The Saudi Pro League continues to edge closer to competing with Europe's elite competitions as lucrative contracts entice players who "work for money".
That was the message from Portuguese winger Fabio Martins, who switched Braga for Saudi Arabian football and plays his football for top-tier side Al Khaleej.
Martins' compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo – as well as Neymar, Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane, Jordan Henderson and N'Golo Kante – all followed suit with moves from Europe to the Middle East and have reaped financial rewards.
The ethics of those transfers, in a country where same-sex marriage is prohibited alongside questions over its human-rights record, have been scrutinised – but Martins understands why Europe's top talent are moving ashore.
Martins, a former Portugal youth international, told Stats Perform at the Thinking Football Summit: "I believe that all of us, players or not, work for money.
"You are a journalist and you work for money and I'm sure that if some brand or some [newspaper] came to you to give you more money to change your job, you will change it because all of us want money.
"I believe that people are free to choose what they want for their life. I'm not critical because I'm here too for sure.
"When I arrived here I came 80 per cent because of the money because they pay me much more than in Portugal, so it's a thing that I don't understand people judging the others because of his choices.
"We have freedom to choose what we want what we want for our life, and what we want for our career."
Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos labelled Gabri Veiga's move to Al-Ahli as "embarrassing" after the promising Celta Vigo youngster was tempted into a Saudi Arabia move.
But Martins insists players, whether at the end of their career or the start, cannot refuse the proposals on offer in case they do not come to fruition again.
"I understand Kroos because maybe he saw a lot of potential in Veiga, and he was kind of young [but at 21] if he gets one proposal like this, you don't know if in two, three or four years [that another proposal like this will come]," Martins added.
"I said a lot of times to the people beside me, around me, that in Portugal we say [the train does not stop in the same place twice].
"You get the proposal. You don't know if the proposal will come again with these numbers, with this money, so we have a time to say yes or say no and we have to make choices.
"I believe that all the players that are here are happy.
"The people around football and out of football, they all change places, they change jobs too because of the money, so I don't understand this judgement."
A plethora of Europe's top talent from the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga have joined the Saudi Pro League, as the Middle East look to close the gap on football's top competitions.
Martins believes the next step for the development of the Saudi Arabian top tier will come from investing in management and well-known head coaches.
He continued: "I believe the league still has a lot of potential to grow but without a doubt is getting closer to these big leagues.
"However, I think it's not in the same step yet.
"But with these kind of players arriving I think the one thing that I would invest in, if it was me with the money, is about the professionalism in the management too.
"I would bring some foreign managers to the clubs because with this level of investment, if you have good management too and not only good players, the league will grow much faster.
"With these and with a lot of sponsors and marketing, the league will grow and in three, four or five years, I think that the Saudi league will be in the level of the Premier League."
Vancouver Whitecaps v Minnesota United: Togetherness is key for hosts, says Veselinovic
Vancouver Whitecaps defender Ranko Veselinovic believes their togetherness will get them through their tough spot as they prepare to welcome Minnesota United in MLS.
The Whitecaps have already clinched a playoff spot, but have struggled in recent weeks, drawing one and losing three, with their last league win coming against San Jose Earthquakes on September 15.
They sit seventh in the Western Conference, with Minnesota just one place and one point below them, and Veselinovic hopes they can find a solution to their recent blip to put a bigger gap between them.
"We feel like we can do better," he said. "Seattle was a really poor performance, so we need to find a way to be better on Saturday.
"Now it's all about the mental side. We need to find a way, we don't know how yet, but we need to push through.
"The most important thing is to stay together in the locker room and get sharper in the duels and wanting to put in a better performance."
Meanwhile, Minnesota drew 0-0 with Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, failing to make it three wins on the bounce.
However, the draw was enough to clinch their playoff spot with two games remaining, though head coach Eric Ramsay is not going to ease up on the team.
"We really want to make sure that we focus on us, the upcoming games, and I've said from day one of this trip that we came here with a real sense of a mission and purpose," Ramsay said.
"We want to make sure that when we play that final home game that we are really playing for something with something secured."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Vancouver Whitecaps – Pedro Vite
Vancouver failed to score in an MLS game for the first time since early September and struggled to assert themselves in front of goal.
Pedro Vite showed their biggest threat, registering the most shots on target (two), had one of their three big chances, and had the most final third entries on the team (11).
Minnesota United – Bongokuhle Hlongwane
Minnesota also drew a blank in their most recent outing, but despite an underwhelming performance, Bongokuhle Hlongwane caused some problems.
He was responsible for 0.42 of their 0.77 expected goals (xG) and had the joint-most shots, but their top scorer could not find a breakthrough.
MATCH PREDICTION: VANCOUVER WHITECAPS WIN
Vancouver are unbeaten in their last three matches against Minnesota (W2 D1), scoring three times in both of those wins, while they also got the better of the Loons in a pre-season friendly in February.
After a three-match unbeaten streak in MLS straight after the Leagues Cup break, the Whitecaps are now winless in four (D1 L3). They also drew the Canadian Championship final before prevailing on penalties last month.
Meanwhile, Minnesota have lost just one of their last six matches (W4 D1), but are unbeaten in their last three, keeping a clean sheet in each of those after a run of five without a shutout in the league.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Vancouver Whitecaps – 46.8%
Draw – 26.4%
Minnesota United – 26.8%
Leicester's heads are not down as wait for a win goes on, says Cooper
Steve Cooper insists the mood at Leicester City is not downbeat as the Foxes' wait for a first Premier League win rolls into matchday seven.
Leicester fought back from 2-0 down away at Arsenal last time out, only for two goals in second-half stoppage time from the Gunners to break their resolve.
Attention now turns to a home game against Bournemouth, who beat Leicester's fellow promoted side Southampton 3-1 on Monday.
And though Leicester sit in 17th without a win to their name, Cooper is not down in the doldrums.
As reported by Leicestershire Live, he said: "We're not heads down and we're not of the mindset that we'll be okay either.
"Both of those mindsets are dangerous. We're in the middle of that, where we're frustrated that we haven’t been able to get more out of the games, but there's a constant determination to put things right.
"We have to make sure the mindset is right with the players. I really believe that will happen, convinced of it, that we will get what we want from this season."
One bright spark this season for Leicester came off the pitch, as they won an appeal that means they cannot be penalised by the Premier League for an alleged breach of the competition's financial rules in the 2022-23 season.
This means Leicester are extremely unlikely to be hit with a points deduction for that supposed breach.
"The landscape has definitely changed on that front," said Cooper.
"Even when that was looming over us, it wasn't interfering with our daily work either.
"What we want to achieve, as we decided on, it's still very much achievable. When we achieve it, we will look back and say it was a rocky road."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leicester City - Wilfred Ndidi
Bukayo Saka (five) is the only Premier League player with more assists than Ndidi (four) this season.
Ndidi's four assists is just one fewer than he managed in 32 Championship appearances last term, while it is already his joint-best in a single Premier League campaign (also four in 2020-21).
Bournemouth - Antoine Semenyo
Only Erling Haaland (31) has had more shots than Semenyo (28) in the Premier League this season, with Semenyo the only Bournemouth player to score more than once so far (three).
The Ghana international has also completed the most dribbles (eight) and had the most touches in the opposition box (34) of any Cherries player in the competition this term.
MATCH PREDICTION: BOURNEMOUTH WIN
Cooper has never beaten Bournemouth in five attempts in all competitions (D2 L3). It is the joint-most he has ever faced an opponent as a manager without ever winning (also five vs Manchester United).
Leicester have faced more shots than any other side in the Premier League this season (114), with their 34 faced against Arsenal last time out their most on record (since 2003-04) in a single match in the competition.
However, since winning four consecutive away league games in November/December last season, Bournemouth have won just three of their last 13 on the road (D3 L7), with two of those wins coming against sides in the relegation zone.
That being said, Bournemouth have won each of their last three Premier League games against Leicester, their joint-longest winning run against the Foxes in their league history (also three between 1987 and 1989).
Leicester have won just two of their 12 Premier League games against Bournemouth (D5 L5), with both of those victories coming at the King Power Stadium in 2019 (2-0 in March, 3-1 in August).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Leicester City - 31.5%
Bournemouth - 43.3%
Draw - 25.1%
Szoboszlai 'loving' midfield unity with Mac Allister and Gravenberch
Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai "loves" playing alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in Arne Slot's new-look midfield.
Szoboszlai had an up and down first season at Liverpool following a big-money switch from RB Leipzig.
The Hungary international has started eight of Liverpool's nine matches this season, including Wednesday's 2-0 win over Bologna in the Champions League.
Szoboszlai has formed a strong midfield trio alongside Mac Allister and Gravenberch, and he is revelling excelling in the unit.
He told Liverpool's official website: "I love to play with them. I said it before, a lot of qualities what these two have – but the whole team [as well].
"The midfield is not enough. Of course it's an important role but we need everybody, we need the bench as well, we need the whole squad because there's going to be times where it's going to be hard and I think there are still 60 games to come!"
Slot has been shortlisted for the Premier League's Manager of the Month award in September.
Liverpool sit top of the standings with 15 points, having won all but one of their league matches under Slot, losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in September.
"If you take the Nottingham Forest game away then it's a perfect start," added Szoboszlai.
"We are top of the league and we have to continue like this."
The Reds take on Crystal Palace in Saturday's early kick-off in the Premier League.
Slot is looking to become just the fourth manager in Premier League history to win each of his first four away games in the competition after Felipe Scolari (first eight), John Gregory (five) and Bobby Gould (four).
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Crystal Palace - Jean-Philippe Mateta
Mateta has scored 15 goals in his last 11 home games for Palace in all competitions, netting multiple goals in five of these 11 appearances (four braces, one hat-trick).
Liverpool - Mohamed Salah
Salah has scored in all three of Liverpool’s Premier League away games so far this season.
There have been nine previous occasions of a player scoring in his side's first four on the road in a single campaign – Salah could be the first player to do so twice (also in 2021-22).
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool have won all three of their Premier League away games this season – only in 1990-91 and 2019-20 have they ever won their opening four away games in a league campaign.
Palace, on the other hand, remain winless in their six Premier League games so far this season (D3 L3). Only in 1992-93 (eight), 1994-95 (seven), 2004-05 (seven) and 2017-18 (seven) have they gone longer without a win from the start of a top-flight campaign, being relegated at the end of the first three of those.
In 30 previous Premier League meetings between Palace and Liverpool, 14 have been won by the away side (47%). This is the highest away win ratio of any of the 109 fixtures to be played 30+ times in the competition's history.
Palace have conceded more Premier League goals against Liverpool than they have against any other opponent both overall (69) and at home (38). Indeed, the Reds are responsible for the Eagles' two biggest home defeats in the competition’s history (6-1 in August 1994, 7-0 in December 2020).
Each of Liverpool's last four Premier League defeats against Crystal Palace have come at Anfield – they are unbeaten in their last nine at Selhurst Park (W8 D1) since a 3-1 loss in November 2014.
Palace have lost 11 of their last 14 Premier League meetings with Liverpool (W1 D2), though that sole victory was in their last such meeting at Anfield in April.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Crystal Palace - 18.5%
Liverpool - 60%
Draw - 21.6%
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