I still wonder why Al-Nassr chose to terminate his contract with Alex Telles to be able to bring in Mohamed Simakan, even though they know that there are not enough wing-back options available at the moment. Maybe Mohamed Simakan can be used as a wing-back too but he will not be as fast as Alex Telles in helping the attack and the rest he is only strong in defense.
The restriction on foreign players is also a factor that must be obeyed by the Saudi league team and now Al-Nassr certainly only depends on the depth they have. Maybe they can still play optimally but I doubt this will bother them enough, especially if they still concede a large number of goals during the season there will definitely be another overhaul in the upcoming transfer market.
If they are willing to spend this much on foreign players, I think they should reconsider the ten foreign players rule as well. I know there is nothing that can be done now, it's too late into the season to make a change, but for next season at least ,they could make like some 12-15 range and that would be better.
That way if a team wants to, they can have all 11 players be foreign, and if they want to really improve the Saudi players as well, then forcing them to play is not going to be the way, the difference is showing, plus it hasn't been that long since they started to put this much money on football, so the real good football players that will come out of there is not around yet, they will have to wait like a decade to see the real fruits of this movement to attract kids there to play football.
I second your view. Only if the league clubs are big spenders on foreign players, then expanding the Asian player rule would give more flexibility plus bring competitiveness to the league. Mandating local players to take the pitch may not be ideal because the presence of foreign players often raises the quality and standard of the league by bringing in their experience as well.
However, really producing quality local players does need time and consistent investment particularly in youth development: it may take about a decade to really make the results from this development visible. So, allowing more foreign players while still developing local talent could be an effective compromise.
Of course, investment in local academies and youth development programs is vital. But without an infrastructure to match, the chances of producing quality players from home remain limited. The federation should view this as a long-term process.