The Premier League has no plans to enforce an embargo on transfer to the Saudi Pro League but will assess every deal against their new rules.
Cristiano Ronaldo made the move to the Middle East in January and the Kingdom are now looking to flex their financial muscles with several teams targeting Europe's top stars. They've already attracted Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante from Chelsea.
Several more Blues stars are expected to follow, namely Hakim Ziyech and Edouard Mendy. It has also emerged that Chelsea's owners Clearlake Capital have investment from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, but they deny any wrongdoing or peverse incentives.
Wolves have seen Ruben Neves move to Al Hilal for over £40m, placing further scrutiny on the deals being done. The i Paper reports that the Premier League is confident in its new Fair Market Value rules will regulate transfer deals without needing to block transfers.
Each deal will be assessed by the Premier League to ensure it is a fair reflection of each player’s value and if they are considered to be overly excessive then clubs will have to pay back a sum.
Gary Neville is among those who is advocating a ban of transfers to Saudi as he told the BBC : “The Premier League should put an instant embargo on transfers to Saudi Arabia to ensure the integrity of the game isn’t being damaged. Checks should be made on the appropriateness of the transactions. If it comes through that process, obviously transfers could open up again.
"But I do believe, at this moment in time, transfers should be halted until you look into the ownership structure at Chelsea and whether there are beneficial transfer dealings that are improper.”
Jamie Carragher too has expressed concern amid reports that Bernardo Silva could be the next name to go, with the Portuguese star very much still in his pomp, whilst the other players to go have all been in their 30s with their best days, arguably, behind them.
He said: "Bernardo Silva is in his peak years & has been one of the best players in Europe for the last five years! I wasn’t worried about the Saudi League taking players in their 30’s, a touch worried with players below the elite (Neves) but if this happens it feels like a game changer.
"Saudi have taken over Golf, the big Boxing fights & now they want to take over football!! This sports washing needs to be stopped!"
