Prince Alwaleed's pursuit of Olympique Marseille does not come without its pitfalls

November was not the best of months for Saudi Arabian football, or rather it was 30 days that promised much and delivered little. It started with Al Hilal, against all expectations, losing the final of the AFC Champions League against Western Sydney Wanderers. Three weeks later came another final at the King Fahd International Stadium, this time the Gulf Cup against Qatar. Another defeat.

Even the fact that Nasser Al Shamrani was named as the 2014 Asian Player of the Year was tainted by the whole spitting incident that marred the AFC Champions League final and earned him an eight-match ban.

Prestige and prizes are unpredictable but if you own a top-class football club then you are never going to be far away from both as well as the spotlight.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud may want a taste of all that. In the past few days he has been linked with a move for French giants Marseille and there seems to be genuine interest. Well-known in his Saudi homeland, he is after all, a member of the country's royal family, a big European club offers worldwide fame, if all goes well – universal infamy, if it does not.

He has the financial muscle to wrest control of Marseille without breaking sweat. This is what happens when your wealth is estimated to be between $20 billion and $30 billion and you were named by Arabian Business in 2013 as "the most influential Arab in the world".

But it's often not about the money. It is about what it represents. In 2013 the prince complained that he was named only as the 26th richest man in the world by Forbes magazine. He claimed his worth had been undervalued by around $10 billion (Forbes disagreed) arguing that the list damaged Saudi-US relations. Such sensitivity suggests that the prince wouldn't mind a higher international profile.

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The prince surely knows that being in charge of a major Asian institution such as Al Hilal is a big deal in the country and the region but it is not something to make headlines in the world at large. Marseille would be different. A giant of French football, the club is not one of the European elite but is not far off and given the passion in the port city, it does not take too much imagination (though it does need plenty of money) to see it move up to the next level in France and then Europe.

The first thought that comes to mind is that a Saudi-backed Marseille would fight it out in France with Paris Saint-Germain, bankrolled by Qatar. What a game that would be. If the two clubs are bitter rivals then that is nothing compared to the complex relationship that endures between Riyadh and Doha.

Qatar has been using its financial might to become a major player in sports in general and football in particular. PSG, never quite the giant it should have been, has become a genuine player and genuine contender for the UEFA Champions League.

And whatever Qatar does, so can UAE and has often done so earlier. Manchester City was long the second best in Manchester and pretty much nowhere in the rest of the world but now has two English Premier League titles in the past three seasons. As everyone knows, it is all thanks to Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi and more than $1 billion of his money. It has taken such backing to take a top six team to title winner. Still, it has not been enough, or at least it has not been wisely invested enough, to challenge for the UEFA Champions League but that's another issue.

This may not be the same City that fans grew up with but it is now at the centre of a growing worldwide stable of clubs: Al Jazira of Abu Dhabi, New York City and Melbourne City (nee Heart). Quite how this works out over the next few years remains to be seen but nobody can deny that Middle Eastern involvement has turned Manchester City into a global force. Marseille starts from a higher platform than City and has major potential.

[RELATED: New York City FC is the latest step in creating a global football giant]

As always, there is a flip side to this coin. You can guarantee that owning a football club will relieve you of plenty of money but there is nothing sure about success. Malaga fans do not have happy memories of Qatari Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani who arrived in Spain splashing the cash before disappearing without a word. And there are those in between. Nottingham Forest fans have concerns about Kuwait's involvement with their club and the jury is still out on Assem Allam, the Egyptian-born owner of Hul City who has helped the club back to the Premier League but upset fans with adding 'Tigers' to the name.

A mixed bag then. Football was ever thus. Fans at Marseilles may look at the PSG example and lick their lips but there are no guarantees. The same can be said for Prince Alwaleed. Owning a big European football club sounds great but it is rarely as simple as that and a number of Middle Eastern owners would attest.