Since January 2023, Saudi Arabia has invested massively in football and its local championship has largely attracted African internationals, attracted in particular by the staggering salaries. France 24 has prepared a list of five of these “exiled” players who will have the opportunity to show during CAN 2024 that their departure for the kingdom did not mean the end of their career at the highest level.
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The year 2023 was a year of big maneuvers in football for Saudi Arabia. Concluded with the award of the organization of the 2034 edition of the World Cup, it notably saw the kingdom go crazy in terms of transfers, bleeding the European championships of some of their biggest stars.
Ronaldo, then his former partner Benzema, were the first to launch the movement. Since then, several big names in world football have succumbed to the staggering salaries offered by Saudi clubs with almost unlimited means. And among them, a certain number of African players, starting with the former winners of the title of best player on the continent Sadio Mané and Riyad Mahrez.
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With five players from the Saudi Pro League, Senegal has the largest contingent of “Saudis”, followed by Cameroon (4). Ivory Coast and Morocco also have three each.
The CAN which opens on Saturday January 13 will be an opportunity for these players to show that their “Saudi exile” has not affected their talent or their ability to carry their selection.
Sadio Mané (Senegal, Al-Nassr)
Give honour where honour is due. The 2022 African champion and best player on the continent that same year, Sadio Mané, is clearly at the top of our list of Saudi Pro League players to watch.
A lot has changed for the Lion of Teranga since this title. Sadio Mané left Liverpool, the club that revealed him to the world and with whom he won everything, to join the ranks of Bayern Munich where he only had a lackluster year. It was therefore reluctantly that he chose to leave for Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2023.
Is the Sadio 2024 still as decisive? Coach Aliou Cissé believes it: “He is returning to his best level,” he tried to reassure.
Sadio Mané with Senegal: 100 matches played, 39 goals, 13 assists
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria, Al-Ahli)
At 32, the twirling left-hander from Algeria landed in the Saudi championship after a busy career: revealed during Leicester’s improbable title in 2016 (17 goals, ten assists), he immediately signed for Manchester City where he won every possible title on multiple occasions, with a treble of championship, FA Cup and Champions League as a finale.
However, the captain of the Fennecs is not satisfied. In 18 Saudi Pro League matches, he has already scored 8 goals and provided seven assists. The one who already brought Algeria to the title in 2019 wants to forget the pitiful elimination in the first round of 2022 for his fifth participation in the competition.
Riyad Mahrez with Algeria: 89 matches played, 30 goals, 40 assists
Yassine Bounou (Morocco, Al-Hilal)
On the shelves of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Yassine Bounou was finally transferred to the Saudi club Al-Hilal, where he now plays alongside Neymar.
A choice that has attracted attention as Bounou’s performances have established him as one of the best goalkeepers in the world in recent years. During his five years with Sevilla FC, he played 142 matches, kept a clean sheet 58 times, won two Europa Leagues (2020, 2023) and even scored a goal on the 28th day of the 2020-2021 Championship, snatching the equalizer against Valladolid in stoppage time. With Morocco, he was one of the architects of the epic that took the team to the semi-final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The best African goalkeeper of 2023 will have to once again show the extent of his talent if Morocco intends to break its curse at the African Cup.
Yassine Bounou with Morocco: 58 matches played, 36 without conceding a goal
Seko Fofana (Ivory Coast, Al-Nassr)
Ivory Coast international Seko Fofana is now teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr. The 28-year-old midfielder made the choice to leave RC Lens at a time when the club was preparing to return to the Champions League, on the strength of a season where the Ivorian helped the Sangs et Or to “chibble” his adversaries.
“There is the financial aspect, which, we must not hide it, is incredible. But we must not limit ourselves to that. We must come and see here, the clubs, the infrastructures. Every day, I trains with great players. I have just played eight matches in one month. I take great pleasure in everyday life. Really, I am at peace with my choice”, indicated the former winner of the Marc-Vivien Foé Prize, who However, he imagines returning to Europe by the end of his career. The CAN will be the perfect opportunity to catch the eye of recruiters while his start to the season with Al-Nassr is mixed.
Seko Fofana with Ivory Coast: 12 matches played, 5 goals, 1 assist
Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon, Abha)
Second prize Marc-Vivien Foé on this list, Karl Toko Ekambi will have the heavy responsibility of carrying out the attack of the Indomitable Lions with his friend Vincent Aboubakar. The two Cameroonians had multiplied the cannon fire in 2022 for their African Cup at home: 5 goals for “KTE” and a top scorer title for Aboubakar.
Unwanted in Lyon after his return from loan from Rennes, Karl Toko Ekambi chose Saudi Arabia to get back on track. And now intends to shine at the CAN with Cameroon, eternal favorite of the competition.
Karl Toko Ekambi with Cameroon: 57 matches played, 13 goals, 3 assists
All statistics come from the specialized site Transfermarkt and were recorded on January 5.