That’s Wild(e)!We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Just wait for next year fifa ultimate team. Every body will be running a team full of saudi league players and interest on that league will increase hugely.But the tides are turning.
I haven’t announced that the Saudi League has overall more player worth.
But it has more star players, and they’re getting younger and younger.
If Mbappe went there, you’d probably have to concede that they then had the best player on Earth too.
This was unthinkable just a year ago, it really isn’t now.
In one year? I don't think soBut the tides are turning.
I haven’t announced that the Saudi League has overall more player worth.
But it has more star players, and they’re getting younger and younger.
If Mbappe went there, you’d probably have to concede that they then had the best player on Earth too.
This was unthinkable just a year ago, it really isn’t now.
Got to admit these two things are a killer for the Premiership nowadays, both of which are self inflicted harm on the league, and both of which the league could sort out if they had the will to do so.I don't watch much PL football anymore, due to a combination of factors:
- Referees incorrectly deciding games nearly every week and using excuses like because they're mates with each other so its ok
- City who are a non entity in terms of evoking any passion or feeling, winning with ease every year
- Spending 90 minutes watching millionaires roll about pretending to be hurt, pretending to limp around, sitting on the floor until the game stops and everyone looks at them, etc. To the point I spend less time enjoying the game than I spend feeling like I'm being taken for a complete idiot.
- Sky over dramatising everything to the point it now all feels artificial.
- When someone obviously cheats but no one is allowed to call them a cheat because of how embarrassingly precious football and footballers are.
I pftrn find it an effort to watch these days but the Saudi league has nothing to do with it. If it sifts out all the players in the PL who are after a retirement contract maybe it will actually help a bit.
What UCL semi-finals are you watching?If you see which names are running around at the top clubs in the SPL, these names could just as well have been in a UCL semi-final:
al-Ittihad is still at the beginning of his squad planning. In addition to Fabinho, Kante, Jota* Benzema, 4-5 other top-class players are expected (DeGea, Varane, Gabriel, Salah...? *is awarded?)
al Hilal: Bono, Koulibaly, Savic, Neves, Malcom, Mitrovic, Neymar (a new top - LB/RB, Felix...)
al-Nassr: Telles, Laporte, Fofana, Brozovic, Otavio, Talisca*, Ronaldo, Mane (Allison, Lloris, DeGea *will likely be replaced by a notable winger)
al-Ahli: Mendy, Ibanez, Demiral, Kessie, Veiga, Maximin, Firmino, Mahrez (DePaul, Verrati?)
... a very strange retirement league.
I'm sorry, but this is also a common misconception. A player's ability is maintained by training and competing against the best. Sure a player can go to a top 30-60 league and still have their ability, but they will lose that ability by the level of competition. Eventually that will happen. A player's first touch must be extra sharp at the highest level, and as things get slower and sloppier in a less skillful league, so would their standards drop because that is all that is required of the player to excel.Retirement league is thrown around, but just because a player is 30 doesn’t mean they’d be finished at the top level - the likes of Mané, Neymar, Fabinho, Mahrez, Laporte etc would all easily start for most of the teams in the CL.
Out of that small list I think it’s far to say that mane and Fabinho look on their last legsRetirement league is thrown around, but just because a player is 30 doesn’t mean they’d be finished at the top level - the likes of Mané, Neymar, Fabinho, Mahrez, Laporte etc would all easily start for most of the teams in the CL.
Fabinho would have started this season for Liverpool, they were happily going into the season with him and Mané would have got another club at a good level if Bayern didn’t want him.Out of that small list I think it’s far to say that mane and Fabinho look on their last legs
Yep. This just about sums it up!It's a pile of shite with a smattering of sellouts.
Did you watch either last season? They both look past their leak now, Fabinho was noticeably off the pace last season. I don’t doubt that they may have got another team, a fool and their money is easily partedFabinho would have started this season for Liverpool, they were happily going into the season with him and Mané would have got another club at a good level if Bayern didn’t want him.
This makes no sense at all.The startlingly sudden rise of the Saudi league is unprecedented, and I’m kinda surprised more isn’t being made of it tbh.
When Ronaldo signed for the Saudi League, less than a year ago, he was mocked… now, in literally one window, the Saudi League has more star players than the PL - with the PL also losing Kane.
From a marketing POV, this is like a fecking nuclear strike on the PL.
I can’t help but see a correlation between City being allowed to cheat for a decade and thus render the PL a one team league, culminating in their treble and the very same Summer, the PL losing so many of its stars to a league that was less than a year ago viewed a complete joke.
I feel that City being allowed to blatantly and vigorously cheat with absolutely no consequence has subtly but chronically undermined the PL, it’s competitiveness, and thus it’s standing.
I also think that them finally winning the CL - again with no ramifications for their cheating - has slightly devalued that competition also.
Of course there are other factors, but the fact that the PL is suddenly losing so many of its players directly in sequence with City’s absolute dominance is not a coincidence imo.
A year ago, people thought the Saudi League’s attempt at dominance was similar to the Chinese League’s attempt - now it is being viewed very differently.
Will it succeed in knocking the PL off its perch? Or… a more dubious question… has it already done so?
And is the PL to blame for this having sat by idly, obviously paid off, and allowed a corrupt team to blatantly cheat for an entire decade?
This neither does.Yes.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that Chelsea being owned by abramovic was the start of the end. Money now rules all and these countries have the most money.
I look forward to the prem being fecked over.
This makes no sense at all.
This neither does.
They don't have more star players, You're bringing up 'names' rather than their current quality but also not comparing consistently.Please note, I didn’t say a better level of football - yet.
When you actually look at the PL in terms of star players, team by team, you start to realise that there is a huge lack in comparison with its own history - and it’s star players that attract younger fans and that’s what young fans care about these days.
If kids start caring more about the Saudi League than the PL or La Liga, that’s massive. And kids these days follow players more than teams. The pull of having Ronaldo, Neymar, Salah in the same league cannot be overstated.
If we look at the PL top 6 other than City from last year, and draw up the two biggest star players for each team…
Arsenal - Saka, Jesus
Utd - Bruno, Rashford
Brighton - Mitoma, ?
Newcastle - Wilson, Isak
Liverpool - Salah (soon to be in Saudi League), Gakpo? Darwin?
Spurs - Kane (not in PL anymore), Son
It’s poor. And further still, I wouldn’t be particularly shocked if ANY of these players went to the Saudi League in the next 2 seasons.
Then compare to Saudi League big hitters - Benzema, Neymar, Mane, Salah (likely), Ronaldo, Mitrovic, Mahrez, Saint Max, Firmino, Milinkovic Savic, Otavio, Neves…
Yes, some of them are older, but the ages of players going there is getting younger and the big names are HUGE names with huge pulling power.
Their league is obviously not as strong as the PL at present, but their list of star players is larger than the PL’s now imo.
I think people are underestimating what’s happening here tbh, and in just a few seasons I think it’ll start to dawn on people that the Saudi League has properly altered the landscape.
And as I said previously, I think the Prem’s one team league status has contributed, somewhat to it.
The teams are utter shite though. The football is also bad. It’s advertising. Not sporting competition.But the tides are turning.
I haven’t announced that the Saudi League has overall more player worth.
But it has more star players, and they’re getting younger and younger.
If Mbappe went there, you’d probably have to concede that they then had the best player on Earth too.
This was unthinkable just a year ago, it really isn’t now.
Like that's gonna happen. They're in phase 1 and have a gigantic (!) budget to attract players the next decade. Of course phase 2 is to not just buy past-it players, but also the new Messi™. It's inevitable.As long as no one in their prime goes there they will have no stars, so if you ask me they have zero stars at the moment. I guess Neymar isn't that old, but Mbappe wouldn't even talk to them.
Exactly this.What stars? It’s mostly washed players with the odd strange one in there (Veiga, Neves)
Are you the spokesperson for the Saudi League then? You seem to have appeared solely for this purposeAt the latest from next season or the season after next, the inhibition threshold to switch to Saudi Arabia will fall. And the argument "retirement league" or "no sporting challenge" no longer counts.
An example of this is Veige. He did everything right, not only financially, but also in terms of sport.
You should only look at the squad + coaches with whom he will play in the future. The sporting challenge would also be higher than in Napoli, for example.
It's easier to become champions with Napoli than to win the title in Saudi Arabia with al-Ahli. Again, I recommend taking a look at the competition. Instead of playing UCL next season, he is going to a newly promoted Saudi. The days of top football in Europe seem to be numbered.
I believe the Saudis will also intend to naturalize talent like him from the start. That would also be a great advantage for them because of the restrictions on foreigners. Many could face the decision: naturalize and enjoy all the advantages that a Saudi has + the guaranteed regular place or end up like Jota, who now has to go again after 2 months.
Something like that could be very attractive, especially for Latinos and Africans. After all, who doesn't want a Buggatti as a gift after almost every international win?
The OP says they have more stars than the PL right now. Even if you consider 47 year old Benzema and Ronaldo stars City alone has more stars than their entire league.Like that's gonna happen. They're in phase 1 and have a gigantic (!) budget to attract players the next decade. Of course phase 2 is to not just buy past-it players, but also the new Messi™. It's inevitable.
Agreed. I just want to support proper football. Feck all the superstars and oil moneyIn some ways I would welcome the collapse of international interest in the Premier League. It would at least get rid of the sports washers and the US parasites. Let them take their excess somewhere else.