Al-Nassr’s cash crunch leaves them frozen out of the transfer window
As the Saudi Pro League window opens, the reigning champions are the odd club out. Reports in Saudi media say a liquidity shortage has delayed player wages and put all of Al-Nassr’s transfer plans on hold.
Jul 22, 2026
The Saudi Pro League’s summer window opened this week, and one club stands out for all the wrong reasons. Al-Nassr, who lifted the title on the final day of last season, are the odd side out. While rivals move for players, the reigning champions are reportedly unable to spend a riyal, with several of their own squad still waiting on part of their June wages.
The reports come from Saudi media, led by Al-Riyadiyah, and paint a picture of a club caught in a cash-flow squeeze during pre-season. A liquidity shortage is said to have hit day-to-day operations, several first-team players received only part of their June salaries, and all recruitment has been put on hold while the club tries to settle the outstanding payments. Al-Nassr have not publicly addressed any of it.
Bad timing, and a hole in midfield
If the reports are accurate, the timing could hardly be worse. The window runs until 7 September, and Al-Nassr have already lost a key figure. Marcelo Brozovic left as a free agent earlier this month, the club confirming his exit after three years and 99 appearances since his 2023 move from Inter. That is a big gap to leave in the middle of the pitch, and there has been no sign of a replacement because the money to sign one is not there.
For a squad that won the league but was pushed all the way, standing still is not really standing still. Rivals are strengthening, and a title defence rarely gets easier when the champions cannot add to what they have.
Postecoglou inherits a problem
The man left to make sense of it is Ange Postecoglou, appointed on a two-year deal at the start of July. It was already a bold hire. The Australian won the Europa League with Tottenham in 2025 only to be sacked 16 days later after a 17th-place finish, then lasted 39 days at Nottingham Forest without a win. Al-Nassr handed him a fresh start with the reigning Saudi champions.
What he did not sign up for was a pre-season with no new faces. Postecoglou has to prepare a side for five fronts, the Saudi Pro League, the King’s Cup, the Saudi Super Cup, the AFC Champions League Elite and the Arab Club Champions Cup, and right now he is doing it with the players he inherited and one fewer than he started with. Any coach would want reinforcements for that schedule. He may have to start the season without them.
Ronaldo, and the questions above him
At the centre of it, as ever, is Cristiano Ronaldo. At 41, he remains the face of the project and the reason so much money flowed into Al-Nassr in the first place. Joao Felix and Sadio Mane are among those staying, so the squad is far from bare. But a group built on heavy spending now finds the taps turned off, and that raises awkward questions about how sustainable the whole model was.
The contrast across the league only sharpens them. Al-Hilal have spent the window chasing players like West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville, and the Saudi authorities brought in new financial regulations at the start of July that were meant to steady the league’s books. Against that backdrop, the champions sitting on their hands is not a good look.
The obvious hope for Al-Nassr is that this is a short-term wrinkle rather than a deeper problem, and that the wages are cleared and the window reopens for them well before 6 September. Until then, the strangest sight of the Saudi summer is the team that finished top having to watch everyone else shop.