A recent wave of football stars is following in Cristiano Ronaldo’s footsteps. From French striker Karim Benzema to 2018 World Cup winning midfielder N’Golo Kanté, Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly, and Portugal international Rúben Neves, they’re all signing for Saudi Arabia’s Pro League.

Former England and Manchester United star Gary Neville has called for the Premier League to stop transferring players to Saudi Arabia to “ensure the integrity of the game isn’t being damaged.” Meanwhile, definitely-not-rattled Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) president Aleksander Čeferin has been forced to assert Saudi clubs poaching big-name European players doesn’t threaten European soccer. For many, a blatant sportswashing project luring superstars for eye-watering sums of money constitutes a danger to football itself.

But Saudi Arabia doing its best to buy football outright with overstuffed cases of blood-splattered petrodollars doesn’t threaten the sport — it’s precisely what the modern game demands. An inconceivably rich state buying European teams outright and doling out $200 million annual contracts at home could indeed shift the balance of power in football — kicking the sums of money involved in transfers and contracts further into the stratosphere. Yet it’s also only the latest step in football’s dreary conversion from the people’s game into a speculative object best suited for sportswashing and investment portfolios.