^^^
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
If he is good he should improve their defence by some margin.I think Fulham and Everton are as good as down already. I cant see that appealing to Dier one bit
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.
Mental
We were linked with him earlier in the window I think, was all agreed with Napoli on Friday and medical booked Saturday and Saudi's must have offered both him and Celta the moon to gazump.
21, what a waste.
Mental
Will have no idea how good he is playing in a pub league
Decent player, but a tier below some of the other names mentioned.
Don't understand his thinking. Ok yes it's money. But if he improves and makes a name for himself in europe the saudis would offer him even more in the future.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine will take their pick, like a Geordie feeder league. I predict transfer fees wouldn’t be an issueThe bubble won't last 2 years. He'll be in the fire sale soon.
The bubble won't last 2 years. He'll be in the fire sale soon.
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.
We were linked with him earlier in the window I think, was all agreed with Napoli on Friday and medical booked Saturday and Saudi's must have offered both him and Celta the moon to gazump.
21, what a waste.
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.
But as Assou Ekotto a lot of players may not have a lot of love for the game but they have a lot of love for money.Wow never heard of him but only 21, got player of the money last season, Spain U21 international. Talk about throwing a career away.
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.
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.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.
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.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.