Pep Guardiola Believes Saudi Arabian Club Collapse On Transfer Exchange Is Not Over Yet

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. (Photo: Twitter @ManCity)

JAKARTA - The Saudi Arabian League club made a breakthrough in the 2023/2024 summer transfer market. A number of well-known stars were brought in from Europe.

Most recently, Riyad Mahrez. The Manchester City player joined Al-Ahli with a transfer value of 30 million (around Rp582 billion).

Apart from Mahrez, Al Expert also signed Allan Saint-Maximin from Newcastle United. He was tied to a four-year contract.

Mahrez and Maximin follow in the footsteps of Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Jordan Henderson, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Marcelo Brozovic, and Roberto Firmino.

Bayern Munich striker Sadio Mane is reportedly one step away from joining Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said the Saudi Arabian League had "completely changed the world player transfer market". He expects more star players to move there.

"The Saudi Arabian league has really changed the world player transfer market," Guardiola was quoted as saying by AFP via Antara.

"One year ago when Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player, no one expected how many top players would play in Saudi Arabia. In the future, this will still happen again and again," continued the Spanish man.

Guardiola then commented on Mahrez's move. He admitted that he had a "special relationship" with Mahrez.

Guardiola said the former Leicester player was an important team player despite his playing time slightly towards the end of his career with Manchester City.

"He is an important player for our success in five or six years together," said Guardiola.