Chelsea duo the latest to be offered mega Saudi deals this summer

The Blues could be set to lose a pair of stars to the middle east

June 06, 2023 at 11:40 am GMT+1

Chelsea pair Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and N’Golo Kante have both been offered lucrative deals to move to Saudi Arabia, following in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.

The move is part of a wider aim to bring quality football to the Saudi League, with the Saudi government fund (Public Investment Fund) having acquired four of the League’s clubs in a bid to fund more talent arriving in the middle east.

As part of today’s announcement of the Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project, four Saudi clubs – Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, Al Nassr, and Al Hilal – have been transformed into companies, each of which is owned by #PIF and non-profit foundations for each club. pic.twitter.com/TNZcbIniUE
— Public Investment Fund (@PIF_en) June 5, 2023

Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have already made their moves to join, while contract offers have been sent to all of Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba.

Now, they have seemingly turned their attention to Premier League veterans, and N’Golo Kante (out of contract this summer as things stand) has received a 100m euro per year offer to swap west London for Saudi Arabia this summer.

Al-Ittihad (who Karim Benzema is set to join) and Al-Nassr (Ronaldo’s side) are both keen on recruiting the Frenchman, who had previously been expected to stay at Chelsea and was ‘close’ to signing a new deal back in March.

The midfielder is not alone, however, with clubs also courting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabon star has previously revealed that he would be keen to return to Barcelona, but like many his dream may be thwarted by their financial issues this summer.

Certain to leave Chelsea this summer, both Al Ahli and Al Shabab have ‘approached’ the Gabon striker over a potential move, despite Aubameyang prioritising a place in European football.

Bought for £12m just 12 months ago, Aubameyang managed just 550 minutes in the Premier League and was left out of the Champions League squad for the second half of the season.