22/08/2024【Feature】Dejan Damjanovic - Saudi Pro League analysis

Dejan Damjanović – Saudi Pro League
Dubbed “Asia’s Ibra” by FC Seoul fans for a playing style similar to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Dejan Damjanovic is the highest-scorer ever in ACL with 42 goals and spent a long and fruitful career in Asian football leagues such as SPR, KD1 , CSL and HKPL.

Damjanovic: Al Hilal favourites to retain Saudi Pro League title
It’s amazing how many stars now play in Saudi Arabia and there’s no doubt the level is increasing. When Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Al Nassr it was unbelievable, but now it’s normal for world class players to play there.

For sure, Al Hilal are the best team, the defending champions and favourites to win it again. It’s not just their foreigners like Neymar, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ruben Neves that make them great, but also the many Saudi internationals like Salem Al Dawsari – so strong all over the pitch!

I don’t see any weaknesses, but naturally injuries to key players could give others a chance.

Al Nassr have the best chance of challenging Al Hilal. Ronaldo is one year older, so can he maintain his high scoring rate? We’ll see. But Sadio Mane and Talisca are great talents in attack while, with Aymeric Laporte, they’re also good defensively. However, they were sloppy to concede four in the Super Cup final defeat to Al Hilal at the weekend.

Al Ittihad were the biggest disappointment last season – so many stars but they finished fifth! With N’Golo Kante and Fabinho, they have an unbelievable base in midfield, but if they are to challenge, they need Karim Benzema to score 20+ goals. New signing Moussa Diaby should also add more fluidity going forward.

Then there’s my old team, Al Ahli Jeddah – they had a great season to finish third and will look to improve further. They looked sharp in the recent Super Cup against Al Hilal (losing on penalties) and with Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez and Gabri Veiga have high quality. A great offense and perhaps the potential to compete.

Away from the big four there are also many top players – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Al Qadsiah, Georginio Wijnaldum at Al Ettifaq and Giacomo Bonaventura – who I’m looking forward to seeing – at Al Shabab, so this is why the league is so exciting.

And while they don’t have many stars, Al Taawoun consistently perform well and were fourth last time, so I expect another strong season from them.

In the end, Al Hilal are the most likely to end up champions but, personally, I’m cheering for Al Ahli and Firmino!

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