Necessity is the mother of inventions, but sometimes it can be resurgence too. The fall and rise of Cristiano Ronaldo has been like a string, influencing a lot of incidents in soccer. After his multimillion-dollar move to Saudi Pro League’s Al Nassr FC, the exodus of European players has been uncontrollable. Top teams’ regular starters are increasingly open to moving to the east. Manchester City is one of the teams that has lost a couple of players to this trend. Recently, one of Erling Haaland’s teammates on the English side expressed his concerns on the same.

Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries have been successful in injecting money into European football. But the last 8 months have caused a major shift in the soccer market. That also brings us to the question; Is soccer moving away from Europe?

Champion’s League star takes a dig at authorities

Manchester City has had a dream run for the past few years, but last season has been exceptional. After winning the treble, it had to give up two of the main positional players, Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez. City’s midfielder, Rodri, recently spoke out against authorities’ lack of effort to contain the mass move to Asia.

“European football loses with this situation. I imagine that we will have to somehow control this escape of talented players,” said the Spanish midfielder.

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Rodri called Europe to be the biggest bearer of the loss. Since Europe has been a prime anchor for the sport, this shift in attention is definitely causing a bit of jittery.

Rodri insisted the authorities find ways to avoid so many players shifting to Saudi. Players like Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firminho, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Aymeric Laporte, and many others who aren’t at their fag end still chose Saudi.

With the transfers of Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, the initial outlook hinted at players going there toward the end of their careers. But the aggressive paychecks have managed to bring young blood out of Europe. That leads us to a major concern- Is Europe not the center of soccer anymore?

Is the focus moving out of Europe?

Rodri’s statement just hints at a small seed of insecurity laid in the hearts of European Soccer. Rodri also felt that players choosing money was fine, but it’s the authorities’ ability that should be able to stop them. The cluster moves to the Saudi Pro League and also the MLS at a very small scale, with the move of Lionel Messi may trigger some changes in soccer dynamics. The boost Asian football receives with these moves is massive and can stimulate a sporting renaissance in the largest continent in the world.

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The Saudi transfer window closed on 7th September and the result exceeded expectations. It also saw rejected transfers of Kylian Mbappe, Mohamed Salah, Luka Modric, and a few other top players. Does European soccer or the most watched league ‘the Premier League,’ feel the need to act on the concern?

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The FFP rules and regulations only operate within the UEFA, and the investments coming from the Middle East are very appealing. With few players choosing to leave Europe and few staying, it has to be seen how things go about.