August 09, (THEWILL) – Ivory Coast international, Franck Kessie, has completed a transfer from Barcelona to Saudi Arabian club, Al-Ahli, it was announced on Wednesday.
Al-Ahli will reportedly pay €12.5 million to secure the services of the 26-year-old midfielder. THEWILL recalls that Kessie joined Barcelona just last summer from Italian giants, AC Milan. However, he struggled to break into manager Xavi’s preferred starting XI during his lone season with the Catalan club.
With limited playing time available, he elected to pursue a new opportunity in Saudi Arabia. His arrival coincides with Al-Ahli’s appointment of Matthias Jaissle, as their new manager. Jaissle joins after being dismissed by Austrian club, Red Bull Salzburg, where he had served as head coach since 2021.
The transfer continues Al-Ahli’s recent trend of recruiting high-profile talent from Europe’s top leagues. Other big names who have made the move to the Saudi Pro League club include Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino, Edouard Mendy, and Allan Saint-Maximin. Al-Ahli will be hoping that the addition of Kessie, coupled with their other signings and new manager, will help propel them up the league table after they earned promotion back to the top flight for this season.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
