Demarai Gray has officially joined Al Ettifaq from Everton after the transfer was announced on Saudi Arabia’s transfer deadline day.
In perhaps one of the must drawn-out sagas of the summer, the exit took a dramatic twist earlier this week. Sean Dyche first announced his intentions to reintegrate Gray into his plans, only to be shunned by the player on social media. The Everton boss would later address this in an interview with evertontv.
Now the 27-year-old departs Goodison Park in a deal worth £8m, two years after he signed for the Blues from Bayer Leverkusen for £1.7m. In that period he made 75 appearances and scored 12 goals.
But what caught the eye was the Saudi club’s strangely amusing announcement video to announce Gray to their supporters via social media
In an arcade game menu-style animation, Liverpool are the first club selected. The controller hovers over players such as Alisson Becker and Luis Diaz before eventually landing on Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian has, of course, been heavily linked with Saudi Pro League interest and offers, though not from the club managed by Reds legend Steven Gerrard, and featuring his former team-mates Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum, but rather Al Ittihad.
Jurgen Klopp and Anfield chiefs have remained steadfast in their not-for-sale stance, and to make fun of that situation as Ettifaq attempt to select Salah in their video, a pop-up of Klopp appears with the word ‘NO!’ in red block text. What’s more, it takes two rejections to get the hint.
Moving on, it then scrolls across to Aston Villa and former Red Phillipe Coutinho, who was signed by Gerrard for the Midlands club on a permanent basis last summer. He has most recently been tipped to move to Qatari club Al Duhail, so this inclusion just adds another bizarre layer to the announcement.
Finally the animation settles on Everton, where Ettifaq then mock fellow Saudi Pro League outfit Al Shabab and journalist Fabrizio Romano.
It was reported that Gray was set to sign for Al Shabab last month, although this transfer fell through due to the club’s new board rejecting the already-agreed upon switch.
Finally Gray is landed as an Ettifaq player, appearing in the club’s green home strip with the words ‘signing successful’ appearing on screen before a welcome message pops up.
