Why can't the stars shine in the Saudi Pro League?

After just six months, the dream of a huge salary and a fresh start in the Saudi Pro League has turned into a nightmare, leaving many stars looking for a way back to Europe.

After the negotiated deal that opened the way to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to Al Nasr earlier this year, Saudi Arabia continued to attract a series of names with contracts with huge salaries. The Saudi Pro League is the tournament that spends the second most money in the 2023 summer transfer period with 1.025 billion USD, just behind the Premier League - spending nearly 3 billion USD.

The negotiated deal with Cristiano Ronaldo paves the way for stars to join the Saudi Pro League

Among them, Al Hilal had the strongest hand with 377 million USD, with a record deal of 98 million USD for Neymar. In addition, this club also recruited Ruben Neves (from Wolves), Kalidou Koulibaly (Chelsea), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio) and Malcom (Zenit St Petersburg).

In second place is Al Ahli with more than 200 million USD to bring in Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Riyad Mahrez (Man City), Allan Saint-Maximin (Newcastle), Roger Ibanez (Roma), Edouard Mendy (Chelsea) and Gabri Veiga ( Celta Vigo). Ronaldo's Al Nassr ranked third, with a spending of 176 million USD on Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic, Aymeric Laporte, Seko Fofana, Alex Telles and Otavio. Defending champions Al Ittihad failed to convince Mohamed Salah and Sergio Ramos, but still brought in Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Jota, Fabinho and Luiz Felipe.

But just a few months after leaving European football, many stars are finding ways to flee Saudi Arabia - the place they once thought was the promised land. Firmino is rumored to go to Fulham, Jordan Henderson is about to join Ajax, Jota wants to go to Tottenham, and Benzema is in Chelsea's sights.

According to British newspaper Sunsport, there are three main reasons why stars quickly become disillusioned in the Gulf country.

First is the harsh weather with intense heat. Saudi Pro League clubs often practice in the evening due to the hot weather during the day, with temperatures often reaching 40 degrees in some areas.

Ronaldo in a training session with Al Nassr in the 2022-2023 season

Ronaldo himself also admitted that he had difficulty adapting to the weather conditions in Saudi Arabia. "The biggest difference I noticed here is obviously the high temperatures and adjusting the schedule to train later in the day when it's cooler," the Portuguese striker shared with LiveScore.

The second reason is the empty stands. Henderson is used to playing at Anfield with 50,000 seats and the busiest atmosphere in Europe. But in a match in November 2023, the English midfielder and Al Ettifaq had to play with 610 fans in the stands. But as of last month, this was the fifth smallest number of spectators in the Saudi Pro League.

Henderson was fed up with playing without an audience

Al Riyadh, the club ranked 15th out of 18 teams in the tournament, has held two matches with less than 150 spectators this season. Meanwhile, the confrontation between Abha and Al Hazm saw only 1.2% of the stadium filled, or 257 fans out of a total of 20,000 seats.

More than half of the Saudi Pro League teams have an average number of fans less than 10,000 people. Recruiting stars from around the world clearly does not create a big enough attraction for local people to come to the stadium to watch the matches live.

The third reason is the different social life in Saudi Arabia. The culture in the Middle East is a world away from what many players who have played in Europe will experience in their careers.

The girlfriend or wife who follows the players to Saudi Arabia is legally not allowed to go out alone in public, except in the special case of Cristiano Ronaldo's girlfriend - Georgina Rodriguez. Women in Saudi Arabia rarely drive even though a comprehensive ban was lifted in 2018. And all residents and visitors are also banned from drinking alcohol.

Because of these cultural differences, according to Sports Mail, Henderson, his wife and three children had to rent a house in Dammam - a city in neighboring Bahrain about a 55-minute drive on the highway from Al Ettifaq's home stadium. Here, although the English midfielder is hindered in traveling and competing, his family can live more comfortably because Bahrain has a more open culture. Henderson's wife Rebecca can comfortably wear clothes on her arms and legs to go out, walk around or shop at the supermarket - something they cannot do in Saudi Arabia.