Should the Premier League be worried about the Saudi Pro League?

Now the Saudi Pro League is sending shockwaves all over the world as they attempt to bring some of the game's biggest names to play in the country. They've already got Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema with many others set to follow them. So here's a big question, what is the strategy behind signing these big names and should the Premier League be worried? Well, Sports Commercial Advisor at JMW Solicitors Ben Pepe joins us live in the studio right now to help answer some of these questions. I mean Ben, I don't know about you but I find this absolutely fascinating what's going on and it's happening, we're just chatting off air just so very quickly. What have you made of this, you know, really strong play from the Saudi League with so many high-profile names being linked with moves? Well, it's certainly a kind of very strong signal of intent and with regards to Cristiano Ronaldo, there's clearly a top-down approach and you sign Cristiano Ronaldo and the dominoes start to fall and I think no one expected this strategy to come to fruition as quickly as it had and it continues to do so. We've got Ronaldo, we've got Benzema and now we're seeing more and more players and an influx of players starting to move to the Saudi League and there's some eye-watering figures being banded about but there's a very clear strategy as to what the PIF and what the Saudi Pro League kind of have in mind for these players and it's not just paying people a lot of money to come to a league and have a swan song at the end of their career, that's for sure. Let's take N'Golo Kante as an example, 32 years old, huge injury problems but he's going to be making a lot of money. Is it just simply too much for these players to be able to turn it down? Yeah, I think there's kind of two schools of thought aligned to players coming towards their peak of their career and now players actually in kind of, I suppose, their peak and Kante is one of those that obviously he's had significant injury problems over the last couple years and when you get offered not just double or triple your salary but you're getting offered almost 10 times your salary to go and live in a country that aligns to kind of lifestyle, it aligns to your kind of your cultural views and a whole host of other things, why wouldn't you go there? So for someone like Kante you can absolutely see why he has chosen to do it and the Saudi Pro League have every intention to be a top five league in the world over the course of the next three, five, seven, ten years so whilst Kante may not be there then, there are players that are going to follow him and they're going to set a precedent and start what could be a new revolution of new leagues coming to the fore, the MLS, Saudi Pro League, so it could be just the start. Ronaldo I think said that if they carry on doing what they're doing they could become the fifth league in the world, really establish themselves amongst the big European leagues but what about those players who are mid-career, established, the likes of Ruben Evers at Wolves or Bernardo Silva who's been pivotal for Manchester City, the fact that they are linked, I mean surely that's a big game changer isn't it? Yeah it absolutely is and there's both the financial kind of I suppose profitability piece for these players, they're going to create generational wealth for themselves, their families, it's not just a case of having a very opulent nice lifestyle now with the money that we know is involved in football in the Premier League but we're talking generational wealth for their families and their future, so I think you've got the kind of the financial contribution and then you've got where the league is going and I think the players would have been presented with a very clear strategy and a very clear plan as to what, as I said earlier, the PIF and what the Saudi Pro League want to do, where they want to take football in the region and who's to say that we might not see a team from Saudi in the Champions League in five years time right? We don't know what might happen but I don't think it's just purely a case of saying here is a very very significant salary without actually substance underneath because the Saudis are smart and there's a very clear plan for what they want to do aligned to their kind of vision 2030 in the economic redevelopment plan and it's only on an upward growth trajectory. The Saudis are smart as you say, should the Premier League be worried or do you think they could benefit from this? I think both, so I think where they could benefit is that you're starting to see Chelsea obviously sell a number of players both to comply with FFP but then also give them the ability to sign new players right and so as players like N'Golo Kante who have obviously been supremely successful in the Premier League, won Premier League titles, now move on as they go past their peak potentially, there will now be more money to be able to spend on an influx of new younger players, talent from across Europe, across the world that comes into the Premier League which is why we love it. So I think they can benefit there, I think where there potentially will be a threat is that as more and more players leave does that dilute the product of the Premier League, does that dilute the attractiveness of fans watching the Premier League and I think rights holders in general have a real challenge at the moment where the younger generation of fans they follow players they don't necessarily follow the teams that they play for, so when you've got these players moving all of a sudden this younger generation of fan will follow where Messi goes, follow where Ronaldo goes, follow where Benzema goes, which means less eyeballs potentially on the Premier League which in time and this won't happen anytime soon could lead to a dilution and a stagnation on media rights and a whole host of other things but that's for far into the future and not now so I think they can benefit in the short term but I think long term they will need to kind of pay very close attention to what's going on. That thing about you know following players is so true I mean you know you remember from Ronaldo at Real Madrid and then when he moved to Juventus just you know the club accounts fell and then grew over at Juve just simply on the basis of this this one signing and the audience he attracts you know almost 600 million followers on Instagram now. I was intrigued by something you said Ben before about the economic development plan and the vision for 2030. I wonder if you can unpack that for us a little bit what does that look like? Yeah so the Saudi kind of state and the government and the PIF have their they've laid out fairly recently their kind of vision 2030 economic redevelopment plan and part of the strategy around that is to basically diversify revenue within the kingdom so they're not solely reliant on oil money and sport is one of those wonderful things that draws people to a territory to a region draws an influx of money in a whole host of different ways and very clearly aligned in the short term to potentially hosting the World Cup in 2030 and there's a lot of talk about a joint bid between Saudi and some other countries for that. So this is all part of that strategy and as I kind of keep alluding to and as I alluded to earlier there is a very clear short-term medium-term and long-term plan as to where this goes. So we'll get to 2030 and the Saudis will be in position to say look at what we can do not just in football but in boxing in Formula One obviously in golf as we know and they put on a good show so if you can do that for the World Cup then who knows where that where that may lead to both obviously economically and then obviously politically as well. They put on a good show but the Saudi regime will continue to face questions about their human rights record how much do you think that will hang over anything that they're trying to achieve? I think it will always hang over and I think if we go back to obviously the Chinese super league which is kind of a very relevant example now around spending money in order to influence statesmen and relations with other nations it's not something that's new and I think those questions will always kind of hang over what the regime and what the links to the PIF to the state and sport will continue to try to achieve but I think over time there is kind of further arguments basically that align to the fact that we can't be hypocritical either as kind of English consumers watching the Premier League this is what happened to the Premier League 20 years ago when an influx of money 30 years ago sorry when an influx of money came in. And people are talking about the European Super League and you know what a danger that could be or could have been well some of them saying that you know look at the Premier League now the dominance it has and why shouldn't other leagues also try and come to the fore here? I think you know it is obviously the long-term pictures you've set out there Ben is something that we'll keep a close eye on but even in the because here on Sky Sports News you know day by day hour by hour we are talking talking about who might be moving where and you know that picture is changing all the time it's been fascinating getting your insight. Thank you Ben. Thank you really appreciate it.