Yahoo Sports Al Nassr Flexes Financial Muscles
It’s been a busy week in the transfer market for Saudi petro-soccer powerhouse Al Nassr. Like the 1950’s stereotypical muscle-bound beefcake kicking sand in the face of the hapless little guy, the Riyadh club is instead flexing financial muscle and kicking currency.
The Saudi transfer window closes this Friday, Jan. 31 and Al Nassr is furiously looking to boost their line-up. Despite fielding global superstar Cristiano Ronaldo as well as established ballers like Sadio Mané, Marcelo Brozović and Aymeric Laporte, they languish in 4th place in the Saudi Pro League. The club’s owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, are targeting some of Europe’s brightest talents, trying to lure them into the desert with promises of riches.
Jhon Dúran
Colombian Dúran is the signing that seems most likely to happen. His recent label of “supersub” is a somewhat backhanded compliment, and he has made few starts for Aston Villa this season. His 12 goals in just over 1,000 minutes across 29 games is a good ratio. Look deeper, though, and you’ll see only four games in which he has logged 70+ minutes. Two of those were FA Cup ties. At 21 years old, Dúran has so much potential, and playing in the Saudi League will give him a chance to pad his statistics (as well as his bank account). Villa won’t be looking to trade him to any Premier League rival, and don’t want his ghost coming back to haunt them in any future European campaigns either. With a $79.5M offer, this Al Nassr move makes sense.
Victor Boniface
The Nigerian striker sits in a similar position as Dúran. With only 933 minutes over 15 games this season, and eight goals, he is severely underutilized at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. His on-target form looks to be an improvement over the 2023-24 season, but he’s not getting as much playing time as he did with Belgian side Union SG.
This just in: Famed transfer whisperer Fabrizio Romano posted earlier today that the $62.5M transfer, which was only millimeters from done, is now off. Romano is rarely wrong.
Kaoru Mitoma
Earlier today Brighton Hove & Albion reportedly rejected Al Nassr’s $67.5M offer for Japanese midfielder and dribbler extraordinaire Kaoru Mitoma. Mitoma would be a fabulous addition to Al Nassr; his ability to create space on the attack and slick passing would give Ronaldo many opportunities to chase that 1,000 goal record.
Hot off the presses… there’s a rumor Al Nassr may up the offer to $112M. That’s serious mad money.
Darwin Nuñez
Yesterday Liverpool laughed off a $105M offer for Uruguayan forward Nuñez. I can see why… they’re pursuing a trophy trifecta and need as many bodies as they can. Nuñez may lack consistency, but he does excel in shaking things up on the pitch and makes chances happen.
Dušan Vlahović
Two days ago Juventus forward Dušan Vlahović was presented with “a substantial financial offer” (details unknown) but delivered a flat-out NO. Apparently his reply included the comment that he had a “desire to continue competing at a high level.” Ouch. Take that, Saudi League.
