Representative of the Asian Football Confederation refutes statements made by the president of UEFA

Hafez Al-Medlej, chairman of the Asian Football Confederation’s Marketing Committee, hit back at UEFA President Aleksander Ceferín’s criticisms and statements. The representative of the European entity had criticized the signings of renowned players, comparing the case with China, which practiced similar acts.

Hafez’s main dissatisfactions were not only the accusations that the athletes hired by the Saudis are at the end of their careers and of advanced age, but also the comparisons with the Chinese, who sought out stars and seduced them with large amounts of money in salary.

See too:
Check out everything about the ball market

“This speech is false (about players at the end of their careers). We don’t hire players who are finished. Al Hilal will hire Rúben Neves, who is 26 years old and was wanted by Barcelona. Benzema arrived at Al Ittihad, after winning the Ballon d’Or at Real Madrid”, declared Hafez Al-Medlej.

“We are just at the beginning. But all transferable players will be the target of Saudi clubs from now on. The experience in China has nothing to do with us, it was pure marketing. Football there is not popular. In Arabia we have a project of State and will not be limited to the big four teams, but to all. Because the Saudi passion for football has no limits”, he added.

Finally, the representative of the Asian Football Confederation regretted the departure of Lionel Messi to Inter Miami (USA), however, he stated that he will try to bring other stars such as Bernardo Silva, from Manchester City (ING), and Mohamed Salah, from Liverpool ( ING).

“Messi is the best footballer at the moment and his signing would have brought great value. But we are not going to compensate him with a substitute. We hope that Bernardo Silva from Manchester City will arrive. We should also start work on the signing of Mohamed Salah, who has great popularity in the Arab world and in Europe,” he concluded.

Some big names in European football have already signed up with Saudi Arabian clubs, such as N’Golo Kanté and Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad) and Ruben Neves (Al Hilal), as well as, for some time now, Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr).