Ivan Toney insists the Saudi Pro League is “on par” with the Premier League after a prolific debut campaign with Al-Ahli.
In 2024 August Toney made the decision to move from Brentford to Saudi Arabia where he signed a three-year contract. Without delay, he managed to score 30 goals in all competitions – 23 of which were in the league – and assisted Al-Ahli in the AFC Champions League victory. Besides that, Toney scored as well in the winning penalty shootout against Al-Nassr in the Saudi Super Cup.
“Nobody should be dismissing this league,” Toney told The Guardian. “If Al-Ahli were a Premier League team we would do quite well and be fighting for the top four.”
He repeated the statements that Cristiano Ronaldo gave shortly before about the level of Saudi football and the strength of the league. “High-quality football is played here. Relatively, Al-Hilal victory over Manchester City at the Club World Cup is enough to say a lot.”
He was just a beat away from the top scorer of the last season’s competition behind Ronaldo and earned a call-up for England under Thomas Tuchel, Toney’s path is now toward killing the shot and going into the squad for the World Cup.
“My task is to score goals,” he continued. “If you are good enough, it does not make a difference where you play.”
