July 20 – The exodus of elite players to Saudi Arabia in the latter stages of their careers looks set to continue after Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez was granted permission to miss their pre-season tour of Japan and South Korea to finalise a £30 million move to Al Ahli.
Mahrez is to join Roberto Firmino at the Jeddah-based club on a reported three-year deal after scoring 78 goals in 236 games during five years at City, with his contract expiring in 2024.
The Algerian has won five Premier League titles – the first in Leicester’s surprise success in 2016 – and cost City £60 million in 2017. He was their 24-goal top scorer in 2021/22
The summer transfer window has already seen big-name players such as Ruben Neves, Karim Benzema and Firmino follow in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo in January by moving to clubs in Saudia Arabia for lucrative offers – and more will follow.
The next of those looks like being England midfielder Jordan Henderson, with Liverpool having agreed in principle to sell the 33-year-old for £12 million plus add-ons to Al-Ettifaq. Henderson would immediately link up with former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard who was recently appointed as manager of Al-Ettifaq.
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