Premier League responds to Saudi threat, issues transfer warning to Newcastle

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has no immediate fears that Saudi Arabia will fund its way beyond the English top flight as the most prominent league in the world.

Brows were first raised in January when Cristiano Ronaldo gave the Saudi Pro League world-class credibility when he moved there and it will go up a notch if Al-Hilal succeed in their £259m bid to sign Kylian Mbappe.

Persuading a 24-year-old player in the prime of his career to play in the Middle East would be seen as a gateway for more top players to travel to Saudi Arabia with a clear plan in place to make the competition a major force in the game.

"Something new is obviously happening," Masters told the BBC. "The Saudi Pro League has declared that it wants to be one of the top 10 leagues by 2030.

"They invest in players and managers to try to raise the profile of the league and the clubs.

"It took us 30 years to get to the position we have in terms of profile, competitiveness and sources of income.

"I wouldn't be too worried at the moment but obviously Saudi clubs have as much right to buy players as any other league.

"At the end of the day, the Premier League is a £6 billion-a-year operation in terms of revenue and that money is spent plowed back into the pitch.

"All good contests must have sources of revenue to support them."

Four of the clubs are backed by the Saudi government-funded Public Investment Fund, the same body that turned Newcastle's fortunes into the Premier League.

However, with the number of Saudi toes in the world of football, there are fears that Financial Fair Play may be lost among the many ripples.

As Newcastle prepare to sell Allan Saint-Maximin to Al-Ahli, rival Premier League clubs have expressed concern that an inflated fee could further increase Newcastle's buying power without appearing to breach regulations.

However, Master said, "That transaction hasn't happened yet, but anything business-to-business has to be fair market value and the rules take that into account.".

"I think our rules are robust. They are relatively new - 18 months old - but they should be able to handle this particular transaction."