Is Saudi Football a threat to the European leagues?

It's important to remember that we're in the second season of this Saudi wave. It's inevitable that it will have an impact on the transfer market for European clubs, and it already has.

No, we don't have a right to these players, but we are competing against clubs with essentially infinite funds who don't have to abide by any kind of financial fair play rules until they start competing against us in proper competitions. In the unlikely event that they are accepted into the CL (a big if), they will find ways to bend the rules.

It's already made a bigger impact than any of the other countries have when they tried to join the fray, the likes of China for example.
 
Tombstone said:
Looks like Roberto Mancini is off to Saudi too but more surprising is the news that Gabri Veiga is heading to Saudi. Many of the big European teams have looked at him this summer, City, Utd, Liverpool, Bayern, Napoli etc and in the end he's picking to go to Saudi. If a young upcoming , much wanted, player like him is opting for Saudi (presumably for the cash) rather than a big European team, thats a different situation compared to the end of their career players.
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Sounds like a player who was touted around by his agent and/or club and there was no interest.
 
Ayahuasca said:
It's important to remember that we're in the second season of this Saudi wave. It's inevitable that it will have an impact on the transfer market for European clubs, and it already has.

No, we don't have a right to these players, but we are competing against clubs with essentially infinite funds who don't have to abide by any kind of financial fair play rules until they start competing against us in proper competitions. In the unlikely event that they are accepted into the CL (a big if), they will find ways to bend the rules.

It's already made a bigger impact than any of the other countries have when they tried to join the fray, the likes of China for example.
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Will be interesting to see what the next transfer window will be like. With so many big names going to the Saudi league it may increasingly be seen to be a viable thing to join the Saudi teams, so we might see even more players heading there in the next window.

On the matter of playing in the Champions League..I wouldnt be surprised if thats an aim of Saudi Arabia, the CL is where money is after all, and its not out of the realms of possibility. Dont forget, there is already 1 middle east country that is in the Champions League, so Saudi being a middle eastern country wouldnt be a blocker in that regard (and I bet Uefa would love the dosh)
 
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A 21 year old with three years on his contract that's only getting a €32m bid from one interested club isn't particularly indicative of a 'upcoming' player that is 'much wanted'.

More so when compared to someone like Szoboszlai who attracted €70m with a year left on his contract...

I don't think this is particularly indicative of hotly sought after young talent being lured away being a major problem still
 
Shamikebab said:
Well Serie A is hardly a big lure is it? If they don't want to spend stupid money then it's not him choosing Saudi over them is it?
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For me Serie A is a bigger lure than the Saudi league , but then again money isnt a driving factor in my choices, so what I consider an important factor might well be different to what Veiga views as an important factor.
 
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Kenai said:
A 21 year old with three years on his contract that's only getting a €32m bid from one interested club isn't particularly indicative of a 'upcoming' player that is 'much wanted'.

More so when compared to someone like Szoboszlai who attracted €70m with a year left on his contract...

I don't think this is particularly indicative of hotly sought after young talent being lured away being a major problem still
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Thats ok then, perhaps I viewed it wrongly as being an important difference to the previous sorts of players who have gone to Saudi teams. Good to know.
 
From what i understand this is all a part in securing and investing in the economic future of the Saudi state once the world transitions away from oil being a primary source of energy. This isn't a now short term view, this is 10-30 years stuff to build clubs with a value that compete in a league that has a draw but also is competing with the others in CL or whatever competition may be in place. the key goal being to have a league and clubs that have financial stability through broadcast rights, sponsorships and competitions (CL).

They're front loading (bit like Chelsea) but they will eventually start to withdraw back from the insane offers...maybe it's 3, 5, 10 or 15 years.... it'll happen as they look stabilise the league from an economic perspective.

As a first phase (or second season) they've done well this summer but these are very early steps.
 
shipinabottle said:
From what i understand this is all a part in securing and investing in the economic future of the Saudi state once the world transitions away from oil being a primary source of energy. This isn't a now short term view, this is 10-30 years stuff to build clubs with a value that compete in a league that has a draw but also is competing with the others in CL or whatever competition may be in place. the key goal being to have a league and clubs that have financial stability through broadcast rights, sponsorships and competitions (CL).

They're front loading (bit like Chelsea) but they will eventually start to withdraw back from the insane offers...maybe it's 3, 5, 10 or 15 years.... it'll happen as they look stabilise the league from an economic perspective.

As a first phase (or second season) they've done well this summer but these are very early steps.
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At some point, some expert in geology or whatever must explain to me, in simple terms, just why it is that there is so much oil in the middle east compared to elsewhere. Its probably quite interesting.
 
Tombstone said:
At some point, some expert in geology or whatever must explain to me, in simple terms, just why it is that there is so much oil in the middle east compared to elsewhere. Its probably quite interesting.
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Had the quickest of ganders through a few articles - Not entirely sure I've got the brain cells or science brain to understand a quarter of this (after a quick skim) but I'm going to give it a proper whirl later... https://geoexpro.com/why-so-much-oil-in-the-middle-east/

Probably some handy youtube 'Explain it like I'm 5' stuff around as well which I might need to jump on later instead :p
 
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shipinabottle said:
Had the quickest of ganders through a few articles - Not entirely sure I've got the brain cells or science brain to understand a quarter of this (after a quick skim) but I'm going to give it a proper whirl later... https://geoexpro.com/why-so-much-oil-in-the-middle-east/

Probably some handy youtube 'Explain it like I'm 5' stuff around as well which I might need to jump on later instead :p
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Lol same as me, I tried looking it up on google but quickly got lost in the science.
 
Have to admit to taking zero interest in the Asian Champions League and even less in Saudi league. Hadn't realised the Saudi clubs play in it. It's absolutely awash with corruption already :cry:
www.theguardian.com

Asian Football Confederation may be sued for allowing multi-club ownership

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is facing a potential legal challenge after seemingly ignoring its own regulations on multi-club ownership to allow three clubs owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to take part in the Asian Champions League
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
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