The Saudis have adopted the same tact in trying to establish a top flight domestic futbol league---they have lured some top flight international players with exorbitant wages i.e. Christiano Ronaldo gets $173M/yr betwee his wage (~$75M) and "image" rights---there are more examples including former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson who is on $900K/week with Stephen Girard as his manager----it was funny last week when the marquis Saudi game of the week featuring the Henderson/Girard club drew a whopping 896 fans...
here's a partial list of some of the talent that took the dough---the transfer fee listed in the table is the club to club fee paid for a player who was under contract at his prior clun while the free transfers are for players whose contracts were up at their old club----the player salaries aren't listed but trust me, they are ridiculous, especially for those at the end of their careers and were paid for their names