The generic transfer thread

[Winston Biscuit]

Verratti on his way to a Saudi club apparently. Now that is a real shame. Could have played for almost any good European team.

[Orion1871]

Kylian Mbappé has refused to enter any talks with Al-Hilal

[Pepe the Horseman]

Verratti on his way to a Saudi club apparently. Now that is a real shame. Could have played for almost any good European team.

Yeh, it's gone from being a little bit funny, to pretty depressing.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Kylian Mbappé has refused to enter any talks with Al-Hilal

Mbappe 4/1 to still be at PSG on Sept 3rd is looking like a decent bet.

[Winston Biscuit]

Verratti on his way to a Saudi club apparently. Now that is a real shame. Could have played for almost any good European team.

Yeh, it's gone from being a little bit funny, to pretty depressing.

I am still not fussed by it all tbh. I reckon only 2 top players have gone there in their prime. The rest are either mid table merchants or oldies looking for a final pay day they can no longer get in Europe

[Royal_jimmy]

Who's made the best signings in league one do you reckon?

[NathStPaul]

Carlisle.

[Sanguine]

Verratti on his way to a Saudi club apparently. Now that is a real shame. Could have played for almost any good European team.

Yeh, it's gone from being a little bit funny, to pretty depressing.

I am still not fussed by it all tbh. I reckon only 2 top players have gone there in their prime. The rest are either mid table merchants or oldies looking for a final pay day they can no longer get in Europe

I think you're in a bit of denial Winst. Sure, the absolute top tier of players haven't gone yet, but plenty of very good top league players have made the move. You could already make a very competitive 'Saudi Pro League XI' of those who have joined.

Must admit that broadly I'm beginning to wonder what the top level sporting landscape will look like in a generation. It's difficult to see how the Saudi Pro League doesn't continue to grow. And that would have implications for the Champions League, probably pushing the European Superleague back on to the table. In golf, Saudi money in LIV has totally changed the outlook. Red-ball cricket is arguably the least popular version of the sport (admittedly that isn't PIF money). I'm probably surprised the Saudis haven't looked at tennis yet.

[Winston Biscuit]

Yeh, it's gone from being a little bit funny, to pretty depressing.

I am still not fussed by it all tbh. I reckon only 2 top players have gone there in their prime. The rest are either mid table merchants or oldies looking for a final pay day they can no longer get in Europe

I think you're in a bit of denial Winst. Sure, the absolute top tier of players haven't gone yet, but plenty of very good top league players have made the move. You could already make a very competitive 'Saudi Pro League XI' of those who have joined.

Must admit that broadly I'm beginning to wonder what the top level sporting landscape will look like in a generation. It's difficult to see how the Saudi Pro League doesn't continue to grow. And that would have implications for the Champions League, probably pushing the European Superleague back on to the table. In golf, Saudi money in LIV has totally changed the outlook. Red-ball cricket is arguably the least popular version of the sport (admittedly that isn't PIF money). I'm probably surprised the Saudis haven't looked at tennis yet.

I have said before that my concern with the Saudi money is when its starts impacting European football, and with UEFA always chasing the next bag of cash that may well happen sooner rather than later. but for now if its just all these players going over there for a big pay check then I fail to see what people are even bothered about. So far at least, outside of Milinkovic-Savic and Verrati (rumoured to be done soon) I don't see any other genuinely top player going there in the list still in their prime.

What I do see happening is the Saudi league attempting to get their clubs playing on a bigger stage. The FIFA Club World Cup is one of the obvious places for that to happen as the expansion to a 32 team tournament was announced by FIFA just a few months ago and that will come into effect in 2025, with the extra allocated slots yet to be confirmed.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the Saudi League approached Barcelona, Real Madrid & Juventus with the idea of effectively starting up a Super League. No idea what would happen there but i really am just not bothered by it all. If there ends up being 2 tiers of football - 1 is a bunch of elite players on crazy contracts touring the world, and the other is more traditional regional football, then I am fine with that tbh.

I think football is different to pretty much every other sport due to the location of clubs and who they represent. Taking a club and moving it to Saudi for example would kill off a lot of what appealed to fans. Starting a competition in Saudi, inviting a big european club over and playing there in a souless Riyadh stadium would also get unappealing very quickly. I have said before that if we ended up back in a sitautaion where the top 4/5 English clubs wanted to go off and join a superleague they should be allowed to. I think our football here has a strong enough culture, history, appeal etc that it would do fine, possibly even reform a little for the better and still be thoroughly enjoyable.

[Mr Angry]

Totally agree with Winston's views.

I would add that, the ONLY reason Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus want a Super League is because they are unsustainable as football clubs with the eye wateringly massive levels of debt that they have, and could only see a closed shop where they get the bulk of TV money was their only future.

Now, with the Saudi's not bothered about any sort of traditional business model (because, lets face it, we all know that this is simply a sports -washing enterprise to make the Saudi regime more "acceptable" to the liberal West where money is - literally - no object) it would make perfect sense for those 3 European clubs to get paid stupid money to play in the Saudi Pro League. (I am sure they would try to spin it that doing so was for the betterment of the football family blah blah blah, but everybody will know it's all BS).

Give it a few Years and I wouldn't be surprised to see other major European teams with heavy leveraged debt and/or Middle Eastern owners choosing to join them.

And if they do go, so what? As Winston says, that mightwell have the effect of making domestic football and the pan European competitions more enjoyable.

[Orion1871]

Totally agree with Winston's views.

I would add that, the ONLY reason Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus want a Super League is because they are unsustainable as football clubs with the eye wateringly massive levels of debt that they have, and could only see a closed shop where they get the bulk of TV money was their only future.

Now, with the Saudi's not bothered about any sort of traditional business model (because, lets face it, we all know that this is simply a sports -washing enterprise to make the Saudi regime more "acceptable" to the liberal West where money is - literally - no object) it would make perfect sense for those 3 European clubs to get paid stupid money to play in the Saudi Pro League. (I am sure they would try to spin it that doing so was for the betterment of the football family blah blah blah, but everybody will know it's all BS).

Give it a few Years and I wouldn't be surprised to see other major European teams with heavy leveraged debt and/or Middle Eastern owners choosing to join them.

And if they do go, so what? As Winston says, that mightwell have the effect of making domestic football and the pan European competitions more enjoyable.

Real Madrid are in a different situation to Barca and Juventus. They have debt but they also have better revenue streams than either of those clubs and the new stadium will generate more money for them through a deal with Sixth Street and Legends.

https://sixthstreet.com/investment_anno ... d-legends/

Real want the Super League because they can see the PL getting stronger and stronger due to TV rights etc whilst Tebas and La Liga make mistake after mistake. Barca and Juve need money and Real want more money.

[Sutekh]

Totally agree with Winston's views.

I would add that, the ONLY reason Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus want a Super League is because they are unsustainable as football clubs with the eye wateringly massive levels of debt that they have, and could only see a closed shop where they get the bulk of TV money was their only future.

Now, with the Saudi's not bothered about any sort of traditional business model (because, lets face it, we all know that this is simply a sports -washing enterprise to make the Saudi regime more "acceptable" to the liberal West where money is - literally - no object) it would make perfect sense for those 3 European clubs to get paid stupid money to play in the Saudi Pro League. (I am sure they would try to spin it that doing so was for the betterment of the football family blah blah blah, but everybody will know it's all BS).

Give it a few Years and I wouldn't be surprised to see other major European teams with heavy leveraged debt and/or Middle Eastern owners choosing to join them.

And if they do go, so what? As Winston says, that mightwell have the effect of making domestic football and the pan European competitions more enjoyable.

Real Madrid are in a different situation to Barca and Juventus. They have debt but they also have better revenue streams than either of those clubs and the new stadium will generate more money for them through a deal with Sixth Street and Legends.

https://sixthstreet.com/investment_anno ... d-legends/

Real want the Super League because they can see the PL getting stronger and stronger due to TV rights etc whilst Tebas and La Liga make mistake after mistake. Barca and Juve need money and Real want more money.

Though I hate the idea of the ESL, strictly from a domestic point of view, would the it actually be an issue to anyone other than purist fans? We'd still have all the clubs involved in the ESL playing their domestic league and cup fixtures (though granted the cups might become competitions for those club's academies (but then they're pretty much already going that way) and all those clubs already spew wealth from all their TV and other revenue deals so what actual difference would it make to lower leagues. In fact if the ESL happened surely the FL and non leagues could use it as an argument to get more money flowing down to those leagues.

[Sanguine]

An argument that might be valid but a situation that would ultimately see less money reaching the smaller clubs. Because if big names go to Saudi, and if big clubs go to the ESL, then so follows all/most of the money in the form of TV rights, sponsorships and media interest. It's very utopian to think 'ah, football like in the old days', but it would be lower quality stuff.

[Brum Royal]

Al Ettifaq video unveiling Jordan Henderson has black and white patches on a colour video specifically over the rainbow arm bands Henderson wore as Liverpool captain. It's also littered with spelling mistakes.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Al Ettifaq video unveiling Jordan Henderson has black and white patches on a colour video specifically over the rainbow arm bands Henderson wore as Liverpool captain. It's also littered with spelling mistakes.

…and a reported £750k per week to ease his conscience whilst he reassesses his life values.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Sadio Mane likely to join Al Nassr.

[CountryRoyal]

Sadio Mane likely to join Al Nassr.

The Saudi “revolution” is pathetic and will die a death just as quickly as it was born, just like in China.

These clubs have no interest in making actually good teams otherwise they might sign some bloody defenders but they’re not “marquee” or “bling enough”.

[CountryRoyal]

Al Ettifaq video unveiling Jordan Henderson has black and white patches on a colour video specifically over the rainbow arm bands Henderson wore as Liverpool captain. It's also littered with spelling mistakes.

…and a reported £750k per week to ease his conscience whilst he reassesses his life values.

Phwoarr not bad. You could buy a whole street in Liverpool every week.

[Winston Biscuit]

Sky Italia saying Man Utd have agreed a deal for Rasmus Hojlund worth €70M + €5M

[Pepe the Horseman]

Sky Italia saying Man Utd have agreed a deal for Rasmus Hojlund worth €70M + €5M

€75m.