Saudi Arabia traded for a record amount this summer. Kasper Schmeichel (36 years old) also received an offer from Saudi Arabia, but he refused. The Dane says he doesn’t play football for money.
Figures from FIFA It shows that Saudi Arabia bought players for more than nine billion kroner this summer, if we count today’s prices.
Only English clubs bought for more; 21.1 billion Norwegian kroner.
In total, NOK 78.5 billion was traded this summer. It’s a new record.
Kasper Schmeichel reveals to the Danes TV 2 That he too could have ended up in Saudi Arabia, like many other top players.
He himself ended up moving from Nice to Anderlecht.
– They offered the salary. The pay was good, but as I said, that’s not why I play football, I play football on nights like this, says Schmeichel – referring to the international match.
– Especially when you get a little older, you appreciate evenings like this. You should never take battle for granted. That was a big part of my evaluation. Everyone knows what the national team means to me.
He says that the answer was to immediately reject the offer made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
But the other Scandinavian player who said yes is Swedish Robin Quaison (29 years old), who plays alongside Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum and is managed by Steven Gerrard in Al-Ettifaq. He actually came there two years ago and was interviewed by the SVT channel in connection with the national team meeting.
– I didn’t think the league would be like this when I signed. You have evolved a lot. He says many world stars come with great quality.
Quaison sees no risk in a high-wage country coming in and signing players.
– It’s the same thing the major leagues have done for many years.
When SVT asked him if the pressure on him to move to a controversial country was waning as more and more foreigners arrived, he replied:
-I feel the same way at that time. I knew what I was doing and very consciously.
Neymar, Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roberto Firmino, Georginio Wijnaldum, Kalidou Koulibaly, N’Golo Kante and Fabinho are among the many players who have gone to clubs in Saudi Arabia.
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