'No sporting reasons' - Barcelona president Joan Laporta blasts Cristiano Ronaldo and other big names for moving to Saudi Pro League

There has been an exodus of leading stars to the Gulf State this summer, following Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in the winter. However, Laporta believes they are moving to the Saudi Pro League for all the wrong reasons.

Speaking to CNN, he said: “When a player, and with all respect, prefers to go to Saudi Arabia, basically there are no sporting reasons. You know, there are other reasons that are the priority. And the football must be the priority – the sporting reasons must be the priority.

Players including the likes of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Riyad Mahrez are just the latest crop to have swapped the Premier League for the Middle East this summer. It was also recently reported that Al-Hilal had made an eye-watering offer to Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, in a bid to prise the World Cup winner away from Parc des Princes this summer - but he turned them down.

While there continues to be a host of links between Europe's leading players and the Saudi league, it remains to be seen which star will be the next to make the move to the Middle East.