Saudi Pro League has gained a lot of mileage in recent years as plenty of top footballers have migrated to Saudi Arabia leaving settled careers in Europe.
The trend was started by Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo who moved to Al Nassr on 2023 and has been with the club since then.
In the last couple of years, several Premier League stars have also moved to Saudi Pro League and one such player is Ivan Toney, who is a former Brentford stalwart and now features for Al Ahli.
He moved to Al Ahli last summer from Brentford in a £40m deal and fast forward a year, it seems like a great investment for the Saudi outfit as Toney has hammered 34 goals last season across all competitions whilst guiding his team to the AFC Champions League crown.
Despite the Saudi Pro League's growth, a lot of players have been criticized for moving to the Middle East during the peak years of their playing careers.
However, Toney has reiterated Ronaldo's earlier statements of putting Saudi Pro League among the top European leagues.
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“Ronaldo has been around the world and probably knows a lot more than me as I have only played in the Premier League, the Championship and Leagues One and Two. For me, [the Pro League] is on a par with the Premier League,” Toney told The Guardian.
What did Toney say about Al Ahli's potential position in the Premier League?
Al Ahli are now the Champions of Asia, and they have an enviable team comprising of ex-Premier League stars like Riyad Mahrez and Edouard Mendy.
The 29-year-old striker firmly believes that Al Ahli have enough quality to finish in the top four of the Premier League right now.
“If [Al-Ahli] were in the Premier League, we’d give it a good go and we’d be close to the top four. It is a quality league and people should not turn their noses up. We saw Al-Hilal play against Man City and beat them.
“I was going to tweet but I would have got killed back home, so I kept my mouth shut. But people saw the quality of Hilal. The standard in Saudi Arabia is high. They can play football here. The players here are not as known as in the Premier League but there are many who can play there.”
Toney has continued his exceptional goalscoring form from Premier League to the Saudi Pro League and after a successful season with Al Ahli, he has raked up five goals in four games this season, proving his hunger and consistency in front of goal.
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