Al Hilal surge as Al Nassr stall in Saudi transfer window | OneFootball

Riyadh’s rivals are entering the summer in different shape. According to Goal.com, Al Hilal are accelerating, Al Nassr are stalling, with the Saudi window running from 22 July to 6 September.

Al Nassr are set to start without a signing amid a financial crisis, and have yet to replace Marcelo Brozovic after his contract expired. They pursued Real Mallorca midfielder Samu Costa at the request of Ange Postecoglou. Asharq Al-Awsat reports a fee of 9 million euros, but approval is pending under strict budget oversight.

Al Hilal have already secured five domestic additions. David Ornstein reports an 80 million euros agreement with West Ham for Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville, which would rank second in Saudi history behind Neymar at 90 million and ahead of Jhon Duran at 77 million.

Ben Jacobs says Roma’s final 46 million euros bid was almost half Al Hilal’s offer before the deal was sealed. The Riyadh club are also being linked with Alessandro Bastoni and Harry Kane.

The gap was clear in winter when Al Hilal made seven signings while Al Nassr landed only Abdullah Al-Hamdan on a free, prompting anger from fans and Cristiano Ronaldo. Officials said Al Hilal’s business sat outside recruitment committee funds and was backed by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. In April, Kingdom Holding Company bought 70% of Al Hilal for 840 million riyals, moving them out of PIF control, while Al Nassr remain PIF-owned and bound by committee limits amid reports of their biggest financial crisis.

Source: Goal.com