2 hours ago
1
Jurassic Park sounded great given the spectacular beasts on display, but there was chaos after they started to do their own thing. When Cristiano Ronaldo, surely the T rex, and Karim Benzema, perhaps a velociraptor, are scoring in spectacular fashion there are headlines around the world, but the Saudi Pro League is finding out that when they start to flex their muscles off the pitch, there is even more interest and, it turns out, a real problem for the competition.
What happened on a manic Monday in the SPL should have been about what unfolded on the pitch. Al-Hilal, in first, drew with third-placed Al-Ahli. Al-Nassr won, to stay second, closing to within a point of the leaders. If Brendan Rodgers, having a whale of a time with Al-Qadsiah, wins his game in hand then four points will separate the top four with just over a third of the season remaining. It is the kind of title race most leagues would love.
But it was all overshadowed. Sadio Mané scored the only goal for Al-Nassr, but where was his teammate Ronaldo, the face of the league since he signed on the last day of 2022? According to reports back home, he was believed to be on strike.
The 40-year-old is said to be unhappy at the relative lack of investment his club received in this transfer window and to be thinking about leaving despite a reported daily salary of about £490,000. Al-Nassr are owned by the Public Investment Fund, which also backs the other members of the “Big Four”: Al-Nassr’s city rivals Al-Hilal and the Jeddah clubs Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli.
Ronaldo has yet to win a major trophy in Saudi Arabia, but this season was looking different under Jorge Jesus, who led Al-Hilal to the 2024 title. Yet mid-season recruitment has been underwhelming, the young Iraqi midfielder Haydeer Abdulkareem being the only addition.
Al-Hilal splashed out on Mohamed Meïté from Rennes, the former Arsenal centre-back Pablo Marí, a couple of Saudi Arabia internationals and, most strikingly, Benzema. The former France striker played a major role last season to help Al-Ittihad win the title, but has not been quite as prolific this time as the team have struggled.
It has been theorised that Ronaldo may have gone on strike in an attempt to persuade the PIF not to allow Al-Hilal to bring his former Real Madrid teammate into their ranks. The fund was said to be keen to ensure Benzema stayed in the country.
Benzema’s relationship with Al-Ittihad had soured in recent weeks. He joined in the summer of 2023 and the 38-year-old wanted a new deal. It could not be agreed, though, and it was reported that Benzema went down the striking route. He has joined Darwin Núñez and Rúben Neves on the blue side of Riyadh, having scored 54 goals in 83 appearances for Al-Ittihad.
His goodbye message to Al-Ittihad fans on social media, thanking them for “the welcome, the love, and the energy you gave me every day”, is surely not going to stop him from getting a roasting the next time he plays there.
Ronaldo can be forgiven for not wanting Al-Hilal to strengthen with a proven, if somewhat injury-prone, goalscorer, but less easy to overlook will be, if true, a withdrawal of his highly remunerated labour. He is at a different level to Benzema and could face a backlash for the first time for apparently throwing his toys when he did not get his way. There were murmurings in the past about suggestive gestures and red cards, but for the most part he is regarded as having excelled as the face of the league.
Despite the influx of megastars in recent years, fans could be forgiven for feeling nostalgic about the old days. Sami Al-Jaber, who made more than 150 appearances for Saudi Arabia and had a short loan spell at Wolves, has never seen anything like it.
“Some world-famous foreign players have come to control not only the spotlight, but even the decisions of the clubs they play for, exploiting international media outlets to strengthen their influence,” he said on Saudi TV, adding that they could now steer events in their own favour.
“The uncontrolled behaviour and excessive power of global stars pose a real crisis within the league, as their influence sometimes surpasses that of clubs themselves.”
If the comments from Al-Jaber, an influential figure, are anything to go by, Ronaldo could have some explaining to do and the league faces some soul-searching and must decide who is in charge: PIF, the league, the clubs or the big beasts who look as if they are running amok?
