Former Chelsea and Super Eagles left-back, Michael Emenalo, has revealed the Saudi Pro League’s plans for the big Premier League footballers, Soccernet.ng reports.
After retiring from football, the former Enugu Rangers full-back accrued experience with Chelsea as an assistant manager, and later as a Technical Director with the London side. He also worked with AS Monaco in France as a Sporting director.
Earlier this season, the 57-year-old was appointed the Saudi Pro League’s chief football executive, leaving him the sole task of overseeing football affairs in Saudi Arabia, focusing on developing the competition and the teams.
Speaking in an interview with the Telegraph, Emenalo revealed his plans for the Saudi Pro League after they’ve drawn big footballing names like Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.
However, the former Monaco Sporting director isn’t satisfied with the motive, citing that the ambition of the league is to create an “absolute top product” where the likes of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe want to play.
Salah was the subject of a failed £150 million bid from Al-Ittihad last year and has one more year left on his Liverpool deal. In the same way, De Bruyne, 32, has the same period remaining on his contract with Manchester City and Emenalo believes they can help the Saudi League achieve their goal.
“It does help that on a public level, their performance is there, their quality is indisputable. All things being equal, which means their clubs, the players, management, our situation, our stakeholders and everybody, these are the types of players that can significantly improve what we’re trying to do. There’s no hiding away from that,” the former Notts County defender told the Telegraph.
In his playing days, Emenalo racked up 14 appearances for the Super Eagles of Nigeria, playing in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.