Manchester City midfielder Rodri has hit out at the mass movement of players to Saudi Arabia this summer, urging something to be done to stop future stars heading to the middle east in favour of money rather than forging a career in Europe.
A whole host of stars left European football for Saudi Arabia over the summer, including former teammates Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte, who completed moves to Al Ahli and Al-Nassr respectively from the treble winners.
Also heading to the middle east were high profile Premier League stars Fabinho, Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, Jordan Henderson and Aleksander Mitrovic, while offers were made for the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Arsenal’s Gabriel and Mohamed Salah.
The move that most shocked people, however, was Celta Vigo starlet Gabri Veiga’s decision to move to Saudi Arabia instead of Italian champions Napoli, despite being just 21 years old.
Now, Manchester City’s Rodri has decided that enough is enough, and has called on the organisers of European football to take a stand and ‘control’ the situation.
“It must be controlled in some way this drain of talent”, he complained while on international duty with the Spanish national team.
🗣️ “European football loses with this situation. I imagine that we will have to somehow control this escape of talented players.”
Man City midfielder Rodri believes people in charge of football need to take control of the amount of top players moving to Saudi Arabia. 🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/9thTmIcdx8
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 8, 2023
Rodri is not the only player to have found issue with the situation, with Toni Kroos offering similar views earlier in the month when he hit out at those heading to Saudi Arabia and prioritising money over the quality of football.
The spending is not set to stop any time soon though, with plans to make the middle east nation one of the elite footballing countries in the coming years and bids already being prepared next summer for Salah and other high-profile stars.
