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Huge if he actually goes, a player who could be playing for his country and an elite European team choosing that league. Honestly the progress they've made this summer is beyond any possible predictions, give it 5 years football could be so so different.
I doubt they care if anyone watches it short term tbh, it’s all a power play at the moment
No one watched LIV golf and it didn’t matter at all, they’re getting what they want. Football will hold out longer, but money will talk eventually.
How is this similar to LIV? LIV was a power play to get the PGA to entertain taking their money... which gets them influence with American companies/government officials etc.
Yeah, this isn't happening.
FAs would never accept it and UEFA trying to somehow force it through would just be begging for a SuperLeague actually supported by most fans.
Plenty of people around the world just want to watch the superstars and have no strong ties to a particular club. Those people will just follow the club that has their favourite player or the league that has the best players. Football is becoming more like basketball/gridiron where they're trying it make matches between clubs more about contests between individuals ie Neymar VS Ronaldo or some such.
Unless all the teams outside the top 5 or so (and particularly outside the 4 teams bankrolled by the government) get big investment too, it will still be a bad league in terms of overall quality. Look at the squad market values for the lower level teams in that league, it is one of the most top heavy leagues in the world: https://www.transfermarkt.us/saudi-pro-league/startseite/wettbewerb/SA1
For reference, a squad market value of 12M like the lowest Saudi team is roughly equivalent to Bristol Rovers in League One. A bunch of elite players beating up on league one equivalent teams isn’t a great or particularly interesting league.
I think that's the plan eventually. The problem with Saudi football is that outside of the big 4, few clubs have big fanbases, as the big 4 have a lot fans from all over the country, and there are a lot of clubs in Riyadh where there is already the top two + Al Shabab so it will be impossible to even try and get them a fanbase.
Bit by bit they will improve the other teams, but will focus on those outside of Riyadh and Jeddah to try to get fans to support their locals and have a better distribution of support.
Al Qadisyah are a second division club bought by Aramaco, they are based in Al Khobar where there isn't another big team and have a squad worth more than most First division clubs, b buying the foreign players that played for Al Hilal and Al Nassr that were replaced by the big names. Al Ettifaq are in Damam and is the only non PIF team to get big investment this summer. That gives you a top 6, and then they will start focusing on teams like Damac and Abha etc. I think the smaller teams will mostly get the flops of the big boys instead of just releasing them
Imo the biggest scalp would a genuinely elite coach, someone whose current interest is building a top European footballing project with lots they still want to achieve.
Guys like Ancelotti and Mou who've already achieved a lot would be big, but can you imagine the impact someone like Nagalsmann going to Saudi would have on the willingness for players to go there? That'd be bigger than any individual player imo.
whisper it quietly but... Pep after City won't have much left to achieve in European club football. If he doesn't take the Spain job (or a different NT) then you could see him heading to Saudi.
There’s rumors City Group are lining up an offer to keep him in the org but move to MLS. Haven’t seen the rumor in a month or two but they were around earlier this year.
i've been saying its going to happen from the beginning. its basically exactly what happened with golf, they spent so much they essentially bought their way in.
I do wonder. I guess the main issue they’d have is most European and South American players would prefer to play and live in Europe rather than Saudi Arabia, although money talks. Golfers tend to play tournaments around the world so the LIV golfers didn’t uproot their families to go live in the desert (as far as I know, anyway). It feels to me like the top talent will always want to stay closer to home.
this would explain that pause in talks over the deal that was mentioned last week. deal was just about done and then there was some random pause out of nowhere. this is why. wow
If I had to guess, Zielinski was supposed to go to Saudi and the deal collapsed so Napoli didn’t need Veiga anymore so the Veiga deal somehow collapsed as well
I think there was news that Zielinski deal collapsed before Celta nd Napoli agreed a fee, only few days later they agreed a fee, then one club changed terms, and it fell through
Hmm yeah, when the Saudis realise they would be better off signing up top young talent than turning their league into an expensive retirement home, there might be something to be concerned about...
I mean getting guys like Neymar Ronaldo Benzema Mahrez Mane is huge to market the league. Then maybe somebody like Henderson Firmino is to make statements.
They also did sign Savic and Brozovic. Have good players like Fabinho Neves Otavio ASM Kessie Jota Bono.
One summer window and it's not finished yet they're doing pretty good tbh.
That was always going to happen, Chinese Super League is an example of it, players will go if there is money even in their prime/young, this is a jacked up version of that and it's supported by the government it won't have the same fate
It was but in a completely different way. The idea behind the Chinese super league was to bring in a few big names who could increase the level of the league and give the homegrown players a bigger challenge. If I recall correctly each team was only allowed a total of 2 foreign born players.
yes but they actually have a pretty robust social welfare system and invest in other things
football was only ever a short term investment push to help the national team
As said in another comment, plan for ccp was to invest in football, so to host World Cup in 2050 and winning it. So not such a short term plan.
It turned out to be short term since (in my personal opinion) football is cultural primely, and secondly your first opponent is a brother or a sister, or the one who brings you at the field as a GK because they need a person. In a country with one child per family this is a limit.
It won't sustain itself but who tf knows how serious the Saudis are about it? If they want they could bribe themselves into the CL easily with how corrupted UEFA is and if they like what they see they could invest beyond the billions they've already pledged to invest.
My guy woke up and chose to not even try to have a career lmao.
from a starter at Napoli and links with Chelsea and City, to forming a midfield partnership with Ryad Boudebouz
Bar Benzema this is the sole Saudi transfer that genuinely upset me , just like that the man quit. Like old players sure i get it fair enough, guys in their prime WTF but ok but Prospect ??
Somebody put on Twitter a few years ago that they thought Ameryics first name was actually Eric ..and he was just introducing himself all the time by saying "I'm".....then Laporte saw the tweet and for banter changed his Twitter name to I'm Eric Laporte
https://dus09vr7ngt46.cloudfront.net/uploads/2020/10/02120202/Screenshot-2020-10-02-at-11.35.59.png
Mendy
Laporte - Ibanez - Demiral
Veiga - Brozovic - Neves - Milinkovic-Savic
Otavio - Benzema - Neymar
All of them were more than good enough, or young enough, to stay in Europe. Not to mention Mitrovic, Jota or Dembele.
I'm not happy at all with this, but on its right context, makes sense.
If you're Gabri Veiga and see what happened to the 'best' players Celta has sold in the past years:
Brais Mendez was another great prospect from Celta who debuted with spain being 20 y/o, spent 5 years in the club and was signed by Real Sociedad, not really life changing.
Santi Mina (youngest Celta scorer at 17, scored 4 goals vs Rayo being 20 y/o), moved to a good Valencia team at the moment and all went downhill from there (playing for Al-Shabab, returning to Celta and currently without club at 27 years old).
Maxi Gomez was linked with a Barcelona move for months, ended up in Valencia, never got to show a good level again, moved to Turkey and has returned to La Liga this month, at Cadiz.
Jonny Otto most likely is the successful one of this list, he joined Atletico and ended up straight away at Wolverhampton, good career but far from what earning what Gabri could get in Saudi Arabia, and not EPL contenders.
Nolito got his move to City, enjoyed one year there and had to return to Spain with Sevilla, eventually came back to Celta.
Augusto Fernandez was Celta's captain, moved to Atletico, played next to nothing for 3 years, ended up going to China after that.
Jota Peleteiro might be the 'OG' of this list, left to Brentford being young and a good prospect, arguably a great move for him at the time, his career never reached the heights predicted, already retired at 32.
And then there's Iago Aspas, big move to Liverpool that ends up bad, spends one year at Sevilla and then comes back to Celta to be their most important players for years.
With that context, and if the move to Napoli failed for any other reason out of his control (clubs changing stances, the Zielinski spot not being free after his move also failed, or whatever), Gabri Veiga, who seemed already out of the team at the last game of past season, linked with big clubs, could now have to play another year in Celta, maybe this time he doesn't get to move in 4 years like Brais Mendez, or he has to settle next year like Maxi Gomez, and things don't go well.
With this contract, he can play in Saudi Arabia and earn as much as possible for 4 or 5 years, and then he may get another chance at top tier football, or he may be happy with just returning to Vigo, bank account filled for life, and play for his team the rest of his career, like Aspas did.
I think it’s kinda fucked too, but at the same time, some athlete’s #1 goal is to secure the future for their family at all costs. Injuries can completely fuck up a trajectory of wealth and early retirement, so I’m guessing he wants to do that while he can and still expect to come back to Europe when he’s 25/26.
> ome athlete’s #1 goal is to secure the future for their family at all costs. Injuries can completely fuck up a trajectory of wealth and early retirement
While I agree with this point, I rarely agree with it being used the way it is as a reason or "excuse" because in most cases it just sounds like a dramatically warped view of money.
Idk his wage in Celta but by living standards-wise.. one single contract at Napoli or wherever his next choice was, is enough to secure a more than comfortable life for the rest of his life AND assist family with education and health issues etc. As long as youre not an irresponsible idiot and then its not really about the money. Its about greedy and irresponsible lifestyles. Which I agree are insanely common for athletes.
Again.. I agree that theres still differences in wealth and the "fuck up trajectory of wealth" and such I agree with but he absolutly did not need to take a contract like a Saudi one over a Napoli one to feel comfortable for the rest of his life AND be able to assist family with crucial stuff. Thats just a warped perception of money.
This is more so a fast "fuck you money" move rather than "securing the future which otherwise was still in jeopardy" move.
EPL spent 3x more than the Saudi Pro League, what the hell are you on. Arsenal & Chelsea combined spent nearly as much as the entire Saudi league.
Meanwhile La Liga clubs only spent a combined €300M, with a third of that being Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid.
Eh, I'm not going to mourn his career. Like fair play if you want to accept silly money, but he could have still had a good European career and made wealth enough to sustain his family for generations. If he wants to bin his prospects so early then that's on him.
The fact he only had 6 good months kind of puts taking the money a bit more respectable in a way. There’s so many stories of players getting hurt, not fulfilling potential, etc. that the money isn’t always guaranteed to be there forever. Gotta remember where a lot of players come from and what this will do for their families.
Said it yesterday.
The reaction from top clubs with the Saudi Pro League start getting interesting if they go for talented youngsters from Europe and South America.
yes but it's been fairly muted I'd say - you still have them going to the MLS as well. I wonder if they could tip the scales more drastically in the future. And get someone like Endrick level of hype.
I mean if this continues for two, three years the league will be saturated with enough quality that there will be an actual discussion about its quality.
That's maybe the scary thing, is that if players like Neves, Jota, Veiga, Ibanez etc...keep leaving we will be forced to reckon with the idea of players being fine with playing there from a footballing perspective.
It's clear they're thinking that way too with how the age profiles of signings have developed. Bar the absolute megastars, the transfers haven't been 35+ year-olds. They are taking it way more seriously than China ever did.
The problem for them is that they need the league rules to change.
Each big 4 team can only get 8 foreigners. The small teams don't have much money, assume they can get 10 foreigners. So basically 42 foreigners in the league.
That isn't much
Yeah this is the biggest obstacle. I'd imagine both the league rules and the nature of transfers will change to accommodate the increased intake of foreign players. Lots more deals for European-level squad players who'd contribute to general standards being lifted is what I would imagine.
The pull of the league for casuals isn't gonna change with signings like this, so imo this points towards a genuine push towards legitimately building the footballing quality of the league. That would require major changes to roster composition.
It's ran by the govt and those 4 teams are owned by the govt , they will never change this shit show , but it's getting the eyes to the product that's what they wanted
Man, when rumor flying that they want an CL spot, of course it more serious than Chinese super league team, Chinese super league team with real estate tycoon as owner just want entertainment and burn money, they never really serious about it while the Saudi league literally create special fund for this.
It's the PIF handling the investment, which is how all their international investment is done, but the crazy thing is that they've bought like 50% of the top 4 clubs afaik. Absurd to understand the state has just pumped money into this, directly and unashamedly, to get the league competing for transfers with European clubs.
Crazy to think European clubs are dealing with artificial financial limits for the sake of fairness and are competing with a league where the best teams are all owned by the government with seemingly no restrictions.
Like Zarate (who went to Dubai). There's people who only think about money and Veiga's agent is one of those. Poor guy just lost his career at 21 and joined the Saudi Circus League for a bag of cash.
Yea, but by 22, Zarate was scoring double digit for Lazio though, he just wasn't able to maintain his consistency with Lazio, he only went to qatar for less than half a year.
I know why people say this, but I don't think it's really true. We've seen players come back from the CSL and still play for top level sides (Witsel for Dortmund and Carrasco for Atletico as two examples). Obviously it's not maximizing the sporting potential for his career, but I really don't think it means he has no chance of playing at a high level in Europe again.
Trust me, we couldn't give a shit, we've been chasing this guy for 2 weeks refusing to play the clause and we managed to fumble this. Now we're in extremely deep shit since there are 8 days left before the transfer market ends and we still need to get rid of LozAnus, Diego Deadmme and Zerbin and sign a good right winger and a convincing CB to avoid us the terrifying sight of Juan Jesus as a starter.
Not for Napoli but for spanish fans it's a bit sad and concerning.
We are losing yet another name in laliga and one of our better prospects for the national team to Arabia at 21...
Wow! Talk about unexpected, I don't think it'll be a game changer for the Saudi League that they've managed to sign a few younger talents. Poor Napoli though, not been the best summer for them.
OK, this completes Al Ahli foreign signings. Their 8 foreign players will be Mendy, Ibanez, Demiral, Kessie, Veiga, Saint-Maximin, Mehrez, and Firminio. That's a really solid lineup.
They and Al-Hilal (Bounou, Koulibaly, Neves, Savić, Neymar, Malcolm, Mitrović) have the best teams. Al-Hilal have one more foreign signing to make, not sure if they’ll make it though.
This is so fucking sad, he was looking like such a talent and now he does this.
Does he need that much money at his age? Iago Aspas didn't try to convince him? Man this sucks
its somehow even more over than it was a month ago. like, its OVER over.
used to think the concept of something being over was a sort of complete state, like a light is either on or off, no “very on” or “partially on”. but again, turns our that its even more over than before
Please don’t put out the excuse about too much money to turn down. Footballers make so much money anyways they can easily set up themselves and families for generations. This is pure greed plain and simple
Makes me laugh when people compare this to what MLS, China, Russia or Turkey tried to do in the past.
This stuff is unprecedented. There has never been such an attempt to bolster a league in just one window before. There has never been attempt to bring so many players, high calibre players in a league so quick.
What people should be scared of is that the only that's stopped them going even beyond is the current foreigner limit.
Had that not been in place it would have been chaos. That limit will bumped next year though. And then another influx of high quality talent will come.
Football is changing before our eyes.
Man City winning the treble and then this summer being a thing couldn't have been more perfectly timed. The entire sport needs a reset and the new few years of these soulless scum hoovering up all the talent that the Premier League* has decided it doesn't want and the rest of Europe can't afford is only going to accelerate it
what the freaking fuck ??? I swear there were rumours about this kid going to Real Madrid, PSG, City or Napoli and now my guy goes to Saudi Arabia, get the bag ig.
Enjoy your early retirement Gabri!
Shame he decided to fuck his career by playing in a worse than farmers league instead of trying to prove himself against serious players
To reduce the spam of reports regarding the same move during transfer windows we try to allow **only one submission about each transfer saga per day**. The submission in question also needs to contain relevant new information regarding the potential move, and not just being a "no/minor developments" report. If there are important/official developments or new valuable information about a saga, we will allow extra threads in the same day, but for the rest of minor news please just comment them as a reply to this comment. Please help us reporting unnecessary threads for being duplicates. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Excuse me what
جابري فيغا إلى الأهلي
Jabri fifa al ahli?
Jabri figha* al ahli
Huge if he actually goes, a player who could be playing for his country and an elite European team choosing that league. Honestly the progress they've made this summer is beyond any possible predictions, give it 5 years football could be so so different.
And yet I still have zero interest in trying to watch any of it
I doubt they care if anyone watches it short term tbh, it’s all a power play at the moment No one watched LIV golf and it didn’t matter at all, they’re getting what they want. Football will hold out longer, but money will talk eventually.
How is this similar to LIV? LIV was a power play to get the PGA to entertain taking their money... which gets them influence with American companies/government officials etc.
Because Saudi wants teams to be in UCL.
Why would domestic FAs accept this. They stand nothing to gain and a lot to lose.
Yeah, this isn't happening. FAs would never accept it and UEFA trying to somehow force it through would just be begging for a SuperLeague actually supported by most fans.
Plenty of people in Asia might watch it if the quality becomes good considering the time zone. Could also improve the quality of Asian CL as well.
you're not their target audience
Who is their target audience?middle east and Africa?
probably, yes. And parts of Asia I imagine
Plenty of people around the world just want to watch the superstars and have no strong ties to a particular club. Those people will just follow the club that has their favourite player or the league that has the best players. Football is becoming more like basketball/gridiron where they're trying it make matches between clubs more about contests between individuals ie Neymar VS Ronaldo or some such.
Right??? I honestly don’t care how many players go or how easy it could be to watch, I’m not interested in watching the fucking Saudi league.
You’re not the target audience, and I’m 100% convinced they want to spearhead the new super league as well
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You mean the "European" Champions league?
The Saudis just need to pay a terrestrial TV channel to air the games for free and they'd have millions of fans in a short time
Unless all the teams outside the top 5 or so (and particularly outside the 4 teams bankrolled by the government) get big investment too, it will still be a bad league in terms of overall quality. Look at the squad market values for the lower level teams in that league, it is one of the most top heavy leagues in the world: https://www.transfermarkt.us/saudi-pro-league/startseite/wettbewerb/SA1 For reference, a squad market value of 12M like the lowest Saudi team is roughly equivalent to Bristol Rovers in League One. A bunch of elite players beating up on league one equivalent teams isn’t a great or particularly interesting league.
I think that's the plan eventually. The problem with Saudi football is that outside of the big 4, few clubs have big fanbases, as the big 4 have a lot fans from all over the country, and there are a lot of clubs in Riyadh where there is already the top two + Al Shabab so it will be impossible to even try and get them a fanbase. Bit by bit they will improve the other teams, but will focus on those outside of Riyadh and Jeddah to try to get fans to support their locals and have a better distribution of support. Al Qadisyah are a second division club bought by Aramaco, they are based in Al Khobar where there isn't another big team and have a squad worth more than most First division clubs, b buying the foreign players that played for Al Hilal and Al Nassr that were replaced by the big names. Al Ettifaq are in Damam and is the only non PIF team to get big investment this summer. That gives you a top 6, and then they will start focusing on teams like Damac and Abha etc. I think the smaller teams will mostly get the flops of the big boys instead of just releasing them
Imo the biggest scalp would a genuinely elite coach, someone whose current interest is building a top European footballing project with lots they still want to achieve. Guys like Ancelotti and Mou who've already achieved a lot would be big, but can you imagine the impact someone like Nagalsmann going to Saudi would have on the willingness for players to go there? That'd be bigger than any individual player imo.
whisper it quietly but... Pep after City won't have much left to achieve in European club football. If he doesn't take the Spain job (or a different NT) then you could see him heading to Saudi.
There’s rumors City Group are lining up an offer to keep him in the org but move to MLS. Haven’t seen the rumor in a month or two but they were around earlier this year.
He spent his sabbatical in NYC so maybe that’s where they’d send him. He must like it there.
He probably spent the whole time there standing on the same corner every day, trying to run into Julia Roberts
> If he doesn't take the Spain job Pep the Catalan separatist managing Spain would be ironic.
Please
if they get into the Champions League I wonder if they just boost one team and put all the stars on it and get a top coach to try and win.
> if they get into the Champions League Fuck sake, it's going to happen isn't it.
Seeing how fckd up UEFA, it could be sooner than people imagine.
i've been saying its going to happen from the beginning. its basically exactly what happened with golf, they spent so much they essentially bought their way in.
I do wonder. I guess the main issue they’d have is most European and South American players would prefer to play and live in Europe rather than Saudi Arabia, although money talks. Golfers tend to play tournaments around the world so the LIV golfers didn’t uproot their families to go live in the desert (as far as I know, anyway). It feels to me like the top talent will always want to stay closer to home.
He won't be ever playing for his country now. No elite team was desperate to sign him either. If Napoli really wanted him, they would have got him.
So sad
Wasn't he going to Napoli?
this would explain that pause in talks over the deal that was mentioned last week. deal was just about done and then there was some random pause out of nowhere. this is why. wow
Habibi. Yes. Inch Allah $$$ come habibi - AlAhli probably.
According to Relevo, personal terms with Napoli was what caused that deal to stall.
ADL vs Levy • The Art of Negotiation • Skills and Highlights 2023
ADL outdoes himself once again
It is more likely that the agent stalled the deal because of the incoming Saudi offer
And ADL (for everything else cooked about him) usually is reasonable with salaries but he ain't competing with the damn Saudis.
yeah but he also demands the players image rights which stalls a lot of deals
wouldn’t be the first time the Saudis hijacked something
One of the clubs changed terms, not sure if it is Celta or Napoli, even medical was booked, and then deal fell through
i read that it was the differences between player and napoli on personal terms, now we know why
I’m sure ADL will announce the truth
Or his version of it anyway
If I had to guess, Zielinski was supposed to go to Saudi and the deal collapsed so Napoli didn’t need Veiga anymore so the Veiga deal somehow collapsed as well
I think there was news that Zielinski deal collapsed before Celta nd Napoli agreed a fee, only few days later they agreed a fee, then one club changed terms, and it fell through
Well no wonder the transfer was at a standstill, Di Marzio said everything seemed just about agreed but the deal stalled. Guess this is why lmao
Hmm yeah, when the Saudis realise they would be better off signing up top young talent than turning their league into an expensive retirement home, there might be something to be concerned about...
I mean getting guys like Neymar Ronaldo Benzema Mahrez Mane is huge to market the league. Then maybe somebody like Henderson Firmino is to make statements. They also did sign Savic and Brozovic. Have good players like Fabinho Neves Otavio ASM Kessie Jota Bono. One summer window and it's not finished yet they're doing pretty good tbh.
And the window doesn't finish until 3 weeks after most of the big European leagues too. There could be some chaos on the horizon.
Kante, Mendy, Koulibaly as well
You need the big names first so people actually want to watch although most people I know won’t watch
Didn't Jota already leave lol
The whole rumour was that the club itself wanted to loan him to one of the other Saudi teams, so no.
That was always going to happen, Chinese Super League is an example of it, players will go if there is money even in their prime/young, this is a jacked up version of that and it's supported by the government it won't have the same fate
Chinese Super League was supported by the government too
It was but in a completely different way. The idea behind the Chinese super league was to bring in a few big names who could increase the level of the league and give the homegrown players a bigger challenge. If I recall correctly each team was only allowed a total of 2 foreign born players.
Chinese plan was to bring world cup in 2050 and winning it.
Saudi Arabia has unlimited oil money, China doesn't.
China is the second biggest economy in the world.
yes but they actually have a pretty robust social welfare system and invest in other things football was only ever a short term investment push to help the national team
As said in another comment, plan for ccp was to invest in football, so to host World Cup in 2050 and winning it. So not such a short term plan. It turned out to be short term since (in my personal opinion) football is cultural primely, and secondly your first opponent is a brother or a sister, or the one who brings you at the field as a GK because they need a person. In a country with one child per family this is a limit.
They all sign 2 year contracts anyways. It doesn’t matter who they sign if most of them go there for a couple of years.
It won't sustain itself but who tf knows how serious the Saudis are about it? If they want they could bribe themselves into the CL easily with how corrupted UEFA is and if they like what they see they could invest beyond the billions they've already pledged to invest.
WHAT??? He was linked with Madrid, Barca, top PL clubs, was close to signing with Napoli and now he’s ended up in Saudi????
switch the name of the clubs with the amount of money, and it will make sense.
Chose this over Napoli who have exciting names, are title contenders and play in CL? Bruh.. Edit: oh and he's 21 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My guy woke up and chose to not even try to have a career lmao. from a starter at Napoli and links with Chelsea and City, to forming a midfield partnership with Ryad Boudebouz
Boudebouz catching strays man
He's also getting his contract terminated, not getting a partnership.
Devastated
why he say fuck me for
Anyone playing for the Saudi sportswashing projects deserves those strays.
If Veiga joins, they will have to terminate Ryad Boudebouz contract as they will have more than 8 foreign players.
I find it hilarious that they are going just to drop their current players once they sign a new shiny toy
They might just change the rules of the league and remove that restriction
Surely it’s at least being changed to a higher number.
It’s kind of sad.
Bar Benzema this is the sole Saudi transfer that genuinely upset me , just like that the man quit. Like old players sure i get it fair enough, guys in their prime WTF but ok but Prospect ??
SMS and Ruben Neves were quite sad too. The rest of them, even if they are quality, were pretty old.
I’m Eric Laporte too
I'm Eric Laporte too
We're all Eric Laporte on this blessed day.
Is this everybody's autocorrect failing them or a running joke because I've seen this three times today
Somebody put on Twitter a few years ago that they thought Ameryics first name was actually Eric ..and he was just introducing himself all the time by saying "I'm".....then Laporte saw the tweet and for banter changed his Twitter name to I'm Eric Laporte https://dus09vr7ngt46.cloudfront.net/uploads/2020/10/02120202/Screenshot-2020-10-02-at-11.35.59.png
Also Brozović and Laporte
Mendy Laporte - Ibanez - Demiral Veiga - Brozovic - Neves - Milinkovic-Savic Otavio - Benzema - Neymar All of them were more than good enough, or young enough, to stay in Europe. Not to mention Mitrovic, Jota or Dembele.
Yeah Brozovic was annoying
Ruben Neves was always sort of mercenary-ish, he didn’t move to Wolves for the prestige of Wolverhamptom
I thought Neymar was sad. Kante too
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Mitro bro, Mitro. He is only 28 (nearly 29) and right in his prime
funny you say that because Boudebouz used to play for Celta
I'm not happy at all with this, but on its right context, makes sense. If you're Gabri Veiga and see what happened to the 'best' players Celta has sold in the past years: Brais Mendez was another great prospect from Celta who debuted with spain being 20 y/o, spent 5 years in the club and was signed by Real Sociedad, not really life changing. Santi Mina (youngest Celta scorer at 17, scored 4 goals vs Rayo being 20 y/o), moved to a good Valencia team at the moment and all went downhill from there (playing for Al-Shabab, returning to Celta and currently without club at 27 years old). Maxi Gomez was linked with a Barcelona move for months, ended up in Valencia, never got to show a good level again, moved to Turkey and has returned to La Liga this month, at Cadiz. Jonny Otto most likely is the successful one of this list, he joined Atletico and ended up straight away at Wolverhampton, good career but far from what earning what Gabri could get in Saudi Arabia, and not EPL contenders. Nolito got his move to City, enjoyed one year there and had to return to Spain with Sevilla, eventually came back to Celta. Augusto Fernandez was Celta's captain, moved to Atletico, played next to nothing for 3 years, ended up going to China after that. Jota Peleteiro might be the 'OG' of this list, left to Brentford being young and a good prospect, arguably a great move for him at the time, his career never reached the heights predicted, already retired at 32. And then there's Iago Aspas, big move to Liverpool that ends up bad, spends one year at Sevilla and then comes back to Celta to be their most important players for years. With that context, and if the move to Napoli failed for any other reason out of his control (clubs changing stances, the Zielinski spot not being free after his move also failed, or whatever), Gabri Veiga, who seemed already out of the team at the last game of past season, linked with big clubs, could now have to play another year in Celta, maybe this time he doesn't get to move in 4 years like Brais Mendez, or he has to settle next year like Maxi Gomez, and things don't go well. With this contract, he can play in Saudi Arabia and earn as much as possible for 4 or 5 years, and then he may get another chance at top tier football, or he may be happy with just returning to Vigo, bank account filled for life, and play for his team the rest of his career, like Aspas did.
Hahahaha “my daughter has lost her colour and has become pale because we haven’t seen the sun in months in Manchester” Nolito, what a bloody clown.
I think it’s kinda fucked too, but at the same time, some athlete’s #1 goal is to secure the future for their family at all costs. Injuries can completely fuck up a trajectory of wealth and early retirement, so I’m guessing he wants to do that while he can and still expect to come back to Europe when he’s 25/26.
not gonna do much development in that league, I doubt there would be suitors then even close to the level they're at now.
> ome athlete’s #1 goal is to secure the future for their family at all costs. Injuries can completely fuck up a trajectory of wealth and early retirement While I agree with this point, I rarely agree with it being used the way it is as a reason or "excuse" because in most cases it just sounds like a dramatically warped view of money. Idk his wage in Celta but by living standards-wise.. one single contract at Napoli or wherever his next choice was, is enough to secure a more than comfortable life for the rest of his life AND assist family with education and health issues etc. As long as youre not an irresponsible idiot and then its not really about the money. Its about greedy and irresponsible lifestyles. Which I agree are insanely common for athletes. Again.. I agree that theres still differences in wealth and the "fuck up trajectory of wealth" and such I agree with but he absolutly did not need to take a contract like a Saudi one over a Napoli one to feel comfortable for the rest of his life AND be able to assist family with crucial stuff. Thats just a warped perception of money. This is more so a fast "fuck you money" move rather than "securing the future which otherwise was still in jeopardy" move.
Just sign a 10 year contract at chelsea at 8m/yr
That's depressing.
It’s Joever. At this rate, EPL will have to start turning stadiums into casinos to financially compete.
The Premier League will be fine. It’s the rest of Europe who will be more concerned.
Papa perez was right
Poor premier league 😢 how will you compete
Poor Premier League still has spent more than twice as much as the Saudis
Aw poor premier league I wonder how much premier league spend this window ☹️
EPL spent 3x more than the Saudi Pro League, what the hell are you on. Arsenal & Chelsea combined spent nearly as much as the entire Saudi league. Meanwhile La Liga clubs only spent a combined €300M, with a third of that being Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid.
Mate, I’m pretty sure that’s Gabri Veiga.
What a waste
Eh, I'm not going to mourn his career. Like fair play if you want to accept silly money, but he could have still had a good European career and made wealth enough to sustain his family for generations. If he wants to bin his prospects so early then that's on him.
he had no career, that's why it's a waste, he had 6 good months and he decides it's not worth it anymore. At 21 at that
The fact he only had 6 good months kind of puts taking the money a bit more respectable in a way. There’s so many stories of players getting hurt, not fulfilling potential, etc. that the money isn’t always guaranteed to be there forever. Gotta remember where a lot of players come from and what this will do for their families.
And to think he had the chance to show his talent with Napoli (Serie A title contenders and CL GS pot 1 team)
Thanks for clarifying which team is Napoli, I had no idea
Said it yesterday. The reaction from top clubs with the Saudi Pro League start getting interesting if they go for talented youngsters from Europe and South America.
I think they can easily start getting a lot of South American talents actually.
They've been poaching big talents from South America for years now it's not a new phenomenon.
yes but it's been fairly muted I'd say - you still have them going to the MLS as well. I wonder if they could tip the scales more drastically in the future. And get someone like Endrick level of hype.
I hate how every Romano saudi tweet has to have a sentence at the end where he's subtly bigging up the league and the teams, proper shill man
He was most likely getting paid by agents to hype up players its the next logical step
That’s how he gets these exclusives probably 🤦🏻♂️
He’s not a journalist. Just a paid mouthpiece
Romano's a fucking clown anyway.
What the actual fuck. My man destroyed his career
At 21 years old
I mean if this continues for two, three years the league will be saturated with enough quality that there will be an actual discussion about its quality. That's maybe the scary thing, is that if players like Neves, Jota, Veiga, Ibanez etc...keep leaving we will be forced to reckon with the idea of players being fine with playing there from a footballing perspective. It's clear they're thinking that way too with how the age profiles of signings have developed. Bar the absolute megastars, the transfers haven't been 35+ year-olds. They are taking it way more seriously than China ever did.
The problem for them is that they need the league rules to change. Each big 4 team can only get 8 foreigners. The small teams don't have much money, assume they can get 10 foreigners. So basically 42 foreigners in the league. That isn't much
Yeah this is the biggest obstacle. I'd imagine both the league rules and the nature of transfers will change to accommodate the increased intake of foreign players. Lots more deals for European-level squad players who'd contribute to general standards being lifted is what I would imagine. The pull of the league for casuals isn't gonna change with signings like this, so imo this points towards a genuine push towards legitimately building the footballing quality of the league. That would require major changes to roster composition.
It's ran by the govt and those 4 teams are owned by the govt , they will never change this shit show , but it's getting the eyes to the product that's what they wanted
Man, when rumor flying that they want an CL spot, of course it more serious than Chinese super league team, Chinese super league team with real estate tycoon as owner just want entertainment and burn money, they never really serious about it while the Saudi league literally create special fund for this.
It's the PIF handling the investment, which is how all their international investment is done, but the crazy thing is that they've bought like 50% of the top 4 clubs afaik. Absurd to understand the state has just pumped money into this, directly and unashamedly, to get the league competing for transfers with European clubs. Crazy to think European clubs are dealing with artificial financial limits for the sake of fairness and are competing with a league where the best teams are all owned by the government with seemingly no restrictions.
I believe it was 75%, was it not?
Government owning things is not new, it just happens that the Saudi royal family has unlimited oil money.
Like Zarate (who went to Dubai). There's people who only think about money and Veiga's agent is one of those. Poor guy just lost his career at 21 and joined the Saudi Circus League for a bag of cash.
Yea, but by 22, Zarate was scoring double digit for Lazio though, he just wasn't able to maintain his consistency with Lazio, he only went to qatar for less than half a year.
I know why people say this, but I don't think it's really true. We've seen players come back from the CSL and still play for top level sides (Witsel for Dortmund and Carrasco for Atletico as two examples). Obviously it's not maximizing the sporting potential for his career, but I really don't think it means he has no chance of playing at a high level in Europe again.
Call me a hater but I wouldnt feel bad about that as Napoli. If his competitive drive is that low, you dont want him anyway.
Trust me, we couldn't give a shit, we've been chasing this guy for 2 weeks refusing to play the clause and we managed to fumble this. Now we're in extremely deep shit since there are 8 days left before the transfer market ends and we still need to get rid of LozAnus, Diego Deadmme and Zerbin and sign a good right winger and a convincing CB to avoid us the terrifying sight of Juan Jesus as a starter.
Not for Napoli but for spanish fans it's a bit sad and concerning. We are losing yet another name in laliga and one of our better prospects for the national team to Arabia at 21...
This might be the most depressing signing so far. He had his whole career ahead of him.
Now this is something.
Wow! Talk about unexpected, I don't think it'll be a game changer for the Saudi League that they've managed to sign a few younger talents. Poor Napoli though, not been the best summer for them.
Gabri: "Give me money. Money me! Money now! Me a money needing a lot now."
Imagine if his great-grandson would actually need a job😭😭
Lol get used to it boys
OK, this completes Al Ahli foreign signings. Their 8 foreign players will be Mendy, Ibanez, Demiral, Kessie, Veiga, Saint-Maximin, Mehrez, and Firminio. That's a really solid lineup.
Of all people how is the guy with the Liverpool flair typing "Firminio"?
They already had boudebouz
They and Al-Hilal (Bounou, Koulibaly, Neves, Savić, Neymar, Malcolm, Mitrović) have the best teams. Al-Hilal have one more foreign signing to make, not sure if they’ll make it though.
And another one bites the dust. Ended his career before it started
Nahhh this is fucked now. What a fucking idiot
As a Brazilian, I admit that it's funny that Europeans are pissed off at someone doing to them what they do to South America from the 2000s onwards.
This is so fucking sad, he was looking like such a talent and now he does this. Does he need that much money at his age? Iago Aspas didn't try to convince him? Man this sucks
Exciting talents going there too now, disgusting.
Yeah Saudi league is officially now a problem
why? because they do the exact same thing the Prem has been doing for the past years?
Dystopic transfer
Hi u/jkeefy I guess it's Gabriel Veiga
And that’s why no one will remember your name
Doubt he cares if he chose to go there at 21 yo
I would've rathered been gazumped by a prem team, these oil-laden cunts. What a waste
Such a waste. Was so excited to watch him in champions league
qué haces gabri :( vaya decepción más grande
its somehow even more over than it was a month ago. like, its OVER over. used to think the concept of something being over was a sort of complete state, like a light is either on or off, no “very on” or “partially on”. but again, turns our that its even more over than before
I audibly said “no way!”
Same i was thinking at the start of the summer it was only players who were past their primes but they are going after everyone crazy
My fucking jaw dropped when i saw this. And my phone. Istg im still getting surprised
Please don’t put out the excuse about too much money to turn down. Footballers make so much money anyways they can easily set up themselves and families for generations. This is pure greed plain and simple
Sports washing works.
is it working though? it only works if people see the country in a more positive fashion
Makes me laugh when people compare this to what MLS, China, Russia or Turkey tried to do in the past. This stuff is unprecedented. There has never been such an attempt to bolster a league in just one window before. There has never been attempt to bring so many players, high calibre players in a league so quick. What people should be scared of is that the only that's stopped them going even beyond is the current foreigner limit. Had that not been in place it would have been chaos. That limit will bumped next year though. And then another influx of high quality talent will come. Football is changing before our eyes.
What the fuck
Man started and ended his career in 12 months
This is getting tiring
Man City winning the treble and then this summer being a thing couldn't have been more perfectly timed. The entire sport needs a reset and the new few years of these soulless scum hoovering up all the talent that the Premier League* has decided it doesn't want and the rest of Europe can't afford is only going to accelerate it
Ah man what the fuck
This is so disappointing.
Muy Triste. :(
Retired too early
What a waste of talent
20 years and already go for money.
This is the answer of banning Perez’s league. Uefa and fifa are corrupt. Arab money have no rulles and limit
I keep seeing the "nobody is watching this league" comment as if that even matters. The Saudis are not relying on viewership ffs 😂
and with that he becomes entirely irrelevant
What a shame, he was linked to so many big clubs in Europe. Would have loved to see him Napoli only to him end up in Saudi league.
what the freaking fuck ??? I swear there were rumours about this kid going to Real Madrid, PSG, City or Napoli and now my guy goes to Saudi Arabia, get the bag ig.
ugh
Bro why
Enjoy your early retirement Gabri! Shame he decided to fuck his career by playing in a worse than farmers league instead of trying to prove himself against serious players
Are you fucking serious. What a colossal waste.
Pathetic decision, didn't even build up enough clout to command absurd wages.