Barcelona President Says Players Move to Saudi Not Because of Football; Offers Insight on How To Improve Their League

(Photo : LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images) Barcelona's President Joan Laporta presents documents as he addresses a press conference at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on April 17, 2023.

Players from top European football leagues continue to move to Saudi's Pro League, usually for a salary that surpasses their earnings from their previous clubs.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said the exodus of players to the Gulf region is not for sporting reasons, which is why he feels fortunate that Barcelona is the kind of club players dream of playing for.

"They like our club for the way that we manage the club, for the kind of players that we had in the past and in the present," he said in an interview with CNN Sport.

"And when a player, and with all respect, prefers to go to Saudi Arabia, basically there are no sporting reasons. You know, there are other reasons that are the priority. And the football must be the priority - the sporting reasons must be the priority."

This is not the first time a top football official pointed to money as the main reason players join Arabian clubs.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin pointed out last June that only the older players move to Saudi and that "At the end of their career, some players go somewhere to earn some money."

Laporta offers to fix Saudi Pro League

Ceferin said Saudi should learn from China's mistakes of aiming only for older players instead of investing in the young ones.

Laporta seconded this take by the UEFA chief. He offered to help the Saudi government, saying they should make associations with European clubs to develop their academies.

"Maybe with academies of football, but at the same time with a direct association in order to improve the quality of these teams in terms of football," he said.