AGENCIES

Saudi Arabia is looking to lure some of the world’s best known football players to join Cristiano Ronaldo in its national league. And to close the deals, it is relying on money, the one commodity it knows it can offer more of than any of its rival leagues.

According to a report by The New York Times, this remains a coordinated effort -- supported at the highest levels in Saudi Arabia, and financed by the kingdom’s huge sovereign wealth fund.

To make that happen, Saudi clubs are already approaching players receptive to moving to the kingdom with some of the highest annual salaries in sports history. The deals could require in excess of $1 billion for wages for some 20 foreign players.

According to Saudi sources and state media this weekend, delegations flew to Paris and Madrid to secure the signatures of Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema after their final games for Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.

Another report by AFP said that the Saudis are also “in contact with more than 10 players, many of them won the World Cup or the Champions League, to join the Saudi league next season.”

In addition to Messi, “the list includes Benzema, (Sergio) Ramos, (Angel) Di Maria, Modric, Hugo Lloris, Kante, Firmino, (Jordi) Alba and (Sergio) Busquets”.

The Saudi league’s British chief executive, Garry Cook, a former Nike executive who briefly ran Manchester City after it was bought by the brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, has been tasked with executing the plans.