Barca chief criticises Saudi transfers, says ‘players are too focused on money’

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has criticised players accepting transfers to the Saudi Pro League this summer, insisting they are too focused on money.

The Saudi league have recruited aggressively this summer, offering enormous contracts to a number of players across Europe in an attempt to drastically increase the popularity of the division.

Even Barcelona are set to lose a player to the Saudi Pro League, with midfielder Franck Kessie closing in on a €15m (£13m) switch to Al Ahli, despite both Juventus and Tottenham exploring deals to keep him in Europe.

While the money is an obvious boost for Barcelona, Laporta believes players are making the wrong choices by moving to Saudi Arabia.

“When a player, and with all respect, prefers to go to Saudi Arabia, basically there are no sporting reasons,” he told CNN. “You know, there are other reasons that are the priority. And the football must be the priority – the sporting reasons must be the priority.”

Centre-back Clement Lenglet has also been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League but, like Kessie, also has interest from Tottenham, where he spent last season on loan.

Barcelona are looking to offload a handful of first-team stars this summer, although their need to raise funds has been reduced by the surprise exit of Ousmane Dembele, who is on the cusp of a €50m move to Paris Saint-Germain.

Barca had wanted to part ways with other wingers, namely Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres, but were rocked by Dembele’s desire to return to France and have agreed the terms of a sale.