Saudi Pro League top scorers: Where Cristiano Ronaldo ranks in 2023/24 Golden Boot chase

An unprecedented summer spending spree ensured the Saudi Pro League has catapulted up the relevancy charts as the most eagerly anticipated football season ever in the Middle East has reached its midway point.

A whole host of former Premier League stars have been strutting their stuff in the Kingdom this term and potentially beyond, with Brazilian megastar Neymar rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.

Here are the division's leading goalscorers in 2023/24.

2023/24 Saudi Pro League top scorers

10. Riyad Mahrez (Al Ahli)

Games played: 21
Goals scored: 9

Having departed treble-winners Manchester City last summer, Mahrez quickly found his feet for a star-laden Al Ahli side which is on the fringes of title contention.

The winger has been productive without taking centre stage.

9. Odion Ighalo (Al Wehda)

Games played: 19
Goals scored: 10

Released by Al Hilal on a free transfer last summer to make room on the wage bill and in the dressing room, Ighalo was snapped up by an Al Wehda side that finished 13th out of 16 teams last term.

Ighalo's new club is based in Mecca. More than one million pilgrims flock to the holy city each year but Al Wehda could only divert less than 500 people to their ground on average last season. Those in attendance this year have caught a glimpse of Ighalo's clinical edge.

8. Bernard Mensah (Al Tai)

Games played: 17
Goals scored: 10

Mensah has enjoyed quite the career, although the creative midfielder previously found goals relatively hard to come by before he joined Al Tai in 2023.

The Ghanaian's debut season is set to be the most productive of his career, even if his side are facing a battle against relegation.

7. Salem Al Dawsari (Al Hilal)

Games played: 20
Goals scored: 10

It took just five games for Salem Al Dawsari to match his measly tally of four goals from the entirety of the previous campaign.

Argentina's conqueror at the 2022 World Cup has been reinvigorated, rather than outshone, by Al Hilal's fleet of costly new arrivals. Although, Al Dawsari's own fans did boo him when he took a penalty off Neymar on the Brazilian's debut.

6. Firas Al Buraikan (Al Fateh & Al Ahli)

Games played: 19
Goals scored: 11

Al Fateh are no longer playing to the tune of Firas Al Buraikan after he departed the club for Al Ahli in September.

Saudi Arabia's number nine boasts a trademark "string plucking" celebration which has become an increasingly common sight in the Pro League since he escaped Al Nassr's bench in 2021.

5. Talisca (Al Nassr)

Games played: 16
Goals scored: 13

There's no doubt that Talisca has found his home in Saudi Arabia. After finishing second in the scoring charts last season, the Brazilian has remained prolific in 2023/24 and will once again play a critical role in Al Nassr's title charge.

It's not all Ronaldo in Riyadh, you know.

4. Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al Ittihad)

Games played: 17
Goals scored: 15

Abderrazak Hamdallah was Al Ittihad's talisman before Benzema rocked up in the Kingdom waving around his Ballon d'Or.

Hamdallah finished as the Pro League's leading scorer last season and has picked up from where he left off alongside the club's shiny new acquisitions. The Morocco international also averaged more than a goal a game at Al Nassr before joining the Tigers in 2021.

3. Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (Damac FC)

Games played: 19
Goals scored: 15

Damac FC aren't one of the supposed Saudi Pro League 'big boys', yet they're threatening to disrupt the division's hegemony.

Former Tottenham winger Nkoudou has carved a rather impressive career for himself away from Europe's premier divisions. The Frenchman starred in spells at Besiktas, and he's already enjoyed the most prolific season of his senior career during his maiden Saudi voyage.

2. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Al Hilal)

Games played: 19
Goals scored: 19

Aleksandar Mitrovic may not feel any "nostalgia" for England but Fulham have undoubtedly missed the guarantee of goals which he has brought to Al Hilal despite Raul Jimenez's resurgence.

The Serbian forward inspired his new fans to commission a flag which hailed him as the leading scorer in the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League. Perhaps there will be another congratulatory banner at the end of the Pro League campaign.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr)

Games played: 20
Goals scored: 22

Cristiano Ronaldo has finished as top scorer in England, Spain and Italy. There is every chance that the insatiable poacher will add Saudi Arabia to that list.

Ronaldo insists that his move to Al Nassr last winter "opened a box" of high-profile arrivals. However, the ultimate egotist will do his utmost to rise above the jostling pack of lofty names.

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