Official: Benfica star to join Cristiano Ronaldo | OneFootball

It's official. Julian Weigl is the new addition to Al Qadisah, marking the departure of yet another player from European football to Saudi Arabia. The former Benfica player has permanently transferred to the Saudis for 8 million euros, coming from Germany's Borussia Monchengladbach.

The 29-year-old German midfielder will thus have his first professional experience outside of Europe, having signed a contract valid for two seasons with the Middle Eastern emblem, where he arrived to fill the void left by Ezequiel Fernández. The international player also has the option in his contract to serve a third season with Al Qadisah.

Julian Weigl had been at Borussia Monchengladbach for three seasons and had even asked to step down as the club's vice-captain at the beginning of this season, as confirmed by the German club's sports director, Roland Virkus.

Prior to Al Qadisah, there were rumors of another Saudi Arabian club interested in the player. Al-Shabab was willing to pay between 10 to 15 million euros to secure the midfielder's services, who ended up leaving Borussia Monchengladbach for a lesser amount.

Remember that the player arrived at Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 2022, on loan from Benfica, with a purchase option in the region of 7.17 million euros. The German emblem activated this clause and allowed the reds to recover a good part of the strong investment of 20M€ that they had made in the player who, at the time, was one of the most expensive transfers in the history of the reds.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.