premier League in the 2022-2023 season and will be absent from European Cups next season.
"Therefore, Chelsea need to sell players as quickly as possible to recover capital with the most potential destination in the world at the moment being the top clubs of Saudi Arabia," commented Sportmail .
Hong Duy
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