{"id":46369,"date":"2023-07-26T18:17:04","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T18:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence"},"modified":"2023-07-26T19:28:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T19:28:35","slug":"epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence","title":{"rendered":"EPL chief Masters \u2018not too concerned\u2019 by Saudi influence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be too concerned at the moment\u201d about Saudi Arabia\u2019s growing influence in football.<\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the Saudi Pro League in January and a number of high-profile players have followed him this summer.<\/p>\n

Al-Hilal have also made a world record \u00a3259m bid for Paris St-Germain and France forward Kylian Mbappe.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething new is obviously happening,\u201d Masters told BBC Sport\u2019s Alex Howell. \u201cThe Saudi Pro League have stated they want to be a top 10 league by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are investing in players and managers to try to raise the profile of the league and clubs. It has taken us 30 years to get to the position that we have in terms of profile, competitiveness and the revenue streams that we have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be too concerned at the moment but, obviously, Saudi Arabian clubs have as much right to purchase players as any other league does.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, the Premier League is a \u00a36bn-a-year operation in terms of revenue and that money is spent reinvested into the pitch. All good competitions have to have revenue streams to back them up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballon d\u2019Or winner Karim Benzema left Real Madrid to join Al-Ittihad, who have also signed ex-Chelsea midfielder N\u2019Golo Kante and Portuguese forward Jota from Celtic.<\/p>\n

They have also made a bid of \u00a340m for Liverpool\u2019s Brazilian midfielder Fabinho. Brazil forward Roberto Firmino, whose contract with Liverpool expired in the summer, has joined Al-Ahli, and they have also signed Senegal keeper Edouard Mendy from Chelsea and agreed a \u00a330m deal for Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez.<\/p>\n

Former Rangers and Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has taken over as manager of Al-Ettifaq, who have agreed a deal to sign Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson for \u00a312m plus add-ons.<\/p>\n

Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Fulham and Newcastle are in the United States to play in a Premier League Summer Series during pre-season.<\/p>\n

Masters highlighted the crowds at the games so far as evidence of the English top-flight\u2019s continuing growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 105,000 fans over two days. 18 goals. It\u2019s gone really, really well so far,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like its taking off. When our partnership started with [US broadcaster and Premier League rights holder] NBC 10 years ago it felt like a niche interest but now it feels much more mainstream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Premier League has spent 30 years building its market position. We have a fantastic competition and it speaks for itself,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like we are making an impact not just on domestically but on an international scale as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcastle are set to sell Allan Saint-Maximin to Al-Ahli, who are run by the country\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF) which also owns the Tyneside club.<\/p>\n

Reports have claimed that rival Premier League clubs are concerned that the French winger\u2019s transfer fee could be inflated, which would help Newcastle comply with Financial Fair Play regulations.<\/p>\n

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe says Saint-Maximin\u2019s expected transfer \u201cwill satisfy the Premier League\u201d.<\/p>\n

Masters believes the Premier League\u2019s \u201cassociated party transaction rules, which are 18 months old now\u201d should help avoid such a scenario, with fair market value being decided by \u201ccomparable evidence\u201d and \u201cindependent assessments\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat transaction hasn\u2019t taken place yet but anything which is inter-company has to be a fair market value and the rules cater for that,\u201d said Masters. \u201cI think our rules are robust. They are relatively new but they should be able to cope with that particular transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be too concerned at the moment\u201d about Saudi Arabia\u2019s growing influence in football. Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the Saudi Pro League in January and a number of high-profile players have followed him this summer. Al-Hilal have also made a world record \u00a3259m bid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,371,234],"class_list":["post-46369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nEPL chief Masters \u2018not too concerned\u2019 by Saudi influence - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be too concerned at the moment\u201d about Saudi Arabia\u2019s gr ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EPL chief Masters \u2018not too concerned\u2019 by Saudi influence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Premier League chief executive Richard Masters says he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be too concerned at the moment\u201d about Saudi Arabia\u2019s gr ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-26T18:17:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-26T19:28:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/07\/sm_1690383296.864556.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"EPL chief Masters \u2018not too concerned\u2019 by Saudi influence\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-26T18:17:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-26T19:28:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence\"},\"wordCount\":605,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/07\/sm_1690383296.864556.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/epl-chief-masters-not-too-concerned-by-saudi-influence\",\"name\":\"EPL chief Masters \u2018not too concerned\u2019 by Saudi influence - 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