- Laporta slams players for Saudi moves
- Says players don't see football as 'priority'
- Fabinho and Henderson latest to move
WHAT HAPPENED? There has been an exodus of leading stars to the Gulf State this summer, following Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in the winter. However, Laporta believes they are moving to the Saudi Pro League for all the wrong reasons.
WHAT THEY SAID: Speaking to CNN, he said: “When a player, and with all respect, prefers to go to Saudi Arabia, basically there are no sporting reasons. You know, there are other reasons that are the priority. And the football must be the priority – the sporting reasons must be the priority.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Players including the likes of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Riyad Mahrez are just the latest crop to have swapped the Premier League for the Middle East this summer. It was also recently reported that Al-Hilal had made an eye-watering offer to Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, in a bid to prise the World Cup winner away from Parc des Princes this summer - but he turned them down.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
@Ettifaq
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GOAL AR - Al Ahli TwitterWHAT NEXT FOR THE SAUDI PRO LEAGUE? While there continues to be a host of links between Europe's leading players and the Saudi league, it remains to be seen which star will be the next to make the move to the Middle East.