I think Al Ahli did a very smart move by signing Ivan Toney. This player was linked with some top EPL teams, but finally he moves to Al Ahli. Ivan Toney was one of top strikers in EPL, now he will be the machine goal of Al Hilal. Anyway, I think Toney and Firmino can play together. Toney must play as a striker, meanhile Firmino can play as an attacking midfielder or a second striker.
Al Ahli did go for other players but it turns out the Englishman showned them greenlights on time. Ivan Toney is average player but based on his exceptional abilities, I think he’s gradually turning to be world class player, although he played for average club like Brentford. European players have ditched into the SPL and seeing it as a league for their retirement in their football career. First it was the China league, now we’re watching the Saudi Arabia Pro League housing these players mostly the big names, players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and more players.
They were thinking about Osimhen for 80 million, but when Ivan Toney was available for half that price, it was a no brainer to accept that offer of course. I think it's quite important to remember that this is going to be a league that will continue to spend a lot of money but they try to pay the money to players and not to teams, so transfer budget is mostly about the salary, which is why they preferred to get Toney instead of Osimhen.
I think retirement is true for some of the older players, but we are starting to see players that are 32-33 years old or younger that come here too, if they can stay here and make ten times more than what they make at Europe, then some of the players are happy to be here instead of Europe. Not everyone will be convinced to come here like how Kroos rejected, but some will be happy to take the money.