“I thought more of my family than my career”. This is what Brazilian footballer Oscar had to say about his move to China in 2017. “China makes offers players can’t refuse”. What he said about China a few years ago now can be said about Saudi Arabia. However, such moves are met with extreme scrutiny, usually painted as greed. The general consensus in Europe at the time of Oscar’s move from Chelsea FC in the English Premier League to Shanghai SIPG in China was that he is wasting his career, as he was 25 and entering his peak. Why leave the best league in the world where you are being paid a massive salary and have the chance to be selected for your country for another league greatly lacking in quality just for even more money? Usually when a high level player in football leaves a top league for a higher paying but lower quality one, it is seen as a ‘retirement move’, to get one last major payday before retiring. Examples of this include Thierry Henry and David Beckham’s moves to the North American MLS at the ends of their illustrious careers. Sometimes however, some players view football as nothing more than a job rather than a passion, just as how some people work just to put food on the table, while others enjoy their careers and want to leave their field in a better place than when they entered it.
What was the Chinese League in 2017, is now the Saudi League in 2023. A foreign league with what it lacks in on the field quality, it makes up in astronomical wages and transfer fees. This then separates footballers into three categories, those who view it as just a job, those who love the sport and treat it as a passion, and a middle ground of those who treated it as a passion and are transitioning to making it ‘just’ a job. Gabri Veiga is a 21 year old Spanish footballer coming off a breakthrough season in Spain’s LaLiga for Celta Vigo. His performances caught the eyes of some of World football’s biggest teams, such as FC Barcelona and Liverpool FC. He instead however, opted to go to Saudi Pro League team Al-Ahli instead, who offered substantially higher wages than anyone else, shocking the football world. One of the game’s premier emerging talents was going to ply his trade in front of small crowds and a comparatively negligible TV audience, compared to the top leagues, and his chances of being called to the Spanish national team seem all but gone for the moment. Although not as early in his career, Oscar did something similar in 2017. He stressed that every football player is like every person who just wants to provide for their families. Especially in cases like his, where he came from a very poor socioeconomic background, the chance to make more money, the better, so that no one in his family ever has to go through what he and those before him did. Then there are some players, such as Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah, who are at the top of the world game, that flat out refused to leave, even when presented with what essentially was a blank cheque. Mbappe could have become the highest paid sportsman ever, earning in excess of a billion USD for no more than just a couple years of work. Despite that gargantuan offer, Mbappe has ambitions of becoming the best player in the world and winning several awards, as does Salah. Both insist that money isn’t everything, and while commendable, it must be remembered that both are some of the highest earners in the sport anyway, and hardly need a pay increase, even of such massive proportions. Finally, there are those who have ‘been there, done that’ and now realize their earning power is waning at the twilight of their careers, and move for a last chance at truly generational wealth. Two such examples are Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson, who both switched the English Premier League for the Saudi Pro League this past summer. Firmino’s contract with Liverpool was up and not renewed, as he was no longer the key figure he once was, and instead of offers from other top European Leagues, he opted for the biggest payday, as he already won all there was to win at club level in England, and also won a Trophy with his native Brazil. Henderson on the other hand more ‘forced’ his way out. Also a Liverpool player, he was firmly in the team’s plans for the upcoming season, but no longer as prominent a role as before. Realizing that this probably meant his time at the highest level is almost up, he requested that the club accepted a bid from Saudi Arabia so he could make more money than he ever has. He left Liverpool as their most successful modern day captain, and like Firmino also enjoyed a solid national team career as well.
Some players, such as Real Madrid and Germany’s Toni Kroos, completely shun the idea of moving to such leagues at all, preferring to retire on top. Everyone is different, and while some players want to go down as legends and have a true passion for the sport, others see it as no more than a golden ticket to generational wealth and have passions that lie elsewhere. Perhaps it can be seen as greed, as many of them make what an average person makes in multiple years in just a week. However, at the end of the day, most people would also move for a better salary, the matter of if how much money is too much for this to matter is an argument for another day.