The winter transfer window in the Saudi Professional League opened on the first day of the new year, coinciding with its counterparts in European countries, and will continue until the end of this month.
The first name that will be the subject of controversy regarding the move to the Saudi League is the Egyptian player Mohamed Salah, who will be absent from his team, Liverpool, for several weeks; due to his participation with his national team in the African Cup of Nations, but his name will remain in place to leave the fortress of Anfield, specifically in the direction of Al-Ittihad Saudi Club.
According to the British newspaper “Mirror”, Liverpool had previously rejected a huge offer worth £150 million for Salah before the deadline for summer transfers, and according to a new report from Sky Sports, Saudi clubs “will not stop” until they get the signature of the Egyptian striker, even if it means waiting until the summer.
Salah signed a new three-year contract with the Reds in the summer of 2022, which means that he will have only 12 months left to continue his contract at the end of the 2023-2024 season. Salah was in good form with Liverpool this season, scoring 16 goals and has 8 assists in 26 games before Monday night’s match against Newcastle.
Another Egyptian player who appears to be on the radar of Saudi teams in winter is international Mohamed Elneny, Arsenal player, whose contract with the Gunners ends at the end of this season, and because he does not play much, there have been speculations about his imminent departure from the fortress of “Emirates” towards the Turkish League or the Saudi League, and journalist Fabrizio Romano, who is familiar with the transfer market, said that Saudi clubs have expressed interest in signing Elneny (31 years old), in addition to Turkish clubs such as Trabzonspor, Beşiktaş and Galatasaray.
The Moroccan player, Azzeddine Ounahi, who will also participate with his national team in the African Cup of Nations, seems to have played his last minutes with his French team, Marseille, in the match in which the team drew with Montpellier 1-1 before the winter break of the French League, and the site “Football Mercato” specialized in the transfer market said that a list of 4 Saudi clubs would like to sign the player, which are the clubs of Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Shabab and Al-Ahly, in addition to Qatari club Al-Duhail.
The player participated in 15 matches with Marseille since the start of the season, scoring two goals. Ounahi (23 years old) joined Marseille in January of last year, after shining with the Moroccan national team in the World Cup in Qatar 2022, when he was a key element in the campaign of the Atlas Lions to finish fourth at the end of the World Cup, even that he received special praise from the coach of the Spanish national team in the World Cup, Luis Enrique, who praised his performance after the confrontation of the two teams in the round of 16 of the World Cup, saying: “More than surprised me is the player No. 8, and I’m sorry I don’t know his name, oh my God! Where did this boy come from?! He was playing in a wonderful way, and he never stopped running, he surprised me with his wonderful level.”
Ounahi was born in Casablanca, and began playing football in the great Raja club, before leaving for France early at the age of 18, wearing the shirts of Strasbourg, Avranches and Angers, and then moved to Marseille in the winter transfer window last year for 8 million euros.
As for the Algerian player, Said Benrahma, who was excluded from the squad of the “Desert Warriors” for the upcoming African entitlement, it seems that his days in his English team, West Ham United, are numbered. The website “Football Insider” said that the player has Saudi and French offers in the current winter period, and Benrahma does not play much this season in the light of the brilliance of Ghanaian Mohamed Kudus, Jared Bowen and Brazilian Lucas Paqueta, which could make him more of a candidate than before to leave the team known as “The Hammers”.
Benrahma began his football career as a youth player at the French club Nice, before defending the colors of the French teams of Angers, Ajaccio and Chateauroux, then moved to England in 2018 through the door of the Brentford team, which was then in the first division, and he shone a lot in two seasons there, to move to West Ham in the summer of 2020 on loan first, before the London team activated the player’s purchase clause for £25 million
