Saudi Professional Football League clubs have spent $957 million on player signings during the summer transfer window, according to an analysis from Deloitte published on Friday.
Saudi Arabia's spending during the transfer window, which ended on Thursday, exceeded what Europe's Grand Slam pushed to lead the Premier League only over the Roshn league.
Izzy and Ray of Deloitte's sports business group said: "This is the first time since 2016 that a world tournament has beaten any of Europe's 'Big Five' during a transfer window.
"European football remains the game's benchmark globally, and Saudi investment in the game will shift its focus towards infrastructure to raise the bar for Asian football."
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced a project to invest and privatize sports clubs that includes the defending champions Al Ittihad and Al Ahli, Al Nasr and Al Hilal with a group of senior players moving to the tournament.
#نشرة_الأخبار | 69 days of global deals in the Saudi Roshn League
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Huge Deals
The biggest transfer movement during this period came from the kingdom's most successful club, Al Hilal, which spent €90m to bring in Brazilian star Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain.
In addition to Neymar, Al Hilal also spent a lot of money to sign Brazilian Malcom, Serbian Aleksandar Mitrovic, Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly, Portuguese Ruben Neves, Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
Al Ittihad signed the defending champions Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante and Brazilian Fabinho, while Al Nasr, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, signed Portuguese Ottavio, Senegalese Sadio Mane, Spaniard Aymeric Laporte, Croatian Marcelo Brozovic and Brazilian Alex Telles.
Al Ahly, who returned to the Pro League after a season in the second division, also completed a series of signings by signing Spaniard Gabri Biega, Algerian Riyad Mahrez, Brazilian Roberto Firmino, Senegalese Edouard Mendy, Frenchman Alain Saint-Maximin and Turkish Merih Demiral.
"The implementation of the privatization program in the Kingdom is likely to attract a wave of interest around the domestic professional league, which could fuel the current spending pattern during the upcoming transfer windows," Wray added.
"With the purchasing power of the Saudi league already surpassing some of Europe's Big Five tournaments, it remains to be seen how this will shape the football elite for future generations."
Despite all the expenses of the Saudi Professional League, the federation failed to sign Mohamed Salah of Liverpool, who was rumored to have received an offer of 251 million euros rejected by the "Liver", while ambitious offers from Al-Hilal to sign Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe failed.
Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in football, F1, boxing, tennis and golf in recent years.