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TONE DEAF
Ivan Toney moving to Saudi Arabia should shock the football world… but the Premier League is still the place to be
Ronald Koeman blasted one Dutch player for making Middle East move
A GOLD RUSH of English Prem stars to Saudi Arabia seems inevitable after Ivan Toney’s move for a basic £16.7million-a-year wage.
For a long time, the oil-rich state’s teams have attracted ageing stars with their best footballing years and trophies behind them.
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From Cristiano Ronaldo to Neymar and Karim Benzema . . .
But, more often than not, the biggest names were more tempted by royal sums of riyals than the sandy kingdom’s football titles.
Yet Toney is different, an England international striker and, at 28, a coup for Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli. It is also a warning for our league’s reputation as the wealthiest and world’s best.
With his example set, England’s top players will be a tasty target for the state-sponsored league.
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At Brentford, he earned £50,000 a week — now he gets about ten times that amount in Jeddah.
Goalscorers are often football’s best-paid stars — at Bayern Munich Harry Kane makes roughly the same as Toney — but while there has been no English football mass exit to Germany, Saudi Arabia is a greater financial attraction.
It also offers last big pay days for those veteran players who have more or less decided their international career is coming to an end.
But Toney and Dutch star Steven Bergwijn are different propositions. The former Tottenham and Ajax winger is only 26.
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Holland manager Ronald Koeman said he had not considered Bergwijn for selection after his Al-Ittihad move.
He warned: “The book is basically closed to him. When you are 26, your main ambition should be sporting, not financial.”
Inside the private jet flight with England heroes Declan Rice and Ivan Toney playing Uno to relax
Sky-high wages have protected Premier League clubs from a good deal of rivalry from other leagues. It has become football’s Hollywood.
The Saudi challenge to this primacy is as direct as a gunshot and the inevitable rise in football standards there is bound to intensify their bidding.
The damage will never equal that already inflicted to the standard of Brazil’s competitions. For 15 years, the flight of their footballers to the Pro League has been epic in scale.
This season, 57 countries will be represented in the league and it is less than a surprise that Brazil top the list with 25 players tempted away.
England with three are also-rans, while Scotland are on two.
Winger Demarai Gray, 28, is a classic type of expat. He had a sound career with Birmingham, Leicester and Everton and made the England international squad before representing Jamaica.
A year ago he left for Al-Ettifaq, who finished 48 points behind champions Al-Hilal — themselves currently worth about £500m.
An average Pro League crowd is about 8,000. Yet the Saudi Public Investment Fund has spent prodigiously on many sports in continuing efforts to improve its worldwide reputation.
Yes, the state has zillions to throw at sport and football in particular.
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In contrast, England has huge crowds, competitive leagues, a decent infrastructure, top teams and players, high wages and tradition.
The Prem also looks after the whole pyramid — giving away about 20 per cent of its income to the EFL, WSL, PFA, FA and grassroots football. You can’t beat that with just mountains of money.
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