Manchester United legend Gary Neville has urged the Premier League to look into Saudi Arabia's heavy investment in its players during the summer transfer window.
Several Chelsea players as well as Wolves' Ruben Neves appear to be closing in on moves to the Gulf state. This follows Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League in January with Karim Benzema recently joining champions Al-Ittihad.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) - owners of Newcastle United - bought 75 per cent of four of its country's biggest clubs earlier this month; Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal.
A statement from the PIF's official Twitter account said that the clubs "have been transformed into companies, each of which is owned by PIF and non-profit foundations for each club."
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It added: "The transfer of the four clubs will unleash various commercial opportunities, including investment, partnership and sponsorships across numerous sports."
This came a few weeks prior to golf's PGA Tour announcing a merger with the PIF-backed LIV Golf, ending a two-year bitter rivalry.
Neville has now demanded that the Premier League take a closer look at Saudi's investment attempts in Premier League players. Taking to Instagram, he wrote: “Any chance the Premier League can look into this Saudi trading like NOW!!!!
“Get a regulator in ASAP that’s agile enough to stop these things at source! If it doesn’t look right, it’s probably not right! Independence is required ASAP. The governance of our game is a mess.”
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail claims that Saudi Arabia’s PIF heavily invest in Clearlake Capital, which bought 60 per cent of Chelsea last year. The report claims those with inside access deny there was any Saudi involvement in the Chelsea takeover.
Premier League rules state that an owner cannot financially back more than one club at any one time. The legislation prevents conflicts of interest and the undermining of the competition’s sporting integrity.
Elsewhere, United’s takeover process has come under the spotlight regarding conflicts of interest. PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi came out to deny he had any involvement in Sheikh Jassim’s bid aside from offering footballing finance advice to his Qatar countryman.
He said: "Paris St-Germain is my club, in my heart, and I have nothing to do with Manchester United. It makes me laugh. I am Qatari, right? If people ask me my opinion, I will answer them for sure - and that's what they do.”
Furthermore, Sir Jim Ratcliffe owns French outfit OGC Nice. UEFA rules currently state that two clubs with the same owner cannot compete in the same European competition, albeit president Aleksandr Cerefin hinted earlier this year that this could change.
