Saudi League /al Hilal

[seafoid]

Fulham sold Mitrovic, age 28,  to al Hilal. Other foreigners at the club include a Canadian goalie, Koulibaly, Neymar
(where did it all go wrong, Neymar?) , a journeyman South Korean, Milinkovic (ex Lazio) , Neves, and a Brazilian called Malcolm.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/al-hilal-riad/startseite/verein/1114

It reminds me of club football or a third class football league with a  few decent players and the rest donkeys , evenly distributed across the class.

The standard is only as good as the weakest players.

Mrs Merton to Debbie McGee"So what attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?"

[clarshack]

Tried to watch it one night and IIRC it was between Stevie G's outfit and Ronaldo's team (Ronaldo was injured) but it was pretty much unwatchable. The atmosphere alone was terrible never mind the quality of football on show. A few decent players scattered across the league isn't enough to save it.

[Itchy]

Might get interesting if they start beheading under performing western stars.

[Captain Scarlet]

The sad thing is that content king and you have so many dopes who will like and share a clip of Benzema or Ronaldo banging in a 'worldy' that keeps the overlords happy.

The games might be muck but they really don't care.

[An Watcher]

Sounds a bit like the Premier league.  Increasingly unwatchable

[seafoid]

Now is not the end state. They probably have only 20% of the players they want. It could get a lot worse.
I wouldn't worry about slowed down ex Liverpool midfielders.

Someone like Mitrovic is a huge loss to the EPL. 52 international goals. Serbia is poor so you can understand the lure of Saudi but he is only 28.  Fulham will really miss him .
The weaker clubs will be most impacted by saudi raids for players in their prime  to feed the beast and EPL competitiveness will weaken.

[RedHand88]

It's part of a longer process for them. Melissa Reddy was on sky sports news last night and said she was talking to someone behind the Saudi league who told her the project is moving alot faster than they predicted and that they were moving up their plans.

[Tony Baloney]

They've tried this shit in Japan and China and it didn't take off. If there isn't a fanbase in the host country it's going nowhere.

[gallsman]

They've tried this shit in Japan and China and it didn't take off. If there isn't a fanbase in the host country it's going nowhere.

They're is an absolutely enormous soccer fanbase in both Japan and Saudi.

[seafoid]

If the aim is sportswashing the fanbase may be a secondary consideration.

[LeoMc]

I China and Japan the objective was to make money. If the league was not self-sustaining quickly it would collapse.
In Saudi that is a secondary consideration and they can afford to absorb the losses for longer.

[seafoid]

The Saudi league  is potentially a mortal threat to the EPL. If they get the proportion of decent players above say 60% the TV income in England will be hit , as will club valuations.
Until now the EPL had no predators.
There are 18 clubs. Say they need 20 decent players in a squad at an average price of €50m . That's only €18 bn for Saudi.
Or they could take the Liverpool approach and buy young players cheap in order to develop them and sell them on.
Punters would pay to watch matches and the stadiums are already there.

the EPL can't be a  golden goose forever

[rrhf]

No it's the beginning of. The end..

[Jell 0 Biafra]

Thanks be to Jaysis.

[seafoid]

Thanks be to Jaysis.

They could have bought that Dutch midfielder that Liverpool just bought for another 10m.They could be a lot more devious.
A lot of club owners won't follow the Saudis in pricing  and if their TV revenues fall it could get very interesting.