Football clubs from all over the world know how things are with the summer transfer window, when European clubs start to fight for players, but this year a new threat appeared outside the Old Continent - Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi football league, created at the end of the seventies, has been in the headlines of the world press in recent months thanks to its aggressive talent acquisition policy.
Since the start of the year, Saudi clubs have spent almost a billion dollars to attract big-name players - only English clubs have spent more in the same period.
That figure is only the compensation paid to clubs for the arrival of footballers and does not include the dizzying salaries that go to the players.
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Karlo Nora, a senior official of the Saudi League, points out that it will not be a one-time strike.
As he says, the Saudi government has pledged to provide financial support to the league until it becomes one of the strongest in the world in terms of revenue and quality.
"The Saudi league is simply doing what other leagues had to do... We have become like them and are doing everything necessary to increase the quality on the field," Nora told the Reuters news agency.
On the list of purchased players is Neymar, the Brazilian forward who, just a few years ago, when the French club Paris Saint-Germain paid him 242 million dollars to move from Barcelona, became the most expensive player in football history.
Al Hilal, a club from Riyadh, the Saudi capital, paid $98 million for the Brazilian, according to BBC Sport.
Other notable acquisitions are the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, just after he won the Champions League with the English Manchester City, as well as the Frenchman Karim Benzema, the current owner of the Ballon d'Or, the most prestigious individual award in football.
The Saudis previously caused an uproar at the beginning of the year, when the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo moved from Manchester United to Al Nasr, who reportedly offered him a two-and-a-half-year contract worth around 400 million dollars.
Four clubs made the most purchases - Al Hilal, Al Nasr, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad.
All of them are owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has an estimated $776 billion in assets under the control of Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman.
The dream of the World Cup
But why do Saudi clubs shower money on players and clubs?
It is part of a strategy that represents much more than strengthening the quality of football in the country.
In 2016, Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030, a government investment program with the specific goal of diversifying the economy, which still relies heavily on oil revenues.
Sport is one of the special spheres of interest there.
The country already has a Formula 1 Grand Prix, is a major shareholder in the Professional Golf Association (PGA), and will even host the 2029 Asian Winter Olympics - in a ski resort currently under construction in the middle of the desert.
But this investment is more than just the development of an entertainment industry for the mostly under-forty population.
Saudi Arabia has also looked at how sports can be used to improve the country's image, marred by a poor record of human rights.
Others have taken a similar approach - the neighboring United Arab Emirates and Qatar have invested large sums of money in the sport, taking control of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
In 2022, Qatar also hosted the World Cup in football, which was the first time that this tournament was held in a Middle Eastern and Muslim country.
The Saudis have expressed their interest in following their example in the future, and in 2021 they also took control of the English Newcastle.
However, unlike her neighbors, she now also invests large sums of money at home.
This is not the first time that a country has tried to overshadow Europe.
Chinese clubs, some of them connected to the real estate sector, in 2016 and 2017 had a series of transfers of expensive footballers from European clubs.
But that experiment failed after a few years, due to the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic.
So, does Saudi Arabia face the fate of China or can it compete with Europe?
Economist Stefan Lege, who specializes in football finance, is quite skeptical about everything.
He believes that Europe still has a significant advantage when it comes to attracting the interest of players and fans from around the world.
"Until now, the only thing that made people move to Saudi Arabia was money. Prestigious clubs and tournaments are built over decades," explains Lege.
"Only with a lot of perseverance, sustainable investment and great management can Saudi Arabia build an interesting league."
Football journalist Samindra Kunti believes that if Saudi Arabia wants to make its league more attractive, it will have to bring in younger players.
"Benzema, Ronaldo and Neymar have the power of big stars, but when you add it all up, they are long past their prime."
Kunti adds that Europe also has the Champions League, the strongest and richest club tournament in the world.
"In the end, Europe has a big advantage... It's a club competition that everyone wants to win, it's where the big stars shine the most," he says.
"It's a commercial powerhouse and it's hard to imagine Saudi Arabia surpassing it."
"Washing through sports"
Critics call the Saudi investment "laundering through sports," with the goal of improving the country's reputation in light of human rights abuses.
One example of this is the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The US has accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of authorizing the killing, but Saudi Arabia denies involvement, blaming "rogue government agents" instead.
However, some experts believe that enhancing the image and reputation is not the only reason behind Saudi Arabia's strategy.
"Countries around the world are using sport and entertainment as a political tool to project soft power," says Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at the Schema Business School in Paris.
"We are talking about competition between countries to win the favor of people from all over the world.
"The UK, the US, France, India and many other countries are implementing that policy... Now the Saudis are doing the same," he says.
Additional reporting by Fernando Duarte
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