Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has completed his move to Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli, the club announced Wednesday.
Mendy is the latest Premier League star to move to Saudi Arabia and will join the Jeddah-based outfit ahead of the 2023-24 season.
The Senegalese goalkeeper enjoyed a strong start to his Chelsea career after joining the club from Stade Rennais in 2020, winning the Champions League and the UEFA Men’s Best Goalkeeper Award in 2021.
Following the departure of Chelsea’s German coach Thomas Tuchel, Mendy began to lose his place in goal with coaches Graham Potter and Frank Lampard preferring to play Kepa Arrizabalaga.
However, Mendy struggled for form last season and underwent surgery in January after fracturing his finger, eventually losing his status as the club’s number 1 goalkeeper to being replaced by team-mate Kepa Arrizabalaga.
“The lion from Teranga protected our goal,” said Al-Ahli in a post on their Twitter account quoted by AFP on Thursday (28/6/2023).
Al-Ahli said that Mendy’s contract would run until 2026, without providing financial details.
However, British media reported that the Saudi Arabian club had to spend around 16 million pounds for the goalkeeper.
Al Ahli won the Saudi First Division League title last season and earned promotion back to the Saudi Pro League for the 2023-24 season.
Al Ahli is one of four clubs, along with Al Hilal, Al Ittihad and Al Nassr, which were taken under the ownership of Newcastle United’s owners, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) earlier this month as part of a sovereign investment.
Saudi clubs have engaged in an aggressive recruitment strategy this summer, offering lucrative contracts to some of sport’s biggest names, Karim Benzema has joined Al Ittihad while Mendy’s former Chelsea team-mates N’Golo Kante and Kalidou Koulibaly have also moved to Al Ittihad. Saudi Pro League.
The PA news agency predicts that new manager Mauricio Pochettino decided a few weeks ago that Arrizabalaga would be his first choice to start next season in goal. That’s why Senegal international Mendy has been on the bench.
Another Chelsea outcast, Hakim Ziyech, is known to be on the verge of moving to the Gulf country. Hakim Ziyech struck a deal to join Al-Nassr, where Cristiano Ronaldo also plays.
Chelsea are desperate to get rid of as many unwanted players as possible before June 30. That way, these sales can be included in the financial statements for 2022/2023.
