'Needs to be stopped': Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville seek action against Saudi transfers

Why you’re reading this: Football has changed completely in the past eight months after Cristiano Ronaldo decided to join Al Nassr for free and became the highest-paid athlete of all time. Since then, the football transfer window has witnessed players from Europe interested to join Middle-East clubs for huge amounts of money. Former Premier League stars Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville made a bold statement on the latest transfer news as they find it disturbing.

3 things you need to know

• Karim Benzema left Real Madrid to join Al-Ittihad
• Ngolo Kante left Chelsea to join Al-Ittihad
•  Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy are reported to join Saudi Arabian clubs

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Will Premier League impose bans on transfers to Saudi Pro League

According to the reports, The Premier League would not impose a ban on transfers to the Saudi Pro League. But every deal will be evaluated in light of the new guidelines. Cristiano Ronaldo made the first big move to Saudi Arabia in January, and the Middle East teams are now looking to flex their financial strengths to bring Europe’s top stars into their league. Chelsea stars like Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy could reportedly follow the footsteps of Ngolo Kante to the middle east.

Several more Blues stars, namely Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy, are expected to follow. It has also come to light that Chelsea owners, Clearlake Capital, received funding from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Despite this, they deny any wrongdoing or unfavourable incentives.

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Other Premier League stars like Ruben Neves coould be en route to join Al-Hilal for over £40m. But Premier League could reportedly affect the plan of the Saudi investors with its new Fair Market Value rules, and they will be regulating the transfer of players without initiating any transfer ban. The Premier League will be evaluating each agreement to make sure it is a fair representation of each player's value, and if it is determined as excessive, teams will be required to make up the difference.

What did Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher say about the latest transfer news?

While Talking to the BBC, Manchester United legend and football pundit Gary Neville said,

 “The Premier League should put an instant embargo on transfers to Saudi Arabia to ensure the integrity of the game isn’t being damaged. Checks should be made on the appropriateness of the transactions. If it comes through that process, obviously transfers could open up again.

Neville's former rival and punditry partner Jamie Carragher shared similar views and has voiced his concern over the speculations that Manchester City star Bernardo Silva may be the next name to head to Saudi Arabia. Given that the Portuguese star is still in his prime after winning a treble and that the previous players who have left have been in their 30s, he said, 

"Bernardo Silva is in his peak years & has been one of the best players in Europe for the last five years! I wasn’t worried about the Saudi League taking players in their 30’s, a touch worried with players below the elite (Neves) but if this happens it feels like a game changer. "Saudi have taken over Golf, the big Boxing fights & now they want to take over football!! This sports washing needs to be stopped!"

Both pundits believe that Saudi Arabia is a big threat to football as the directors and clubs want to sign the big stars from Europe and bring them to the Middle East in order to develop their league which is currently ranked in the 60s.