When Bafetimbi Gomis, Sebastian Giovinco, Ahmed Musa, Brad Jones and Andre Carrillo landed in Saudi Arabia during 2018\/19\u2019s great splurge, the nation\u2019s clubs were making a statement.
\nBacked by the General Sports Authority, one of the world\u2019s best-supported competitions intended to start leaving a requisite imprint – beyond even the Kingdom\u2019s borders. Amid the hoopla generated by the thousands of fans who packed King Khalid International Airport to greet several of these stellar additions, other less-exalted buys sparked fewer headlines.
\nYet fast forward to March 2021 and only Gomis and Abderrazak Hamdallah can be indisputably considered greater successes in the\u00a0Saudi Professional League\u00a0than Romarinho.
\nThe Brazilian is\u00a0both a poster boy about what can be achieved\u00a0\u2013 and where much of the league\u2019s business is headed.
\nRomarinho\u2019s rollercoaster journey with Al Ittihad reached new heights last weekend. Pictures of the \u20ac7 million signing from Al Jazira cradling the match ball after his first hat-trick in Saudi Arabia during the 4-2 triumph versus Al Wehda both exemplified a laudable impact, plus the path he\u2019s dragged the wild Tigers along.
\nTwice Romarinho was the, often-solitary, shining light at a rudderless outfit who steered away from the relegation zone at the death. Now, he\u2019s the joint-third highest scorer for a club in third who hold pretensions of ending a 12-year SPL title drought.
\nThese ambitions face an acid test versus surprise leaders Al Shabab on Wednesday.
\nArgentina maverick Ever Banega and ex-Manchester United loanee Odion Ighalo are in opposition. Ittihad no longer boasts names of similar cache.
\nBut astute management from the exceptional Fabio Carille and Romarinho\u2019s inspirational example on the pitch have lifted this fallen giant off its knees.
\nThe 30-year-old is the SPL\u2019s joint-fourth-highest scorer since 2018\/19\u2019s kick-off on 42 goals, trailing only the peerless trio of\u00a0Al Nassr\u2019s Hamdallah, Gomis and Al Ahli Jeddah\u2019s Syria superstar Omar Al Somah.
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by Romarinho (@romarinhooficial31)
\nNone of them have been faced with the very real threat of relegation, in this period.
\nAt Ittihad, Romarinho\u2019s haul is 22 more than inconsistent Serbia hit man Aleksandar Prijovic and 23 more than Saudi star Fahad Al Muwallad \u2013 who was hamstrung by a lengthy ban.
\nSubtract the former mentioned\u2019s strikes and the Jeddah outfit would, surely, have been demoted for the first time in their 94-year history.
\nRomarinho\u2019s rise above Ittihad\u2019s travails also puts him\u00a0joint-fourth on the division\u2019s all-time scoring list for Brazilians.
\nHe was, though, only bought as an adornment.
\nGreater expectations were placed on \u20ac9m Curacao winger Garry Rodrigues, \u20ac4.5m Morocco centre-back Manuel da Costa and even Internacional loanee Valdivia. None touched the standards set by their dreadlocked team-mate.
\nRomarinho\u2019s career has, largely, been spent outside the game\u2019s spotlight. He was a substitute for Corinthians, before successful spells in Qatar with El Jaish and the UAE with Jazira.
\nBut it is the very joy he\u2019d previously enjoyed in the region which boosted chances of prospering at King Abdullah Sports City.
\nPlayers of Banega, Gomis and Ighalo\u2019s standing will still be brought to the Kingdom. But they have become fewer in number.
\nSmall to mid-range purchases will dominate, elite free agents supplementing them.
\nA seismic\u00a0\u20ac194.7m, according to\u00a0Transfermarkt.com,\u00a0was spent by the 16 SPL sides throughout 2018\/19. This slipped to\u00a0\u20ac77.5m in 2019\/20\u00a0and\u00a0\u20ac50.3m in 2020\/21.
\nSaudi challengers will be wise to concentrate on identifying as many Romarinhos as possible, rather than dreaming about the next Gomis. It just makes sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Bafetimbi Gomis, Sebastian Giovinco, Ahmed Musa, Brad Jones and Andre Carrillo landed in Saudi Arabia during 2018\/19\u2019s great splurge, the nation\u2019s clubs were making a statement.
\nBacked by the General Sports Authority, one of the world\u2019s best-supported competitions intended to start leaving a requisite imprint \u2013 beyond even the Kingdom\u2019s borders. Amid the hoopla generated by the thousands of fans who packed King Khalid International Airport to greet several of these stellar additions, other less-exalted buys sparked fewer headlines.
\nYet fast forward to March 2021 and only Gomis and Abderrazak Hamdallah can be indisputably considered greater successes in the\u00a0Saudi Professional League\u00a0than Romarinho.
\nThe Brazilian is\u00a0both a poster boy about what can be achieved\u00a0\u2013 and where much of the league\u2019s business is headed.
\nRomarinho\u2019s rollercoaster journey with Al Ittihad reached new heights last weekend. Pictures of the \u20ac7 million signing from Al Jazira cradling the match ball after his first hat-trick in Saudi Arabia during the 4-2 triumph versus Al Wehda both exemplified a laudable impact, plus the path he\u2019s dragged the wild Tigers along.
\nTwice Romarinho was the, often-solitary, shining light at a rudderless outfit who steered away from the relegation zone at the death. Now, he\u2019s the joint-third highest scorer for a club in third who hold pretensions of ending a 12-year SPL title drought.
\nThese ambitions face an acid test versus surprise leaders Al Shabab on Wednesday.
\nArgentina maverick Ever Banega and ex-Manchester United loanee Odion Ighalo are in opposition. Ittihad no longer boasts names of similar cache.
\nBut astute management from the exceptional Fabio Carille and Romarinho\u2019s inspirational example on the pitch have lifted this fallen giant off its knees.
\nThe 30-year-old is the SPL\u2019s joint-fourth-highest scorer since 2018\/19\u2019s kick-off on 42 goals, trailing only the peerless trio of\u00a0Al Nassr\u2019s Hamdallah, Gomis and Al Ahli Jeddah\u2019s Syria superstar Omar Al Somah.
\n View this post on Instagram A post shared by Romarinho (@romarinhooficial31)
\nNone of them have been faced with the very real threat of relegation, in this period.
\nAt Ittihad, Romarinho\u2019s haul is 22 more than inconsistent Serbia hit man Aleksandar Prijovic and 23 more than Saudi star Fahad Al Muwallad \u2013 who was hamstrung by a lengthy ban.
\nSubtract the former mentioned\u2019s strikes and the Jeddah outfit would, surely, have been demoted for the first time in their 94-year history.
\nRomarinho\u2019s rise above Ittihad\u2019s travails also puts him\u00a0joint-fourth on the division\u2019s all-time scoring list for Brazilians.
\nHe was, though, only bought as an adornment.
\nGreater expectations were placed on \u20ac9m Curacao winger Garry Rodrigues, \u20ac4.5m Morocco centre-back Manuel da Costa and even Internacional loanee Valdivia. None touched the standards set by their dreadlocked team-mate.
\nRomarinho\u2019s career has, largely, been spent outside the game\u2019s spotlight. He was a substitute for Corinthians, before successful spells in Qatar with El Jaish and the UAE with Jazira.
\nBut it is the very joy he\u2019d previously enjoyed in the region which boosted chances of prospering at King Abdullah Sports City.
\nPlayers of Banega, Gomis and Ighalo\u2019s standing will still be brought to the Kingdom. But they have become fewer in number.
\nSmall to mid-range purchases will dominate, elite free agents supplementing them.
\nA seismic\u00a0\u20ac194.7m, according to\u00a0Transfermarkt.com,\u00a0was spent by the 16 SPL sides throughout 2018\/19. This slipped to\u00a0\u20ac77.5m in 2019\/20\u00a0and\u00a0\u20ac50.3m in 2020\/21.
\nSaudi challengers will be wise to concentrate on identifying as many Romarinhos as possible, rather than dreaming about the next Gomis. It just makes sense.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42741,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42740\/revisions\/42741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}