With lessons from Chinese league, US owner wants to make Saudi club Brighton of the desert

If Ben Harburg has his way, Al-Kholood will become the Saudi Arabian version of Brighton and Brentford, a solid top-flight club that sustains its existence by developing and then selling players to the bigger teams.

Not that sustainability is something you would necessarily associate with the Saudi Pro League, which in its current iteration is very much a sporting example of what happens when oil money and ambition collide.

Splashy signings and ageing stars have largely characterised its most recent history, one of the reasons the American businessman’s decision to pump his money into the team has raised eyebrows.

Especially as the desert kingdom had the dubious honour of rising to fourth this summer in the list of countries that pay the most in footballer salaries.