Topic: Saudi Arabia's raid of European clubs

[Terry de Niro]

2025, 32 team club world cup.
Chelsea, City and Al-Hilal already qualified.

is that the one in preseason doubt anyone will care about that

Half-time be-headings, obvs? 

[StigenKeegan]

It's impossible to know all the motivations behind this Saudi thing. Are they buying washed up Chelsea players to help a club that they're more heavily invested in that what they claim to be? God knows...
But, for me, one thing that is 100% certain is that the only clubs that benefits from an inflated market are the oil clubs. It's even in black on white in emails from the PSG president.  And Chelsea certainly have inflated the market over the last year. Helping Chelsea not only makes it possible to keep this inflation going, but helping Chelsea by taking unwanted players at above market fees with insanely high wage packets also in it self adds to this cycle. imagine of Salah was paid 300k a week and Liverpool wanted to renegotiate his contract. Before the Saudis Salah might be able to show offers from the likes of PSG and Real for, let's say 400k, and then Liverpool would agree to a new contract at 350k. But what if there was an 800k offer on the table from Saudi? Maybe then Liverpool might be tempted to go to 400k or 425k? As Liverpool and other normal clubs can't just generate money out of thin air, we would then have 50k less to spend on other important parts of our squad.
The "problem" for the oil clubs so far has been that the money needed to inflate the market up until now had to come from "within" the current system. This money then had to appear to be legitimate as defined by the FFP. The Saudi league makes it possible to inflate the market from the outside. It really doesn't have to be crazy sums either for it to work. Most clubs are just about living within their means as it is. No need to go 200% over market value, 15-20% will make a huge difference to most proper clubs.

[newterp]

As if the Saudis/Qataris wouldn't just pay people to sit in the stands so they could have the appearance of a sold out game? I mean they did it the World Cup and then announced record crowds each game.

[Brian Blessed]

They have a regional comp though dont they i dont see the point and it will look daft in the records too

a comp with no prestige, as as they care how they get in the record books, I don’t think they care about looking daft.

[thejbs]

Very easy to see this from European viewpoint, but football is global. Plenty of fans in Asia and Africa (as well as Europe) will love a big tournament in KSA. There are more EPL viewers outside of England than in it.

[Black Bull Nova]

2025, 32 team club world cup.
Chelsea, City and Al-Hilal already qualified.

Jeez, I had forgotten about that shite
2023 it will be Abu Dhabi FC, 2 Arab clubs, 1 SA club, 1 Mexican club and 1 Japanese club trying to pretend this is the world's premier cup and based in Saudi. Only positive is that City lose 10 days.

2025, a real hole in the season like last years world cup. 32 clubs in total, 4 Arab clubs (we know which 4 probably. Don't be surprised if Melbourne, NY City, Yokahama, Montivideo, Sichuan, Mumbai and even Bahia/Bolivar possibly end up there (that's some of the clubs owned by City now).

Last series of hosts have been
UAE
UAE

Qatar
Qatar
UAE
Morocco
Saudi
June and July so won't be in the Middle East (until they move it to December) so another hole in the football calender gobbled up, FIFA (Infantino) really do not give a shit do they/he.

[The North Bank]

Very easy to see this from European viewpoint, but football is global. Plenty of fans in Asia and Africa (as well as Europe) will love a big tournament in KSA. There are more EPL viewers outside of England than in it.

Theyre all fans of premier league teams, you think because theyre asians theyll somehow love the saudi league. Thats like them saying a new russian league will be massively popular because plenty of europeans watch football. No one will care about a big tournament in saudi Arabia unless there are big european teams in it. That can be arranged though, stick a billion pound prize money for the winner and we ll all be resting players in cup finals so they can play in the Saudi super champions MBS trophy, played in july every year.

[kavah]

...
June and July so won't be in the Middle East (until they move it to December) so another hole in the football calender gobbled up, FIFA (Infantino) really do not give a shit do they/he.

Yes, the one after in 2029 according to the Wiki page. I'd bet my 20p on that one going to Saudi
and it will be fucking shite

[KillieRed]

Flashforward...

Found this headline from the DM July/2026:
"Champions Newcastle planning to use 600m windfall from sale of club legend Karius to Al Somethingihad to found Mbappe and Bellingham raid."

Anyone who thinks it's suspicious if Saudi is paying huge sums for leftover Chelsea players, just wait til Newcastle need a "legitimate" cash injection...

So this is already happening:

Link on the bbc football gossip page suggests that Newcastle want to loan Ruben Neves from the Saudi state club he’s just joined.

All above board. Nothing to see.

[BarryCrocker]

It points to the biggest issue of all. Saudi Pro League money has completely inflated the market. Many within the industry are complaining that it has introduced an instability. Fees have gone up and wages have gone up.

As an example, United had been looking at Hojlund for a potential price of £45m but in the last week Atalanta have almost doubled the price. Players that would have been £40m two years ago are now available at £70m.

This is one other reason plans have been put off. Some clubs are waiting to see if all this settles down.

Right now, though, various sources are describing a situation of “chaos”. It makes it worse that so many intermediaries are trying to get involved. It’s almost a new gold rush. Some officials have complained they have had figures come to them making promises about certain players or signings only for that to go nowhere.

It may ironically mean few players go anywhere for a while. This is seen as a huge week for the Saudi Pro League itself as it attempts to convince a number of big names to join. Losing Lionel Messi was a blow and checked momentum. Ruben Neves is a fine player but he doesn’t quite match up to the megastars they want. Ilkay Gundogan, who also received an offer from Saudi Arabia, is set to rebuff them for Barcelona.

As one figure who has been involved in negotiations with the Saudi league says, the next few days will determine how big this wave of signings is.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news-saudi-arabia-chelsea-kante-bernardo-b2361915.html

[rob1966]

So this is already happening:

Link on the bbc football gossip page suggests that Newcastle want to loan Ruben Neves from the Saudi state club he’s just joined.

All above board. Nothing to see.

Learnt from Abu Dhabis mistakes and won't repeat them. This is the future of the PL, all the players the Saudis want will move to Saudi Arabia first and then be "loaned" to Newcastle.

Once ADFC is found guilty, Newcastle will dominate the Prem, wonder if Ped will buy thicker cardies for when he moves to the North East?


Next thing will be Everton found guilty, demoted to the EFL and rather than an EFL club be promoted, the new entrant to the PL will be a Saudi team.

[thaddeus]

So this is already happening:

Link on the bbc football gossip page suggests that Newcastle want to loan Ruben Neves from the Saudi state club he’s just joined.

All above board. Nothing to see.

Talk of it being a two year loan deal.  It's possible that Neves would never kick a ball in Saudi Arabia.

In small defence of Neves his transfer has done Wolves a big favour as nobody else would have paid that fee, certainly not Barca.  If the loan happens then Newcastle will have effectively signed him on a free transfer.  I assume Mendes is still his agent and still pulling strings to make himself ever richer.

The Premier League invited the vampires in and now they can suffer the consequences.  The more piss taking that happens with the state owned clubs the better as far as I'm concerned now.  The Man City treble barely got a shrug of the shoulders from many - let the devaluation and demeaning continue.

[Iska]

They get around it by investing in another entity, which then has the participating interest. That's the trouble with weak rules. There's always loopholes.

Peabee posted this in the Chelsea thread but it’s wrong - the problem isn’t that the rules are weak, it’s that we’re relying on rules at all. There should be a governing body that has basically unlimited discretion to say “this isn’t right, gtf”, and then keep that body within the bounds of decency by pressuring it so it reflects the values of the game in this country. Instead we imagine that making the rules a bit longer and drawing them a bit tighter can sort things out.

This Neves deal is just amazing. Nobody could ever have imagined it - a Potemkin league springing up overnight, completely outside the jurisdiction, rendering all those carefully-drafted rules meaningless. And there’s nothing obvious that can be done about it, because we’re committed to living by those rules.

This isn’t just football btw, there are plenty of other parts of society that are falling apart for the same reason. Nobody able to enforce a core value, and the problems just keep getting lost in a maze of arguments and procedure.

[Jshooters]

Fair point Iska.  They should have some kind of catch all 'unsporting behaviour' type rule that allows them to kibosh any loopholers

[JRed]

And we thought Abu Dhabi were taking the piss.
These c*nts are going to take it to a whole new level.

[thejbs]

Theyre all fans of premier league teams, you think because theyre asians theyll somehow love the saudi league. Thats like them saying a new russian league will be massively popular because plenty of europeans watch football. No one will care about a big tournament in saudi Arabia unless there are big european teams in it. That can be arranged though, stick a billion pound prize money for the winner and we ll all be resting players in cup finals so they can play in the Saudi super champions MBS trophy, played in july every year.

Not what I’m saying at all. I was talking about a big final, or club World Cup taking place in KSA. I’m saying that they won’t care if it’s it Riyadh or Wembley (and many Europeans won’t care). A big game featuring PL teams will be an easy sell. And, if Twitter is any kind of barometer, most African football fans don’t have any issues with KSA’s outdated laws and repressions.

[jacobs chains]

Peabee posted this in the Chelsea thread but it’s wrong - the problem isn’t that the rules are weak, it’s that we’re relying on rules at all. There should be a governing body that has basically unlimited discretion to say “this isn’t right, gtf”, and then keep that body within the bounds of decency by pressuring it so it reflects the values of the game in this country. Instead we imagine that making the rules a bit longer and drawing them a bit tighter can sort things out.

This Neves deal is just amazing. Nobody could ever have imagined it - a Potemkin league springing up overnight, completely outside the jurisdiction, rendering all those carefully-drafted rules meaningless. And there’s nothing obvious that can be done about it, because we’re committed to living by those rules.

This isn’t just football btw, there are plenty of other parts of society that are falling apart for the same reason. Nobody able to enforce a core value, and the problems just keep getting lost in a maze of arguments and procedure.

They didn't have to imagine it. City did exactly the same thing with Frank Lampard. A rule then would have stopped what's happening now.

 A stitch in time and all that.

[WillG.LFC]

What you will get now is Saudi clubs 'buying' a player for crazy money, then the player will get homesick and they then loan them back to clubs they have ties to. You will probably see city get a fee for b silva and then he gets loaned to PSG for minimal fees. Another way to get around ffp

[has gone odd]

So this is already happening:

Link on the bbc football gossip page suggests that Newcastle want to loan Ruben Neves from the Saudi state club he’s just joined.

All above board. Nothing to see.

I initially chuckled and then seen this was actually being widely reported (from various random outlets) If that does happen then dear god, the beginning of the end has gone light speed with a cherry on top. Utter utter pisstake, not that I would take the barcodes seriously anymore in any case, but that just reeks.

[thaddeus]

What you will get now is Saudi clubs 'buying' a player for crazy money, then the player will get homesick and they then loan them back to clubs they have ties to. You will probably see city get a fee for b silva and then he gets loaned to PSG for minimal fees. Another way to get around ffp

I doubt it would be PSG as I don't think it's a combined effort by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.  If anything it's a hostile takeover of the sportswashing market by Saudi Arabia.

As for Bernardo Silva, he's another of Jorge Mendes's clients.  It's not beyond the realms of possibility that he ends up at Newcastle alongside Neves.  I'd be very, very surprised if Bernardo plays in Saudi Arabia, not for another five years anyway.

The players themselves need to be complicit but we do have three Mendes clients on our books; Fabinho, Jota and Darwin.

[Mister Flip Flop]

What you will get now is Saudi clubs 'buying' a player for crazy money, then the player will get homesick and they then loan them back to clubs they have ties to. You will probably see city get a fee for b silva and then he gets loaned to PSG for minimal fees. Another way to get around ffp

Clubs and owners see there is zero penalty for cheating and breaking rules so why not. It's open season now.

The ESL was a decent chance to save football and was widely ridiculed instead of tampered with slightly to make it fairer. What we will see now is the middle east come in with ridiculous cash offers for clubs to partake in a version of a world football league that will be impossible for the likes of FSG to refuse. The game is in the shitter and all we need is the final flush.

[vblfc]

If the Saudis spread this approach over many leagues (England, France, Spain etc ) it will be almost impossible to stop or control it. Especially since KSA is also outside UEFA rules as someone has stated above. So,as an example, if the Prem League says it’s not acceptable wthin their rules, and eg La Liga let it pass, then all the Saudi money flows to the “open” leagues. This then potentially creates a transfer mess across Europe (remember Neymar to Qatar/PSG!!). The Saudis really are going to be brash and push the rules and lack of alignment/temptaion of big money it seems.

[jepovic]

Talk of it being a two year loan deal.  It's possible that Neves would never kick a ball in Saudi Arabia.

In small defence of Neves his transfer has done Wolves a big favour as nobody else would have paid that fee, certainly not Barca.  If the loan happens then Newcastle will have effectively signed him on a free transfer.  I assume Mendes is still his agent and still pulling strings to make himself ever richer.

The Premier League invited the vampires in and now they can suffer the consequences.  The more piss taking that happens with the state owned clubs the better as far as I'm concerned now.  The Man City treble barely got a shrug of the shoulders from many - let the devaluation and demeaning continue.

One of the big problems is that everyone makes more money when the  oil states get involved, not just the oil clubs. In this case Wolves got richer. From a competition perspective, Wolves get screwed over of course.
If all the prices double, a club like Wolves or Liverpool increase a lot in value. We fall behind the oil clubs in relative terms, which is what the fans care about, but we get richer in absolute terms, which is what the owners, players, FA and Uefa care about

[Ma Vie en Rouge]

Clubs and owners see there is zero penalty for cheating and breaking rules so why not. It's open season now.

The ESL was a decent chance to save football and was widely ridiculed instead of tampered with slightly to make it fairer. What we will see now is the middle east come in with ridiculous cash offers for clubs to partake in a version of a world football league that will be impossible for the likes of FSG to refuse. The game is in the shitter and all we need is the final flush.

I mean, the Saudis could have decided to buy the new ESL anytime they wanted, too, if that suited them. New structures do nothing to protect clubs or competitions if the people running the game are only interested in money. Especially when, behind all that, there are governments desperately seeking Saudi investment who will put pressure on organisations to let them in.

Unless all nation state involvement is banned (and that means carefully banning all their proxies and stooges too, which will be difficult - but not impossible), then it's only going one way, whether it's within the PL, the ESL, or anything else we come up with.

[Black Bull Nova]

Clubs and owners see there is zero penalty for cheating and breaking rules so why not. It's open season now.

The ESL was a decent chance to save football and was widely ridiculed instead of tampered with slightly to make it fairer. What we will see now is the middle east come in with ridiculous cash offers for clubs to partake in a version of a world football league that will be impossible for the likes of FSG to refuse. The game is in the shitter and all we need is the final flush.

The PL need to understand this as do UEFA, the line (ironically in the sand) has been breached and if no-one responds we'll all be dragged into the desert.

[Nobby Reserve]

The PL need to understand this as do UEFA, the line (ironically in the sand) has been breached and if no-one responds we'll all be dragged into the desert.

How do you know that those running UEFA don't want football dragged to the desert. As long as their secret bank accounts are bulging, they'll sell football out tomorrow.

[Kennys from heaven]

The so-called football "authorities" have either zero understanding that it's all going on around them and are completely incapable of doing anything about it or (more likely) that they are totally complicit in letting it happen.

Football is now all about obscenely rich, morally bankrupt and utterly contemptable zillionaires all sat in a room laying bets to see who can get away with the most. Abhorrent.

[Black Bull Nova]

How do you know that those running UEFA don't want football dragged to the desert. As long as their secret bank accounts are bulging, they'll sell football out tomorrow.

That's the tricky part, assuming that ambitious, self serving officials, appointed by no-one, have principles that cannot be bought.


It's a big question as to how certain people get to control sport (not just football) and used to relate mainly to the Olympics if you remember (till they destroyed that)

[rob1966]

How do you know that those running UEFA don't want football dragged to the desert. As long as their secret bank accounts are bulging, they'll sell football out tomorrow.

One of the high ups is the Qatari fella who is PSG chairman

[Nobby Reserve]

One of the high ups is the Qatari fella who is PSG chairman

I know. An inside rat.

[Scottymuser]

They didn't have to imagine it. City did exactly the same thing with Frank Lampard. A rule then would have stopped what's happening now.

 A stitch in time and all that.

No?  That was a slightly different scenario - they *pretended* that he had signed a deal (and he was a free agent, so there was nothing actually stopping him from signing with City), in order that he would not look like a judas to the Chelsea fans  and then sent him on loan to the parent club.  However, that was, as I said, carefully managed PR - he hadn't actually signed a contract at all with NYC beyond a loose "Commitment to play", he signed a 1 year deal with Manchester City, with a basic "head of terms commitment" to join NYC from January - and then this was extended to July to not fall foul of the PL bans of <12 month contracts.

Neves on the other side, Newcastle are getting around FFP rules by not spending the £40m on him directly - the Lampard scenario only works for players out of contract (usually at the end of the careers).  It is specifically this dodging of FFP which is new and worrying - the Lampard scenario was basically signing an old, out of contract player in this way specifically so that it didn;t look as damaging to his old clubs fans (where he was a legend - and it certainly worked, given the fans' enthusiasm for him as a manager); this could be used for *any* player in the world

[stewy17]

If Neves goes to Newcastle unchallenged then I'm done with the Premier League, and probably football.

[Legs]

One of the high ups is the Qatari fella who is PSG chairman

Yeah but he is sound though G.Nev approves of him its only Saudis taking the piss !!

PL clubs are now too big the cost to buy one means you run the risk of it going into the hands of a state or someone not too fussed as long as they make some dollar.

[Legs]

If Neves goes to Newcastle unchallenged then I'm done with the Premier League, and probably football.

Its looking likely as even ratboy has spoke up about it but he was king cheerleader for these sorts for 5 years so reap what you sow etc.

[Red-Soldier]

And we thought Abu Dhabi were taking the piss.
These c*nts are going to take it to a whole new level.

The Saudis always do!  They don't mess about and always go for 'the big win.'  It's all or nothing with them.  One of the most powerful and influential states in the world.

[Red-Soldier]

Clubs and owners see there is zero penalty for cheating and breaking rules so why not. It's open season now.

The ESL was a decent chance to save football and was widely ridiculed instead of tampered with slightly to make it fairer. What we will see now is the middle east come in with ridiculous cash offers for clubs to partake in a version of a world football league that will be impossible for the likes of FSG to refuse. The game is in the shitter and all we need is the final flush.

Exactly!

There are no penalties for cheating, and sport is so poorly regulated anyway.  Why not crank it up a few notches!

[Nobby Reserve]

The Saudis always do!  They don't mess about and always go for 'the big win.'  It's all or nothing with them.  One of the most powerful and influential states in the world.

Like the other Gulf states, it's a hereditary dictatorship. The favoured offspring are pampered to an enormous extent, brought up in gilded cages, making them the ultimate spoilt brats. Unable to take criticism, desperate to display their power, no concept of money and its scarcity. If they can't get what they want legitimately, they will corrupt and buy until they get it by anyway.

They're evil, psychopathic scum.

[thaddeus]

No?  That was a slightly different scenario - they *pretended* that he had signed a deal (and he was a free agent, so there was nothing actually stopping him from signing with City), in order that he would not look like a judas to the Chelsea fans  and then sent him on loan to the parent club.  However, that was, as I said, carefully managed PR - he hadn't actually signed a contract at all with NYC beyond a loose "Commitment to play", he signed a 1 year deal with Manchester City, with a basic "head of terms commitment" to join NYC from January - and then this was extended to July to not fall foul of the PL bans of <12 month contracts.

Neves on the other side, Newcastle are getting around FFP rules by not spending the £40m on him directly - the Lampard scenario only works for players out of contract (usually at the end of the careers).  It is specifically this dodging of FFP which is new and worrying - the Lampard scenario was basically signing an old, out of contract player in this way specifically so that it didn;t look as damaging to his old clubs fans (where he was a legend - and it certainly worked, given the fans' enthusiasm for him as a manager); this could be used for *any* player in the world

Well explained  .  I thought the Lampard deal was a bit different but couldn't remember it well enough to explain how.

Is the only way to stop this happening to have a heavy handed global rule saying a newly signed player can't be loaned out for at least 12 months, for example?  It seems like something that would take an eternity to implement even it was broadly agreed to.

I'm going to need some help with this one as it's a classic half-a-story... but didn't Real Madrid (?) use an English club to buy somebody from one of their rivals and then immediately signed the player for a slightly higher fee?  We're maybe going back to the 1990s.

[lfc_col]

They're evil, psychopathic scum.

Shhhh your not allowed to criticize them

[jacobs chains]

I stand corrected. Cheers.