A fate Ronaldo escaped: five legends the Saudi League ruthlessly cast out in the transfer window
Historic moments experienced by the Saudi league during the transfer window
The Saudi Roshn League has just come through an extraordinary transfer window, one that saw several legends leave, the very men who launched the historic era the competition is now enjoying.
Three glorious years they spent driving their teams to remarkable achievements. Yet their clubs showed no mercy, cutting them loose to slash costs and shed the enormous salaries they commanded.
You can discuss topics and news in greater depth on the Kooora forums
Karim Benzema
Karim Benzema stood out among them. Al-Hilal opted to reach a financial settlement with the French striker and release him for free, less than half a season after signing him.
Three years in the Saudi league came to an end for Benzema. It all began at Al-Ittihad, the club he joined in the summer of 2023 after leaving Real Madrid, where he spent two and a half seasons and racked up 54 goals and 17 assists in 83 matches.
His crowning achievement came in 2024-2025, when he fired Al-Ittihad to the first domestic double in the club's history. He lifted the Roshn League title, collected the award for its best player and added the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup.
Disputes over a new contract changed everything. Benzema moved to Al-Hilal in last winter's transfer window, spending half a season with the club and contributing 10 goals and 5 assists in 16 matches.
Game time was limited, yet Benzema still played his part in Al-Hilal's Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup triumph. The Saudi club then settled on his departure at the start of the current season.
Riyad Mahrez
Algerian star Riyad Mahrez is another player to have won three titles in three years before leaving the Saudi league. The former Al-Ahli winger delivered on the biggest stage.
Signed from Manchester City in the summer of 2023, Mahrez went on to score 37 goals and provide 50 assists across 122 matches for the club over three years.
His most prominent contribution came as Al-Ahli were crowned AFC Champions League Elite winners for the first time in their history, with the winger finishing as the leading assist provider in the 2024-2025 edition.
Mahrez did not stop there. Just as he promised the Al-Ahli fans, he delivered a new Asian title to the club last season. He also won the Saudi Super Cup for the second time in its history, and the first after a nine-year absence.
Al-Ahli still decided to part ways with Mahrez at the end of last season, unilaterally terminating a contract that ran until the end of the current campaign.
Since his departure, the Algerian's name has been linked with a return to the Roshn League, but not through Al-Ahli. Al-Shabab lead the chase, though he was also one of the candidates to join Al-Ittihad.
A free agent following the termination of his Al-Ahli contract, Mahrez can move to any club without waiting for the winter transfer window.
Franck Kessié
Like Mahrez, Al-Ahli let one of their legends go when his contract expired at the end of last season: Ivorian midfielder Franck Kessié.
Kessié departed after three years at the club. He arrived from Barcelona in the summer of 2023 and racked up 26 goals and 15 assists in 119 matches.
Nobody will forget his goal in the 2024-2025 AFC Champions League Elite final. It combined with Brazilian Wenderson Galeno's strike to earn Al-Ahli their first continental title of that kind.
The Ivorian played his part in the second Asian triumph last season too, striking crucial goals in the knockout rounds and adding another to win the 2025 Saudi Super Cup.
None of it mattered when Al-Ahli chose to end Kessié's story after last season. The fans still remembered, though, and even called for his return before he moved to Atalanta on a free transfer.
Fabinho
Midfield delivered another remarkable Saudi league tale, and its hero was Brazilian star Fabinho at Al-Ittihad.
Fabinho arrived at Al-Ittihad from Liverpool in the summer of 2023. He went on to feature 111 times across all competitions, scoring 7 goals and providing 9 assists.
Those numbers look modest, yet the Brazilian carved his name in lights at the Al-Inma Stadium, leading Al-Ittihad to a historic season that delivered the Roshn League and King's Cup double.
Whenever Al-Ittihad's stars faltered from the penalty spot, the likes of Karim Benzema, Fabinho was the man they turned to. He never let them down.
His own hopes, though, were the ones dashed. "The Dean" chose to release him at the end of last season, then struggled to replace him, cycling through Senegal's Dion Lopy, Colombia's Richard Rios and finally the Dutchman Georginio Wijnaldum.
The former Liverpool man, meanwhile, headed back to Europe. A free transfer took him to Turkey's Trabzonspor, reuniting him with his old Anfield team-mate, Egyptian star Mohamed Salah.
Marcelo Brozovic
Marcelo Brozovic followed the same path out of the door, the Croatia midfielder leaving after his Al-Nassr contract expired at the end of last season.
He'd arrived from Inter Milan in the summer of 2023, snatched from under the nose of Barcelona following a fierce battle for his signature.
Over three years, "Brozo" made 124 appearances for Al-Nassr, scoring 8 goals and setting up 23 more.
The Croatian lifted only the Arab Club Champions Cup in his first two seasons. He signed off in style, though, driving the club to their first Saudi Roshn League title in seven years.
Al-Nassr cut ties the moment they got their hands on the trophy. His contract had run down, and the 33-year-old remains without a club to this day.
A fate that eluded Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has topped the Saudi league scoring charts in two of the last three seasons and blew past the 100-goal mark in roughly three and a half campaigns. Yet the Al-Nassr captain still faces criticism, and it has now gone as far as calls for the Portugal star to be shown the door.
That suggestion came from Al-Hilal legend Sami Al-Jaber after Al-Nassr slipped to a 2-1 defeat against Al-Ittihad last Saturday at the Al-Inma Stadium in Jeddah, in the fifth round of the Saudi Roshn League.
Al-Jaber urged Al-Nassr's board to release Ronaldo over his dip in form, just as Al-Hilal did with Karim Benzema. Al-Ittihad legend Mohammed Noor rejected the idea, pointing to the value the Portuguese brings to the Saudi league.
Ronaldo's deal with Al-Nassr runs out at the end of this season, and he has already admitted this campaign may be his last on a football pitch.
Should "the Don's" words prove true, the Saudi league will not host his farewell alone. Football itself will wave goodbye to one of its greatest players of all time.
