Cristiano Ronaldo is good at keeping Al-Nassr and Saudi Arabian football in the headlines.
“I opened the way to the Saudi league and now all the players are coming here,” he said earlier this week.
Whether he “opened the way” is debatable, but there is no doubt that following his arrival in January, the quality of imports has moved to the next level.
He must have been pleased on Tuesday when Al-Nassr announced the signing of Seko Fofana.
Ronaldo had said: “In one year, more and more top players will come to Saudi. In a year the Saudi league will overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league.”
The comments may have provoked huge debate but there is little doubt that any club in Amsterdam or Istanbul, or in fact in any league, would love to sign a player of Fofana’s quality.
The 28-year-old arrives in Riyadh following a spell as captain of RC Lens, the team that finished second in France last season, just a point behind champions Paris Saint-Germain.
The Ivory Coast international was last season an integral part of a team that qualified for the UEFA Champions League, making 35 appearances and scoring seven goals.
A year earlier his record was three more games played and an extra goal scored. It is impressive consistency. Overall, he played 112 times for the club and scored 21 goals.
Fofana has developed into a goalscoring midfielder; that much is clear from his stats.
This spells danger for Al-Nassr’s rivals. With the threat from Ronaldo as well as Anderson Talisca, who ended last season as the second-highest scorer in the league, there is some serious firepower at the club.
When you consider that Marcelo Brozovic has arrived from Inter Milan as one of the best defensive midfielders around, it gives those with attacking threat greater possibilities to go forward, safe in the knowledge that a world-class star is behind them.
Lens provided one of the stories of the European season with their second-place finish.
Fofana was a major part of that team and it was no secret that he was wanted by many big sides in England. Liverpool were reported to have been watching the player in the second half of the French season and there has also been interest from the likes of Newcastle and West Ham.
It is a measure of how much impact he had with the French club that he received an unusual goodbye from the side’s CEO.
Arnaud Pouille said: “As proof of his deep attachment to Racing, he will very shortly become the first player to leave the club to become a shareholder.
“Far from being a mere announcement, this concrete commitment is a strong act that anchors our relationship over time and underlines Seko’s confidence in the club’s future.”
That Fofana has occupied such a central role on and off the pitch with Lens bodes well for Al-Nassr.
He told Lens fans in a social media post: “I leave you with the feeling of accomplishment and pride at being a part of this history which is ours.”
Fofana is also swapping the UEFA Champions League for the Asian edition.
Lens would be seen as outsiders to progress past the group stage in Europe but Al-Nassr are expected to go far in the Asian tournament.
Unlike bitter Riyadh rivals Al-Hilal, who hold the record with four continental championships, Al-Nassr have never been crowned as Asia’s best team, a final appearance back in 1995 being the closest they have got to the honor.
Al-Nassr will be one to watch in Asia and with such recruitments as Fofana, Ronaldo’s predictions may not be too wide of the mark. Fofana looks to be a great signing for the club.
