He's going to pocket his "transfer" fee and has no interest in playing in Saudi.
They won't put him in reserves, it's not good pr for their sports washing agenda to bench a french national icon which will create big backlash across all levels
Legality aside, they don' t have the squad for it. Mbappe and Messi scored over 50% of their goals last season and they haven't really signed any strikers. It would get very tense if/when results don't come.
This just got settled this way at the time for obvious reasons. These countries came out of the USSR, and the USSR was in UEFA. Israel's there because they've got nowhere else to be. And that's not particular to football, they're in the EBU as well, f.e. Doesn't mean there's a general opening for non-European countries to join UEFA.
Yes was already discussed - point being UEFA don't have a history of doing things by the book and these governing bodies aren't strictly by continent regardless of why. We can only hypothesise what might happen but it's my opinion somehow gaining access to CL is their ultimate goal, maybe they can push to expand the CL, my guess would be that they build these 4 teams domestically for a couple of seasons, then create their own version of the ESL which will attract the financially compromised clubs like Juve, Barca, Atletico etc. and there's your perfect replica of the LIV vs PGA scenario. UEFA are caught between a rock and a hard place with a vastly weakened competition and an infinitely rich adversary and agree to merge back into the CL format, name and branding but with the integration of the Saudi ESL.
https://www.globalfootballrankings.com/#google_vignette
Only thing that makes sense for him is a loan to the PL in my opinion. Then he goes Real next season and can say ‘I’ve played in the PL’ and everyone can see how he does and he probably realises the weather shit and he’ll stay in Madrid forever but at least he’s have tried it. United need an attacker, we’ve got the brand and size and to be honest I think taking him on loan is a lot less drama than signing him. Make it happen.
Or it goes the way of the Chinese project and fizzles out after an initial wave of moves.
2 years time ? I think it will be a lot quicker than that
It's hard to show a lot of morals when you are offered that kind of money. People criticize the players - and rightly so - but when you have 2-3 years left to play, and you are either offered €150.000 in the P.L or £700.000 in the middle East - it's not that easy to turn it down.£700,000 pw for Jordan Henderson
Well the Chinese were signing mid tier guys.
It's floating a lot around social media but I can't find an actual reliable source.
Covid killed the Chinese project, with a bot of luck the Saudi project won't have to deal with anything like that.
To be fair theres a difference between a decent player like Neves and a generational player like Mbappe. Mbappe can play anywhere and make stupid money. It doesnt have to be SA. Neves cant.
Just seems like an obviously made up quote.
It depends, we were saying similar stuff about china till the state cut the legs off it.
There are people who make barely a few quid a week travelling to unsafe countries and suffering terrible conditions just so they get get a bit more for their families back home. That's a difficult choice.
I don't think it's likely for quite a few reasons. Maybe not each as strong as the other but still. I won't put "morality" in there because as we know footballers are lying, thick as shit planks like Henderson and do sell their morals once a threshold is reached but there are plenty of SELFISH reasons for players to not go:
These people are multi millionaires. It’s not hard to show morals when you and your family are set for life. ESPECIALLY when you have pretended to advocate so hard for them and kind of made it your brand to do so.
Is it top talent? Most aren't great or are over the hill.
It was dead before covid was a thing. They introduced a transfer fee cap in 2017, and have maintained a cap on the number of foreign players allowed in a squad, and actually made it stricter. It pretty much dried up after that, with only a couple more (semi-)noteable moves after 2017. They also introduced a salary cap in 2020.
Nice job sneaking in Manchester there
The Chinese to all appearances made a strategic turn and more or less dropped the project, and as you say, they did that before Covid. But that doesn't really tell us anything about what the Saudis will do.
The biggest shift that will impact this is the growing fan base that follow the player and not necessarily the team.
Don't really agree that's a valid observation. Absorbing Israel and the former Soviet republics was on the contrary doing things exactly by the book. It's the same solutions that were generally applied more or less across the board in all areas, not just in sports. It'd have been much more not by the book if they'd done something different. It's wildly speculative to think that creates any sort of opening or precedence that might point in the direction of UEFA poaching countries or competitions belonging to other federations. Something like that has never happened.
Ok let’s see. Understand your point but think we’ll see some kind of inflexion point in a few years designed to get them in.
something something tourism diversify economy *waves hands as if to do a magic trick*
I wouldn't rule it out either, all things considered (not least, UEFA's greed).
There is no such thing as a bottomless pit. The reason billionaires are billionaires (even the Arabs) is NOT philanthropy. You can't throw a billion at footballers and remain a billionaire without recouping that money eventually - and if it looks like they won't recoup it will they really carry on just to make it the biggest "feck you" exercise the world has ever seen? Why do you think the CCP pulled out in the end?
Manchester is utterly awesome and I'll die on that hill.Nice job sneaking in Manchester there
I think maybe you need to take a somewhat broader view of what sort of return they're expecting on the investment. They don't have shareholders, and they're obviously not looking to simply make money. If they were, there'd be a lot of simpler and surer ways to do that.
