You can just throw your money, or you can be like Al-Ahli

The four biggest Saudi clubs have unlimited power in the market, but one seems to be doing business smarter than the others. It is Al-Ahli. They don’t have Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane in the attack like Al Nassr, or midfield duo like Sergej Milinković Savić and Ruben Neves like Al Hilal or winner of the Ballon d'Or Karim Benzema, like Al Ittihad, but the impression is that Al-Ahli did the transfer window more thoroughly than the other members of the ‘big four’ of Saudis football.

Yesterday Kessie, today Ibanez! More than 100,000,000 euros were spent, and it doesn't end there

The club from Jeddah is working to strengthen all lines of the team, while others concentrated mostly on one part of the field (attack or midfield). With Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez and Alain Saint-Maximin, Al-Ahli formed an attacking trio that even the biggest clubs in Europe would not be ashamed of. In midfield they have Franck Kessie, and in defense former Roma regular Roger Ibanez, while former Champions League keeper Edouard Mendy is between the posts. They spent 120,000,000 euros on the mentioned players and brought them the talented expert Matthias Jaisle, who will give them instructions from the bench. It should be noted that the former Leeds left back Ezgjan Alioski and the experienced offensive midfielder Ryad Boudebouz were in the club before all this madness started.

Rio Ferdinand: "I would have gone to Saudi Arabia in my prime"

But the club does not intend to stop there. The next big name from Europe will be Merih Demiral, who will only strengthen the wall in front of Mendy's goal. Italian media report that Al-Ahli has agreed with Atalanta to buy the Turkish stopper for 20,000,000 euros.Two Premier League clubs have reportedly shown interest in Demiral, but it seems that they failed to match Al-Ahli’s offer, which is a three-year contract worth 36,000,000 euros.

Bobby's on fire! That's how you announce yourself at a new club!

In parallel with Demiral's arrival, the club from Jeddah is also working on hiring Piotr Zielinski. The Pole still has a year left on his contract and is getting closer to moving to Saudi Arabia, so the Italian champions are working hard to bring in a replacement. The first pick is Celta footballer Gabri Veiga, with whom Napoli has an agreement on personal terms, but has not yet found a common language with the club from Vigo, who is asking for over 35,000,000 euros.