'Superstar' signings won't help Saudi Arabia - Barnes
John Barnes believes big players moving to Saudi Arabia won't benefit the local competition.
Transcript
00:00 Football has always been big all over the world,
00:01 since the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s.
00:03 Now because of the media attention,
00:04 you're looking at what's going on in Saudi Arabia.
00:06 China, 10 years ago, people were going to China.
00:08 Now they're going to Saudi Arabia.
00:09 But once again, like America, just getting
00:12 some retired players or players who
00:15 want to go for the money to go there,
00:16 and the other 10 players in the team, or 8 players in the team,
00:19 or 15 players in the squad may not be as good.
00:22 It isn't necessarily-- it's more to make a statement of being
00:25 able to attract superstar players there.
00:28 That's not necessarily going to grow the league.
00:30 And Saudi Arabia has been doing well internationally anyway,
00:33 in qualifying for the World Cup.
00:34 In fact, they're the only team to beat Argentina.
00:36 So once again, that's very similar to what
00:38 goes on in America.
00:39 If ex-players or players coming towards the end of their career
00:41 want to make a lot of money, they do that.
00:43 That doesn't necessarily impact on the local football.