They’ve signed about 40 recognised footballers by now and another 40 will follow this summer alone. I imagine that by the end of the transfer window at least four clubs will have first elevens with around 6/7 players we know.
Saudi signing wave: What are the implications? Is it weakening the Premier League?
- Thread starter justsomebloke
- Start date
What, like Ruben Neves and Aleksandr Mitrovic? It's not only that kind of players. That's kind of the point here.
These are the players they've signed, according to Transfermarkt.
The players they've signed from Europe this summer are:
Alex Telles, Birama Toure, Alin Tosca, Seko Fofana, Andrei Burca, Virgil Misidjan, Bernard Mensah, Gojko Cimirot, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Flavio, Roberto Firmino, Jota, Marcelo Brozovic, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Ngolo Kante, Ivo Rodrigues, Karim Benzema, and Pedro Rebocho.
That's 20 players. Most of them are not recognizable. A few aren't even coming from 1st division clubs. Hence "a little over a dozen players."
Nowhere near? Ok.
Yes, but there are plenty more who are effectively signed and are just waiting to be confirmed. Players like Henderson, Mahrez, Bailly, Saint Maxim are all expected to join imminently.
You will always find one or two.
However, it doesn’t mean anything to Premier League or the fans. If you are fan of a club, you don’t care about this stuff. There have been years where player rather played in Spain or Italy and there was no problem with that.
They have not signed. If they sign they will be future signings. Hence,
You are double counting.
No - I fully expect around 80 players to join their league by the end of the transfer window.
It does not matter if they bring in the top 100 footballers in the world. No one will tune in to watch the Saudi league and this marketing gimmick will soon wear off. Players in their prime who go there are doing a disservice to themselves. The ones near retirement, I'd get.
I imagine deadline day/week is going to be insane. They’ll be throwing money at everybody.
Rather than weaken the Premier League, I think it's the other European countries that could be most affected by the rise of the Saudis. The Premier League has already established itself as the biggest league in the world, whereas countries like Spain, Italy and Germany are playing catch up. IF the Saudi's really do go big on football and continue this investment over the next 5 years then football could find itself in a situation where there is 2 'unofficial' super leagues.
The Premier League may suffer as a result, but not as much as other leagues and the sides within those leagues who are getting their star players and managers targeted from two vastly superior entities.
The Premier League may suffer as a result, but not as much as other leagues and the sides within those leagues who are getting their star players and managers targeted from two vastly superior entities.
IMO people bigging up the Saudi League here are being far too optimistic about the Saudis benefitting the most from this arrangement.
Just look at the ongoing Mbappe transfer saga. Last summer the consensus was that PSG had "won" by keeping their player away from the clutches of Real Madrid (by dropping a huge pile of money on his lap). One season later the situation is reversed and the club is desperately trying to sell him. So far it looks like the only real winner was the player.
If the Saudi League were simply attracting players with high wages, that'd be one thing. But they're also giving them short contracts. This gives players the opportunity to quickly collect their money and then leave. The primary benefit is to the player.
Ruben Neves can see out his contract there and move to Europe before he's even 30. That's if he doesn't transfer before the contract finishes. He'll have been sold the project this way.
Just look at the ongoing Mbappe transfer saga. Last summer the consensus was that PSG had "won" by keeping their player away from the clutches of Real Madrid (by dropping a huge pile of money on his lap). One season later the situation is reversed and the club is desperately trying to sell him. So far it looks like the only real winner was the player.
If the Saudi League were simply attracting players with high wages, that'd be one thing. But they're also giving them short contracts. This gives players the opportunity to quickly collect their money and then leave. The primary benefit is to the player.
Ruben Neves can see out his contract there and move to Europe before he's even 30. That's if he doesn't transfer before the contract finishes. He'll have been sold the project this way.
I think you're looking at it too short sighted. It's well known the Saudis work with a long term goal.
The players they are signing now are simply popularity boosters to get the league known about world wide. They don't care if they stay for more than 3 years as by that point they'll mostly be replaced by other players who wouldn't necessarily join now when the league is just starting to take off.
Look around the sporting landscape and you'll see they are heavily investing in most major sports and all the stars are beginning to play in leagues associated with Saudi. Boxing, Golf etc.
If you are thinking the plan is to have the Jordan Hendersons of the world as their star players in 3 years its miles off.
Decades ago all the stars wanted to play in Italy, then it became the PL. There is nothing we've seen so far to suggest that in 10 years time that league cannot be the Saudi league. The players have always followed the money.
EDIT: Also with regards to PSG winning last year with Mbappe, all I remember is everyone laughing at how much power they had given him and the constant memes. That now seems to be coming home to roost as they are stuck between a rock and a hard place with zero leverage to do anything about it.
Not yet. Most players have been mid or washed, or approaching the end.
I guess it's a threat to the midtable sides getting the mercenaries but for the bigger clubs it's been a blessing, at least for the moment.
I guess it's a threat to the midtable sides getting the mercenaries but for the bigger clubs it's been a blessing, at least for the moment.
What the Saudis are doing now simply isn't sustainable, you can't buy the footballing culture in England, Spain, Italy, Germany or France. If they're serious about developing the game in their country. First they need to invest in player development within their league.
The average Saudi player need to be a whole lot better than what they currently are. I have no idea but what's the average turn out per game at the moment, the players they're signing will attract a frenzy but will not create the sort of religious following that the top European clubs have.
At the moment they're trying to import football, it will be very costly and really unsustainable.
The average Saudi player need to be a whole lot better than what they currently are. I have no idea but what's the average turn out per game at the moment, the players they're signing will attract a frenzy but will not create the sort of religious following that the top European clubs have.
At the moment they're trying to import football, it will be very costly and really unsustainable.
There has been significant improvement in quality of Saudi players as evidenced by the last World Cup where they impressed in group stages and should have probably made it out of their group as they outplayed us after beating Argentina and were unlucky to lose that game. There's also a limit to how far they can go with the domestic talent, chances are when their league is genuinely good there won't be more than 2-3 Saudi players per team.
Man City and PSG are reigning league champions. Of course you can buy footballing culture.
No one will give a shit about those players that move to SA. Thats their problem.
No one gives a shit about Ronaldo since he went unless hes in the news for some reason or someone sticks a post up on here mocking him.
They can buy over the hill "star" players all they want but they won't get any attention outside of their own country.
If I was a better man this will all fall to pieces in the next 3 years when they have spend 4-5bn and got absolutely nowhere. Players will start refusing moves once they realise that its bad for their careers as well. If you're 30 and don't care about international football or are so vital to your national team then it doesn't matter. If you are 22 and a big prospect you could spend 3 years there and completely derail the rest of your career.
No one gives a shit about Ronaldo since he went unless hes in the news for some reason or someone sticks a post up on here mocking him.
They can buy over the hill "star" players all they want but they won't get any attention outside of their own country.
If I was a better man this will all fall to pieces in the next 3 years when they have spend 4-5bn and got absolutely nowhere. Players will start refusing moves once they realise that its bad for their careers as well. If you're 30 and don't care about international football or are so vital to your national team then it doesn't matter. If you are 22 and a big prospect you could spend 3 years there and completely derail the rest of your career.
Of course it is benefitting the players...how else would they attract them. This is exactly what the gulf states did with other jobs, if you worked in petroleum engineering/drilling a couple of decades ago you could essentially name your price for a day rate, now there is less of a problem attracting talent, there's a massive expat society there and the salaries are still good but they are standardised and it's really nowhere near as crazy as it used to be. That's what will happen here, the initial splurge is about changing people's mindsets (which has already happened to a point) if you saw Mbappe being linked with Saudi 2-3 years ago you'd have laughed but now a lot of people think he might go even if just for essentially the most expensive 1 year deal ever.
Let's use your example and say they offer all players a short deal and they play there for 2/3 years then come back to Europe. Even if they only can attract players of Neves and Milinkovic-Savic's level (i.e. good but not world class) they'll already be stronger than most European leagues in a short amount of time. So what if they then have higher player turnover, everyone loves transfers, it drives social media about football and the more players who play there and basically get treated like royalty the more players will go. I assume you're Spanish from your username, if you're born in Spain and aren't good enough to play for the top clubs or the handful of other CL clubs in Europe you can either play at a good level without the chance of winning much and earn a good living or move to Saudi for a few years, earn 10x what you could have in Europe and your chances of winning major trophies is realistically still the same.
I really don't think Mbappe is a good example of anything because the "people" we're talking about here are forum posters.
PSG are trying hard to push Mbappe out and he has been linked with Barcelona, Tottenham, and Al Hilal. Everyone correctly dismissed the Tottenham and Barcelona rumors; they've bought the Al Hilal ones because they think Saudi clubs are ran by fecking morons.
I wouldn't describe either of those clubs as self sustainable though would you?
I'm Colombian. You can go here to the list of foreign Saudi professional players and look at the Colombian ones. The vast majority only played in the Saudi league for 1 year. That's one of the reasons I'm skeptical about the maths people are doing here, where each year the league adds more players and keeps the other ones.
Not doubting the US’ influence with music it was more so saying UK was nowhere near. If you consider how much bigger America is and then look at the highest selling artists ever and see how many U.K. artists are in the top 10 it’s insane and it’s not just rock. Beatles, Led Zepellin, Elton John, Queen etc are massive.
Also on a side note what the heck is Biggie doing in that list
His influence and appeal is gigantically overstated.
Combined your replies for ease.
This doesn't really make sense to me - people are dismissing those clubs because they can't afford him (Barca and Spurs) and aren't particularly prestigious (Spurs) not because of who runs them. Yes, you could say it is silly money but the intent behind the massive wages is very clear to see. Why are they morons though?
Why would a forum poster be different to a normal person, many people on this forum watch football outside of the PL, if people on here start watching the Saud league it's likely indicative that more people outside of the forum are doing so to.
Due respect to any players who have played there before but since Ronaldo arrived the concerted effort to build these teams is very clear, I would think of this as a new era for that league and I guess we will see what they can do to entice players to stay (I think we both know that means more money!).
We are getting away from my main point, which is: there is no indication whatsoever that Mbappe has even entertained this offer. There are plenty of reasons to believe this story isn't real. The story is not indicate of anything yet.
Yes.
I don't believe that will do much, because money is not the only reason why people don't want to play and stay there. And it's not a simple math equation where increasing the pile of money will offset everything else.
The offer that was reported yesterday was 700 million for one year. This is higher than the entire bill of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United, etc. by hundreds of millions of dollars. It is probably at least one order of magnitude higher than Al Hilal's current wage bill. It goes beyond 'silly' money, it's completely detached from any sensible economics and is totally irrational. So to believe it, we must believe the Saudis are irrational.
That or we're just considering everything "big numbers" and assuming it all works out.
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I think it's pretty obvious they'll go for everything they can.
No, you will not "always find one or two". A year ago, there were none. Year before that, same. Year before that again, same. It's a new thing. Hence the discussion.
It seems fairly obvious to me that if there is now one more league with the drawing power to compete for Premier League level talent in addition to the ones that already do so, that would have some degree of adverse effect on the PL. It would not just mean more competition, it would also contribute to inflating transfer costs and, not least, wage levels.
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Understood re main point, we will see. If he wants Real, I don't get why he doesn't take it to be honest. It's either that or sit on the bench for a year.
Money is not the only factor but it's a major one, hence why so many footballers play in the UK.
You're comparing a rich country's wealth to a football club, of course the money seems silly. But is it silly if you think their vision isn't about 5 years down the line, it's about 10, 20, 30 years down the line? Football is becoming more and more global and the ESL hints at what is coming long term, Saudi want a piece of that pie.
What, because you think it's silly money, you think it's plausible to assume a widely reported offer - for which it is confirmed that PSG has given Mbappe permission to talk to the club - is just made up?
It's hard to tell how big it will get, or how quickly it will fade out. Could go either way at this stage.
I remember when Abramovich bought Chelsea, a few of my mates downplayed their threat ('Chelsea might carry on winning the odd cup, but they'll never become a dominant force', etc). Most said the same when City was taken over. Less so Newcastle, they seem to have finally acknowledged how it likely leads to success.
But now they're very confident the Saudi league will soon fizzle out. 'Same as US, India, China...' That might be the case. But it's certainly different in the calibre of players they're being able to take from the PL and at a younger age, etc. It's definitely one to watch - not the actual games, can't say I'm overly bothered about domestic Saudi matches whoever plays for them. But certainly one to watch in terms of whether it continues to grow in terms of domestic and international support and significance.
I remember when Abramovich bought Chelsea, a few of my mates downplayed their threat ('Chelsea might carry on winning the odd cup, but they'll never become a dominant force', etc). Most said the same when City was taken over. Less so Newcastle, they seem to have finally acknowledged how it likely leads to success.
But now they're very confident the Saudi league will soon fizzle out. 'Same as US, India, China...' That might be the case. But it's certainly different in the calibre of players they're being able to take from the PL and at a younger age, etc. It's definitely one to watch - not the actual games, can't say I'm overly bothered about domestic Saudi matches whoever plays for them. But certainly one to watch in terms of whether it continues to grow in terms of domestic and international support and significance.
At least European clubs are more or less governed by the same rules, so in that respect it is a level playing field.
Obviously i think viewers from the middle east will skyrocket. World wide. I dont see it. I can't imagine very many paying to see Al-hilal if Mpabbe goes there.
Like Liv golf no one is going to watch so why is everyone getting worked up about this.
Liv golf signed some of the best players around but plenty of them didn't go also, Liv golf have events happening all the time and no one covers them it's not in or on any mainstream media outlets no one cares the events happen and someone wins and no one cares this will be very much like that
Liv golf signed some of the best players around but plenty of them didn't go also, Liv golf have events happening all the time and no one covers them it's not in or on any mainstream media outlets no one cares the events happen and someone wins and no one cares this will be very much like that
Did you miss the merger? They got what they wanted.
This is not a "new development," at least not for the rest of the world. Europe and the money they offer have decimated South American leagues, and I'm sure other leagues as well. And every year there are poaching younger and younger ones, so in many cases, we don't even get to see 18 year olds develop in our leagues. Pretty much the same "strategic intent" as the Saudis - throw serious money around, and aim to build their leagues and individual sides into powerhouses.
Please don't act like it's something new, it's just happening to you now.
Their league still so weak when it comes to the core players, which are naturally Saudis. Now it's one thing offering crazy money to big stars, but if they start offering top contracts for average top european leagues players, that's when we should worry.
Generally speaking, it's good to have a new market to offload players to, but I don't know how are they planning to hack it long term. It's pretty much one fund giving free cash to league clubs who can't afford any of the commitments they're making on their own. At a certain point it could be a huge miss if not regulated.
I also don't think it'll be tempting to everyone, regardless to money. Players dream of playing in big leagues and in the CL. It's not easy to throw all that away just for money.
Generally speaking, it's good to have a new market to offload players to, but I don't know how are they planning to hack it long term. It's pretty much one fund giving free cash to league clubs who can't afford any of the commitments they're making on their own. At a certain point it could be a huge miss if not regulated.
I also don't think it'll be tempting to everyone, regardless to money. Players dream of playing in big leagues and in the CL. It's not easy to throw all that away just for money.
If that were the case then how come RM can apparently afford to buy Mbappe whilst having already bought Bellingham, United couldn't do that nor could most clubs
Fully agree.
I fell in love with the Premier League in the 90s, and honestly the quality back then wasn't great, but there's something about the passion, the full stadiums, the rivalry, and the football culture that was built over a 100 years that you can't really manufacture. Most top leagues are like that. There's nothing appealing about a league funded by one entity. The growth needs to be more natural.
The difference between Man city, Chelsea and Newcastle are that they were well known clubs in the most viewed league in the world. I had barely considered Saudi Arabia had a league untill the last WC.
They only merged because no one was watching and players were openly talking of reneging contracts as the GWR and major participation was an issue and they wanted to go back to the PGA, but as I said for LIV golf no one cares we have a golf thread on this website and we never speak about LIV