The Saudi Pro League's four major transfer targets for 2026 revealed

Martin Macdonald

• 28 Sep 2025 11:00 CDT
• 3 min read

News

The Saudi Pro League is prepared to spend big again in 2026 despite failing to land some key transfer targets this past summer.

Even though some primary targets stayed put, hundreds of millions were still spent by the biggest clubs in the country.

Some of the biggest deals were Mateo Retegui joining Al-Qadsiah for €68.25m, Darwin Nunez leaving Liverpool for Al-Hilal for €53m and centre-back Mohamed Simakan heading to Al-Nassr for €35m.

Al-Quadsiah spent the most of any club with an outlay of €124.06m.

There was no marquee, Hollywood signing, but the SPL will try and entice some massive names to the country in 2026, as per talkSPORT.

Vinicius Junior

Once a Ballon d'Or hopeful at Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior's form in the Spanish capital has gone off a cliff over the last 12 months.

It all started after the arrival of Kylian Mbappe. Although no bad blood was actually reported between the pair, they regularly took up, and still take up, the same positions when on the pitch.

Following a blistering start to the new campaign it seems like Mbappe is the undisputed main man at Madrid and Vini won't be happy with that, with a move to the Saudi Pro League mentioned in the past.

An outrageous fee of €1 billion paid by Al-Ahli has been reported and although a deal is unlikely to happen for that fee, he could well become one of the highest-paid athletes in history if he moves to Saudi Arabia.

His signing-on-fee and wages could even eclipse that of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.

Bruno Fernandes

Fernandes was meant to be Saudi Arabia's marquee signing in 2025, but the Manchester United captain opted to remain at Old Trafford to try and help the club regain some sort of success under Ruben Amorim.

A reported €100m fee was agreed with Al-Hilal, but the Portuguese midfielder rejected the move despite wages of £700,000 (€801k) per week on the table.

United, and Fernandes individually, have started poorly this season and if things don't improve dramatically he may be more open to a Saudi Arabia move in 2026.

Bernardo Silva

Bernardo Silva is a legendary figure at Man City with over 400 appearances under his belt but by the time next season starts he will be 32-years-old and may fancy one huge payday before he hangs up his boots.

He was actually linked with a move away this past summer but insisted he would not be leaving Man City one year away from the World Cup.

It isn't outwit the realms of possibility that Silva retires from international football after the World Cup and then makes the lucrative switch to the Saudi Pro League.

His City contract expires next summer.

Harry Kane

Perhaps the least likely name on this list is Harry Kane as although he would naturally enjoy the huge sums of cash that come with a SPL move, he has unfinished business in the Premier League.

He recently became the fastest player to score 100 goals for a club in Europe's top five leagues, beating the previous record held by Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland.

Rumours of a return to England have emerged recently due to a release clause in his Bayern Munich contract and he has continually alluded to a dream of surpassing Alan Shearer's record for most goals scored in the Premier League.

Still, he'll likely be inundated with offers from Saudi.

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