Saudi Arabia football analyst Othman Al Twaijri, said the successful signing of Cristiano Ronaldo to Saudi club Al Nassr will inspire the Saudi league to achieve greater success and possibly bigger names.
Al Twaijri said now with Ronaldo crossing over, there was no shortage of stars that could be roped in to play football in the Middle East.
“They’re going to try and get big names, who knows, maybe we might get Messi,” Al Twaijri told Al Jazeera.
“The amount of investment in Saudi football has been enormous and I think it’s only going to go up from here,”
Al Twaijri added expects the Saudi league to become one of the “top 10 in the world” by the year 2030.
Ronaldo was greeted by fireworks and deafening roars at Al Nassr’s Mrsool Park stadium in the capital Riyadh.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, with five Champions League titles to his name, signed for an estimated 200 million euros ($211m) until June 2025 with Al Nassr.