Neymar off to Saudi

KDG said:
Neymar was always going to go once this took off. The man is everything i hate about modern footballers - gifted as a footballer with an attitude more interested being a celeb and wanting as much money as possible. Has no desire to work hard and be the best that the younger Neymar claimed he would be.

The threat with the Saudi's its pretty clear. They have targetted maybe 90% of players who are at the back end of their career, still decent but certainly within 2-4 years of finishing off but still no doubt better than the majority of the Saudi league. They have added some players in their prime who right now will be accused of throwing their career/talent for money, similar to those that went to China a few years ago.

The difference here is, this long established superstars that are heading over.

The next step will be for Saudi to start and compete with the European Giants for players in their prime and that is when it becomes a real problem. We are already going to be able to watch games via DAZN so interest will be their and followers will grow. You have a new generation of casual football fans who follow players rather than clubs which will feed into this, its like Fifa coming to life. The final risk will be when we see a reinvention of the Champions League to allow Saudi clubs into it to stop another breakaway led by the Saudi's and the big clubs wanting to jump ship.

I dont think this will go away like Russia did and China did.
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On top of this is the revised 'World Club Championship' scheduled for 2025 in a knockout tournament a la champs league - but over a shorter period of time.
Apparently teams from all over the world will compete in USA - 3 from Saudi are expected to be invited..
It will be well funded with massive advertising revenue - European clubs will want a slice of it.

Surely that's just the prelude to an international league for the so called big boys of football.
I do hope so
 
adammarc_98 said:
Think the challenge always lies in the fact like in China, the rest of that part of the world are domestically worlds away so any continental competition is fodder. Without a global competition to rival the Champions League, you will never get the Saudi league in a position where players start going to challenge themselves just as much as for the money. And that’s when it falls apart.
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You are right in that is what held China up for example. However, Saudi is a different beast and it will either be - Change the rule of the Champions League to invite 'outsiders' or it gets scrapped for a global alternative.

As mentioned in this post a couple of posts back. The newly revamped club world cup is basically achieving that. Either way, it will move to the Super League the clubs all pushed for. It will happen as well.
 
If your interested in the history of Saudi Arabia and why they are suddenly spending billions on things like football and golf, this is a good video I watched recently.

Don't know enough about the ME to say how accurate it is but in a nutshell they know their oil power is fading as the world transitions to renewables so are scrabbling like mad to find an alternate power base to avoid Iran revolutionaries sweeping in once the US completely loses interest in defending them.

 
BoroMart said:
Agreed but that’s not Uefa and it members problem to solve.

As for the LIV, comparison. People who watch golf have their fave golfers they support. They had no choice to take their support to Liv. Football is always about the teams more than any individual. Most Man Utd fans even foreign ones didn’t suddenly start supporting Madrid because Ronaldo went there and that is the problem Saudis have, no amount of money can feign history, can feign league quality. The Saudi league is still largely full of poor players, the saudi teams have no history, no fan base, there’s no intense rivalry, no Mecca of football that people want to go to, any interest in those teams is purely transitory with the player that ‘you’ liked that went there. I just can’t see them having the leverage that LIV had.
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Fair points - I just see the traditional governing bodies of football, FIFA and UEFA, being, shall we say, not entirely indifferent to the prospect of their organisation's coffers being swollen at the expense of what is best for the game. The Saudis could also, in theory, test the resolve of those clubs previously looking at a break away league to rival the Champions' League and forcing their hand towards gaining entry. Alternatively the Champions League could place a high price on a team from Saudi entering. I am not saying these things are right (in fact the opposite) but I wouldn't rule them out. I think they must have a plan of some type to take the League to the next level.
 
Willow said:
If your interested in the history of Saudi Arabia and why they are suddenly spending billions on things like football and golf, this is a good video I watched recently.

Don't know enough about the ME to say how accurate it is but in a nutshell they know their oil power is fading as the world transitions to renewables so are scrabbling like mad to find an alternate power base to avoid Iran revolutionaries sweeping in once the US completely loses interest in defending them.

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I mean.. is a shyte footy league the best way to spend money? Diamond toilets a solid gold Bugatti’s.. what’s the point?
 
This transfer couldn’t be anymore more perfect for PSG. No team in Europe would take him on the money he’d want and PSG have apparently been keen to get rid of him for awhile now.

I was listening to a podcast discussing Neymars time in France and they claimed most his injuries in France were contact injuries not muscle injuries, so they argued he may actually play more if it’s a less physical league.
 
JM14 said:
What a complete waste of a career. He really should have been one of the best of his generation
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In his own head he is. No wonder Mbappe wanted out rather than share a dressing room with him, Mbappe is twice the player and half the ego.
 
sparkins said:
Fair points - I just see the traditional governing bodies of football, FIFA and UEFA, being, shall we say, not entirely indifferent to the prospect of their organisation's coffers being swollen at the expense of what is best for the game. The Saudis could also, in theory, test the resolve of those clubs previously looking at a break away league to rival the Champions' League and forcing their hand towards gaining entry. Alternatively the Champions League could place a high price on a team from Saudi entering. I am not saying these things are right (in fact the opposite) but I wouldn't rule them out. I think they must have a plan of some type to take the League to the next level.
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1691888089919090775

👀
 
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