Without a single minute played: how did Al-Qadsiah earn 5 million euros from an obscure Ghanaian player? | Goal.com
Saudi club Al-Qadsiah have turned a tidy profit in the space of just 18 months, all thanks to an obscure Ghanaian player who has never kicked a ball for them.
Rewind to the winter of 2025. Al-Qadsiah signed 18-year-old Ghanaian striker Jerry Afriyie from Thoughts, a Ghanaian second division side, for less than one million euros.
Just two days later, the club shipped Afriyie out on loan to Spanish side Deportivo Lugo until the end of last season.
He returned but never featured for Al-Qadsiah. Instead, the Saudi club loaned him out again, this time to Belgian club La Louvière for a full campaign.
Reliable journalist Ben Jacobs revealed that Al-Qadsiah agreed to sell Afriyie permanently to Belgian club Genk during the current summer window for six million euros.
The move follows an impressive season for the 19-year-old in the Belgian league, where he made 25 appearances for La Louvière, scoring five goals and providing a single assist.
Do the maths and Al-Qadsiah have banked five million euros from Afriyie, roughly 21 million Saudi riyals, in just a year and a half. The young Ghanaian never played a single minute for them.
It is a familiar trick. Al-Qadsiah sold Argentine midfielder Ezequiel Fernández to Bayer Leverkusen last summer for 25 million euros, a year after landing him from Boca Juniors for less than 19 million.
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