Runners-up Al-Nassr started the influx of talent with the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo but have since attracted more top talent to Riyadh. Sadio Mane joined from Bayern Munich, Marcelo Brozovic, last seen captaining Inter Milan in the Champions League final, is another major signing along with Seko Fofana from Lens and Manchester United's Alex Telles.

Al-Hilal finished third partly because they were competing on so many fronts: reaching the finals of the Asian Champions League and the Club World Cup and winning the King's Cup. The most successful team in Saudi Arabia with 18 domestic titles have appointed Jorge Jesus for a second spell in charge and have added Kalidou Kalibaly from Chelsea, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio and former Wolves captain Ruben Neves, with the Portuguese midfielder already showing his creative talents in pre-season.

This is added to a team already full of Saudi internationals who helped beat Argentina in the group stage at last year's World Cup, such as Salem Al-Dawsari, Mohamed Kanno and Yasser Al-Shahrani. Hilal have a knack of bouncing back and finding ways to win.