(London) Algerian international Riyad Mahrez, who just scored a hat-trick with Manchester City, added his name to the list of soccer stars joining the Saudi league by signing for Al-Ahli on Friday.
“The wait is over: Riyadh is here,” the Saudi club said on social media, as Manchester City thanked their former player for his years of service. City have agreed with Al-Ahli on a transfer reportedly worth around £30 million (approximately C$51 million).
After Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of last year, then Karim Benzema, Roberto Firmino and Kalidou Koulibaly among others this summer, the 32-year-old Algerian winger is in turn flying to Saudi Arabia.
By managing to attract Mahrez, the oil-rich country is continuing its offensive on the transfer market, a sign of its desire, for several years, to find a place for itself in the world of sport.
The kingdom managed to bring in the Algerian soccer star, who took the Fennecs to their second African Cup of Nations trophy in 2019.
At 32, the right winger arrives in the championship crowned with a sensational hat-trick with the Citizens: Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
In addition to this dream season, the twirling left-hander, not always a starter under Pep Guardiola, participated during his stay in the North West of England in three victorious league campaigns (2019, 2021 and 2022) , another FA Cup title (2019) and three League Cup victories (2019, 2020 and 2021).
In total, Mahrez has scored 78 goals and provided 59 assists in 236 games played in the sky blue jersey.
Before that, the native of Sarcelles (Ile-de-France), a very technical player and good in duels, had revealed himself during the improbable title of Leicester in 2016 (17 goals, ten assists). He then left the club for City in exchange for nearly 70 million euros (about 102 million Canadian dollars).
He will also find in the Saudi championship another player of this coronation, considered as one of the most unexpected in the history of the British championship: the French midfielder N’Golo Kanté, who will play next season at Al- Ittihad with his compatriot Karim Benzema, Golden Ball title.
After Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Kanté, Firmino or Koulibaly, the list of big names in world soccer who have left to settle in the Gulf monarchy is growing: Frenchman Moussa Dembélé and Englishman Jordan Henderson (Al-Ettifaq), the Croatian Marcelo Brozovic (Al-Nassr), the Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and the Portuguese Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal), the Englishman Steven Gerrard (coach of Al-Ettifaq) and therefore Mahrez, have recently yielded to fabulous offers Saudi clubs.
In this sense, the transfer of Riyad Mahrez to the Jeddah club bears witness to the rise for more than ten years of these new players in the world of soccer, since the player leaves a club owned by an Emirati.
Besides these transfers, the monarchy plans to apply to host the 2030 World Cup and the Olympics in the future.
Saudi Arabia, a mostly desert country, will also host the 2027 Asian Men’s Soccer Cup, the 2034 Asian Games, and even the 2029 Asian Winter Games, the awarding of which, considered by some to be an ecological aberration , was greeted with amazement by the sporting world.