Recruiting top European players is an excellent strategy, as it can significantly increase the popularity of the Saudi League. This strategy is not only focused on the short term, but is also part of an effort to build the league's image to be more competitive and attract global attention. This is evident in the fact that many media outlets around the world are now reporting on the Saudi League, especially since as we know, the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo has been a jackpot for the Saudi League in terms of popularity.
Additionally, this will make it increasingly difficult for local players to compete. They must train harder to improve their skills. The arrival of top European players should serve as motivation for local players to prove that they are no less talented than their European counterparts.
Honestly, that win against City made the whole world think Saudi League is better than it is. But in reality, they are just getting either old superstars, or just mediocre young players, and they are not good at all, nowhere near the top 10 level let alone the top 5 they are talking about. It's a reality that the yare just a league for veterans to show off once more. Think about it, many of these players can't do half of what they do here if they were in a bigger league.
Ronaldo can't even do this at Portugal back at Lisbon, let alone any other bigger league. So it's quite obvious that we are seeing some skewed opinions due to one simple game. City has been bad for a while now, so they just ruined the talk for football by losing that too.