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Transfer fred.

^^^
What perfection it all is eh? "dealmakers are still prepared to switch the club, which is often fluid and allocated late in the process. Previous interest from Al-Shabab and Al-Ettifaq prior to Al-Hilal's offer."

Al-Shabab/Ettifaq/Hilal/Shearer/Whatever/NobodyCares

Imagine getting a transfer to Italy but nobody knows if it is Juve or Empoli or Milan or Udinese
 
^^^
What my favourite buttplug it all is eh? "dealmakers are still prepared to switch the club, which is often fluid and allocated late in the process. Previous interest from Al-Shabab and Al-Ettifaq prior to Al-Hilal's offer."

Al-Shabab/Ettifaq/Hilal/Shearer/Whatever/NobodyCares

Imagine getting a transfer to Italy but nobody knows if it is Juve or Empoli or Milan or Udinese

I said a while back that it was a bit weird that none of the Saudi clubs happened to be competing to sign the same players. Now it seems to be open knowledge that the league is just collecting stars and assigning them to teams.
 
I said a while back that it was a bit weird that none of the Saudi clubs happened to be competing to sign the same players. Now it seems to be open knowledge that the league is just collecting stars and assigning them to teams.

Certainly not trying to defend them but didn't MLS have a similar system in its early days? I think players signed a contract with the MLS itself and were then loaned to the various clubs/franchises. I could be wrong though as I never had much interest in it.
 
Not arguing that. I was replying to a post where they said that football is the main sport in saudi, where as it wasn't popular in china or america.

It's relative though, China has a population 100 times greater than Saudi yet attendance is only just over double. I was making the point that Saudi have at least some tradition in football e.g. they've reached multiple world cups and it is hugely popular over there. There's no other sports to take the focus away and that's not the case in China and the US. Lets see what the attendances are like over the next 2-3 years.
 
It's relative though, China has a population 100 times greater than Saudi yet attendance is only just over double. I was making the point that Saudi have at least some tradition in football e.g. they've reached multiple world cups and it is hugely popular over there. There's no other sports to take the focus away and that's not the case in China and the US. Lets see what the attendances are like over the next 2-3 years.

The point is that even if it is the most popular sport in saudi, it is not going to generate the money that it can in the us or china. Therefore it won't be sustainable. It will need continuous funding.
 
The point is that even if it is the most popular sport in saudi, it is not going to generate the money that it can in the us or china. Therefore it won't be sustainable. It will need continuous funding.

It isn't or won't be sustainable in any of those countries. Look at Beckham, was given rights to buy a franchise for peanuts as part of his deal. Messi is being subsidised by MLS sponsors. In China they banned personal investment or something like that and it all tanked.

No doubt it will be the same in Saudi as well but is any league really sustainable, most PL clubs are heavily subsidised and running with huge losses or only continuing because of owner investment.
 
It isn't or won't be sustainable in any of those countries. Look at Beckham, was given rights to buy a franchise for peanuts as part of his deal. Messi is being subsidised by MLS sponsors. In China they banned personal investment or something like that and it all tanked.

No doubt it will be the same in Saudi as well but is any league really sustainable, most PL clubs are heavily subsidised and running with huge losses or only continuing because of owner investment.
I'm not sure sustainability has any relevance in Saudi. They are seeking to buy up all the world's leading sportspeople: they started with golf, with tennis reputedly next, while hoovering up footballers at the same time. Money is literally no object; they can pay for football with the interest they make on their oil money. Not sure what the end game is, but I suspect it has something to do with insuring themselves against a world that can't burn any more fossil fuels.
 
The point is that even if it is the most popular sport in saudi, it is not going to generate the money that it can in the us or china. Therefore it won't be sustainable. It will need continuous funding.
Agree. But it will receive continuous funding. At least that's what I have heard. Circumstances change etc. but don't be surprised if this is longer lasting than the Chinese experiment.
 
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