Saudi Arabia League player values drop drastically: Neymar’s value down 16%

Since last January, the Saudi Arabian league has been spending mind-blowing sums of money on players from across Europe in an attempt to relaunch its league to the world. First came Cristiano and last summer the country managed to bring in world-class players from UEFA clubs such as Neymar, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mané.

At the end of the last transfer window, the value of their league from the large number of players they managed to sign amounted to more than €1.18 billion ($1.29b), according to Transfermarkt. However, after just three months, this value has fallen by more than 16% and now stands at less than €990 million ($1.08b).

Neymar’s value at an all-time low

Despite the large number of important players arriving from Europe, the league is not managing to increase their value; what’s worrying is that not only are they not rising, but that the vast majority are plummeting. As things stand, the most valuable player in the competition is Neymar.

The Brazilian is worth €45 million ($49m), €15 million less than when he signed last summer and an all-time low since he left Santos. His injury is likely to be the key factor in this dramatic collapse of a player who has barely been able to play more than a couple of matches with Al-Hilal. Other players such as Mané, Firmino, Milinkovic-Savic, Fabinho, Carrasco and Firmino have also dropped in value.

Which players in Saudi Arabia have kept their value?

The UEFA imports who are left over from that list are Cristiano and Benzema, and the two former Madrid players stand at €15 million ($16m) - their estimated value when they joined. Young players, such as Gabri Veiga and Aymeric Laporte continue to hold their value and have not seen a drop.

Both players could even have seen their value in Europe increase, but their departure to the Middle-East means that such a projection is now borderline impossible. One of the few players who has managed to increase his value is Spain’s Álvaro Medrán, by €500,0050 ($547k).

Despite the huge investment in transfers last summer by Saudi Arabia, a country which spent more than €800 million ($875m) on players, the value of their league has carried on with the sharp upturn and the value of their players has so far dropped like a stone. However, at this time last year, before beginning their quest to invest, the league was worth €311 million ($340m) and a year later it was worth €989 million ($1b), of course after investing more than €1 billion ($1.09b) in transfer fees alone.