The 10 most expensive signings in Saudi Pro League history after two years of massive spending

The Saudi Pro League (SPL) may have been founded in 1976 but it is their recent transfer business that has brought the league into the limelight of global football.

To the point that every one of their top 25 most expensive signings has come within the last five seasons and the entire top 10 joined the league in the last two years.

Here we run through the 10 most expensive signings in Saudi Pro League history.

10. Sadio Mane – £24m

Sadio Mane spent just one season at Bayern Munich after leaving Liverpool, with Al-Nassr swooping in to recruit the Senegalese forward for a fee estimated to be in the region of £24m on 1 August 2023.

In his first season in the SPL, Mane played 32 league games and scored 13 goals. He would also turn out in 14 other matches for the club, scoring four times in five King’s Cup matches.

Mane’s influence for Senegal has waned in recent seasons but he remains a popular figure and is noted for his philanthropic efforts in his home country.

9. Riyad Mahrez – £30m

Another former Premier League star found his way to the Saudi Pro League in the summer of 2023 when Riyad Mahrez joined the Al-Ahli squad on 28 July 2023.

Manchester City extracted a £30m fee for the former Leicester City star to end a spell in the Premier League that saw him play 284 top-flight matches with an incredible 142 goal involvements in that time.

Mahrez was a highly decorated player while in the Premier League earning winner’s medals with both Leicester City and Manchester City.

8. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – £34m

Former Lazio man Sergej Milinkovic-Savic arrived in the SPL on 12 July 2023 when Al-Hilal registered the Serbian after paying the Roman club £34m for his services.

With his help Al-Hilal extended their record for the most top-flight titles in Saudi Arabia with their 19th league win coming in the 2023/24 season.

In his first season with the club he played 30 league matches and contributed 11 goals and 12 assists.

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7. Fabinho – £40m

Liverpool might still have felt that Fabinho could have been a key player in the Premier League for a few more years but there was no earthly way they would be able to extract a £40m fee for the player if they played the waiting game.

The fee offered by Al-Ittihad was simply an offer that Liverpool could not refuse and they let him go on 31 July 2023.

He was brought in during the managerial reign of Nuno Espirito Santo but the Portuguese manager would get the sack in November as the ambitious club languished outside the continental qualification places.

6. Aleksandar Mitrovic – £46m

Serbia’s all-time leading goalscorer had flown under the radar at Fulham for some time before Al-Hilal came calling with another irresistible barrel of cash.

Mitrovic joined the most successful Saudi Pro League team for a fee that more than doubled the amount that has been paid for the player across his entire career.

He scored 28 goals in 28 matches in his first SPL season proving to be a great signing despite his monster fee.

5. Ruben Neves – £47m

Despite leaving Wolves for an eyewatering fee, Ruben Neves is not the club’s all-time record sale with his fee bettered in the same 2023 summer transfer window when Matheus Nunes went to Manchester City.

Al-Hilal would probably be happier with their purchase in comparison to the English Champions with Neves quickly becoming an important first team player for the team.

Wolves might be the big winners at the end of the day though, even if they had to replace two athletes in their prime.

4. Otavio – £51m

The Portuguese connection at Al-Nassr is a strong one with Ronaldo and coach Luis Castro entrenched as club leadership while Otavio joined them last summer.

He made a promising start to his SPL stint before sustaining an injury late last term.

The fee paid for him made him the joint second-most expensive player in the history of the league with FC Porto the beneficiaries of the windfall.

3. Moussa Diaby – £50.6m

Moussa Diaby joined the ranks of most-expensive Saudi Pro League signings in July 2024 when he agreed a transfer from Aston Villa to Al-Ittihad.

Al-Ittihad are a club unhappy with their current standing in the league and one that hopes to force its way into the elite group.

The club’s spending in the current window might not be over.

2. Malcom – £51m

At one point in the 2023 window, Brazilian winger Malcom was briefly the most expensive player ever signed to the Saudi league.

He joined Al-Hilal on 26 July, a few weeks before the blockbuster signing of compatriot Neymar dwarfed his then club and league record transfer.

With 15 goals and seven assists in the league, Malcom adjusted well to life in the SPL.

1. Neymar – £77.6m

The fee paid for Neymar exceeds what Barcelona paid to bring the striker to Spain but doesn’t come close to matching the crazy money PSG dropped for him.

He has seen more than £350m spent on him over just three transfers making him the player who has drawn the greatest transfer fees in the history of the game passing Romelu Lukaku.

The 32-year-old had a first season with the club disrupted largely by injuries.