Premier League chief executive Richard Masters is not too worried about Saudi Arabia's rise in football at the moment, as he believes it takes time to become a dominant force.
Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal made a world-record £259 million offer to sign Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé, who has 12 months left on his current contract and has been given permission to speak to the club.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema have already signed with the Saudi Professional League, while Liverpool have agreed to sell their captain, Jordan Henderson, to Steven Gerrard’s side Al-Ettifaq.
“Something new is obviously happening,” Masters told BBC Sport. “The Saudi Pro League have stated they want to be a top 10 league by 2030.
“They are investing in players and managers to try to raise the profile of the league and clubs.
“It has taken us 30 years to get to the position that we have in terms of profile, competitiveness and the revenue streams that we have.
“I wouldn’t be too concerned at the moment but, obviously, Saudi Arabian clubs have as much right to purchase players as any other league does.
“In the end, the Premier League is a £6billion-a-year operation in terms of revenue and that money is spent reinvested into the pitch. All good competitions have to have revenue streams to back them up.”
