Saudi Arabian football chiefs have been sensationally tipped to buy the Champions League franchise and create a new worldwide Super League.
The Saudi Pro League is gradually emerging as a new footballing superpower, having been able to attract a host of star names to the Middle East over the past year.
Cristiano Ronaldo started the trend when he joined Al-Nassr after leaving Manchester United last November, with the likes of Karim Benzema, Neymar, N’Golo Kante, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson treading the same path in the summer transfer window.
Rapid rise of the Saudi Pro League has led to suggestions that the division’s top teams could one day play in Europe’s flagship Champions League competition. However, Ole Hansen and Kim Cramer Larsson, who work for Danish investment bank Saxo in respective head of commodity strategy and technical analyst roles, have gone a step further by suggesting that a Saudi Arabian consortium could purchase the entire Champions League franchise in the near future, on the back of an unprecedented surge in crude oil prices.