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.
What you said is certainly true, because basically, if we compare the quality of the teams and the quality of the league, it's clear that the Saudi Arabian League is still quite far behind the major leagues in Europe. However, if we talk about the big teams in the Saudi Arabian League, such as Al Hilal, Al Nasr, Al Ittihad, and Al Ahli, I think these teams are currently performing quite well, and perhaps could compete quite well if they met with top-class teams from Europe. Because basically, currently, European players who join the Saudi Arabian League are not only old players. But many young players have also moved to teams in the Saudi Arabian League, such as Joao Felix, Retegui, and many more.
So with that in mind, I think underestimating the big teams in the Saudi Arabian League is also basically wrong. Because basically, currently, they are also performing quite well. Speaking of Al Hilal's victory over Manchester City, I think it's clear evidence that Al Hilal is indeed performing quite well. While it's true that Manchester City wasn't performing well at the time, it's still something to be proud of for a team of Al Hilal stature to beat them. Especially with Manchester City coached by Pep Guardiola and boasting a slew of star players. So a team beating them of course, could be a sign that they are making progress.