Serie A president Casini worries about Saudi money and influence: FIFA and UEFA must act!

This is the current trend. Many football players are moving from Europe to Saudi Arabia, with Saudi Arabian teams dominating the transfer market financially. Serie A president Lorenzo Casini also commented on the topic. According to him, FIFA and UEFA must intervene to maintain competitiveness.

More names are being added to the list of players leaving Europe for lucrative offers in Saudi Arabia.

In addition to Cristiano Ronaldo and Anderson Talisca, the Al-Nassr club alone has brought in five players, while the Al-Ahli club has brought in the same number (7).

Karim Benzema, Neymar, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and the list goes on. What’s more, the list of players certainly doesn’t end there, there are others linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League.

One of the latest players to head to Saudi Arabia is Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, who scored a total of 111 goals in 206 games in a Fulham jersey. UEFA boss Aleksander Čeferin said in early July that he was not worried about the departure of the biggest stars.

This is because they cannot fight for the most valuable thing in Saudi Arabia – the prestigious European trophies. This summer transfer window proved how wrong he was.

FIFA and UEFA must take action!

Clubs and organisations in Europe are thus understandably starting to fear Saudi Arabia’s influence and money. The Serie A chairman, for example, is calling on FIFA and UEFA to take action, saying that competitiveness across football in Europe could be at risk, and of course towards Saudi Arabia.

“This is certainly a new phenomenon, other countries have done similar deals in the past. It has gone from phase one, when Saudi sheikhs used clubs like Manchester City, to phase two, when they want to bring European champions to their country,” Casini said in an interview with Extra TV, whose words were also quoted by Football Italia.

“It is clear that FIFA and UEFA have to take various measures to ensure they (the Saudis) do not jeopardise competitiveness. It needs, better to say it is important to see some reaction,” he added.

Source: Football Italia, Sporting News