English clubs warned over Saudi Pro League transfer amid Fifa probe
English clubs have been warned to think twice before selling players to Saudi Pro League teams after Welsh champions The New Saints lodged a complaint with Fifa over unpaid fees.
The ambitious competition has spent heavily in recent transfer windows on luring big-name talent such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar to the Middle East.
But The New Saints owner and chairman Mike Harris claims that Al-Orobah have failed to pay any of the £190,000 fee they agreed when they signed striker Brad Young in September.
“We’re due our transfer fee – not a penny has come. Our transfer fee hasn’t been paid. We’ve reported it to Fifa,” Harris told BBC Radio Wales.
“We can’t even get hold of the club, so I’d be saying to any club thinking of selling a good prospect to Saudi Arabia to not do the deal unless the cash is in your bank before the player goes. No other club should be taken in by the promises of riches that don’t turn up.”
Fifa told the BBC that it had received a complaint from The New Saints over payments due from Al-Orobah for Young and that the matter was pending a hearing before a tribunal.
A spokesperson for The New Saints said they expected a decision to be made by Fifa’s Player Status Chamber on Tuesday 14 January.
Harris said that the first of two installments was due in September and did not arrive despite them giving Al-Orobah 16 days’ grace. He added that the second amount was due last week.
Former Aston Villa trainee Young, 22, was the league’s top scorer and player of the year as The New Saints won the Cymru Premier last season.
He made a good start to this campaign as the club qualified for the Uefa Conference League group stage but is yet to score for his new club, playing just 119 minutes in total.
Al-Orobah currently lie 13th of 18 teams in the Saudi Pro League and are not one of the four biggest spending teams majority owned by the PIF, the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The Saudi Pro League has been contacted for comment.