There was a time when the Premier League’s summer trading was more about Alan Shearer or Alan Smith than Al-Ittihad and Al-Ettifaq. If those are distant days, the anomaly in the current window feels the possibility that the greatest threat to Shearer’s divisional record of 260 goals – Harry Kane – might move to the Bundesliga, to Bayern Munich and not the Middle East.
The Premier League’s reigning champion and current chief executive have nonetheless struck different tones. “Saudi Arabia has changed the market,” said Pep Guardiola at the weekend. “I wouldn’t be too concerned at the moment,” Richard Masters argued a few days earlier.
