Saudi sport’s shiniest bauble celebrated his 40th birthday last week. It is rare for a player to still be producing consistent excellence in football at that stage of life, but Cristiano Ronaldo is defying the ageing process.
Even in his football dotage, he remains the centrepiece of the Saudi Pro League’s big push to raise standards, as well as credibility.
But if there was something proved on a busy week in Riyadh, it is that – Ronaldo aside – the Saudi sports project is looking increasingly youthful.
On Monday night, Jhon Duran was welcomed as if he was the new Ronaldo by Al Nassr’s fans, when he debuted in their AFC Champions League thrashing of Dubai’s Al Wasl.
The Colombian striker is just 21, and has opted to forego the pizzazz of the Premier League in the UK, where he was playing for Aston Villa, for the SPL.
The next night, a few miles across the capital city, Al Hilal further emphasised Saudi’s dominance in football on this side of the continent, as they crushed Persepolis of Iran. It was their first continental fixture since Neymar was shipped back to Brazil with an eye-watering golden handshake to see him off.
Neymar’s injury-cursed time in the Kingdom brought more eyeballs than playing time.
In many ways, he was emblematic of the first wave of the project: an ageing star of massive global renown, whose output on the field was not necessarily the main reason for being recruited.
Eighteen months on, the landscape is already different. Increasingly, players are arriving who are of a far different profile.
Hilal’s line up in their 4-1 win, for instance, included Kaio Cesar, a 20-year-old Brazilian who was courted by a number of Europe’s top clubs before settling on Riyadh as his new home.
His compatriot, Marcos Leonardo, has been a revelation in his debut season for Hilal. He is just 21 and again attracted interest from the established behemoths of football before he left Benfica.
There were over 50 signings made by Saudi clubs in the January window, of which over half were players aged 23 or under.
Similar is now starting to show in golf, which is one of the other sports in which Saudi investment has so noticeably disrupted the established order.
Golf and football are not like markets. LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour, has been different to football in that it has been able to attract players in their prime, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm.
Its latest intake includes some who have well-touted promise, but have yet to establish themselves as global stars.
Having finished in a tie for sixth at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last month, Tom McKibbin made his debut at LIV Golf Riyadh this weekend.
As with the rest of the tour’s influx of stars, there is no doubt a significant financial incentive behind him joining the tour. But McKibbin was a teenager when the first LIV tournament was played, two and a half years ago. Still impressionable enough, you might assume, for it to make a mark.
The Northern Irishman betrayed his youth when terming almost everything “cool” about his new work environment at Riyadh Golf Club this week.
“Being young, 22, I have watched this for the past couple of years since it started,” said McKibbin, who enjoyed a victorious debut as part of Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team.
“It is something I have really liked to watch, something very different, and something that probably appeals to more people my age.
“The opportunity to get to play with some of these guys here, and learn from some of the best players in the world, week in, week out, is something that appealed very, very nicely to me.
“I just liked the whole concept of everything. It is something from a younger age that I liked. The atmosphere of it was something cool and something new, and I am looking forward to it.”
LIV Golf is not exclusively homed in Saudi. In fact, this weekend was the first time a tournament has been played in Riyadh since the breakaway tour started staging events in 2022. Jeddah, has been an annual fixture on the schedule, as it is again this season.
Committing to the tour limits the prospects for players like McKibbin to qualify for majors and the Ryder Cup. It was part of the reason Rory McIlroy, his compatriot, cautioned him against making the move in a phone call last month.
McKibbin has played in two majors so far – the British and US Opens last year – and said: “It was definitely in my mind, but to me, I wasn’t in any of those anyway.
“To get the opportunity to play with the guys out here more often was definitely a huge factor. I am not in those majors at the minute, so that didn’t bother me too much.”
Caleb Surratt only turns 21 next month, yet already has a season on the tour under his belt. The American decided to forego college when the chance to sign up to LIV came his way.
“I was thrown into an environment and realm of players that, if I had stayed in college, I would not have got to at least in the next four or five years,” Surratt said.
“I told all my friends and family that, just from one year last year, regardless of my play, it felt like I got three to five years of experience.
“I learnt a lot from these guys that less is more. I always grew up thinking the opposite. There were little, valuable things that I have learnt so far. It has changed the trajectory of my career and I couldn’t be more happy to be here.”
As the captain of the side – as well as the winner of LIV’s individual title last season – Rahm says he is thrilled McKibbin has joined.
“To get such a young player, with his experienced, already established, and who has been a winner [he won the European Open in Germany in 2023], is hard to come by,” Rahm said. “I am thrilled he has joined the team. He is very talented and the sky is the limit.”
