How did they get the transfers to Saudi Arabia!
Grigory Telingater July 28, 2023, 16:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The football landscape is not only changing, but in general it is blurring. Column by Gregory Telingater.
Honestly, I’m tired of seeing the best players go to Saudi Arabia. They took Malcom, then Henderson, then Mahrez. And so every day. Manet, Saint-Maximin and Fabinho are on the way. There is a feeling that someone else has come between the viewer and the football. And stubbornly steals my favorite game. Nibble a little at a time, and more each time. Take one friend after another, but nothing can be done. The footballers who have become close for so many years are fading into the void.
Let’s be honest. Nobody watches the championship of Saudi Arabia. Even with the most popular person in the world (judging by the subscribers). I am sure that 99% of our readers have never seen at least one full game of this league. I only found a few Ronaldo goals on social media. Seeing a couple of shots on goal and 0 games in six months is like losing a player. He seems to be there, but he doesn’t seem to be. He just exists somewhere in a yellow and blue jersey.
Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia
Photo: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images
By the way, about the form. The feeling that Al-Nasr has some kind of prehistoric Rostov form. They are willing to spend a billion on a footballer (300 million euros for PSG and 700 million euros for Mbappé), but they can’t seem to hire a normal designer. “Venice” can agree and make beautiful, but “Al-Nasr” – no. The Saudis want to enter the top 5 leagues in the world, but both the content and the packaging do not match. With roughly the same success, MLS can apply for this status.
The “Championship” has already told in detail how everything looks from the side of Saudi Arabia. This is an attempt to diversify the economy in order to earn not only in minerals, but also in tourism in the future. Well, in general, to increase the authority of the country.
Great analysis of the league, which is becoming more noticeable
Why Saudi Arabia is destroying the soccer market. This is not what China did
It is still hard to imagine crowds of tourists traveling to Saudi Arabia. And in terms of image… European clubs and football players from all over the world are going to make fabulous money. For money yes. What is the image of such a country? The status of a source of income that pays well above the market.
I’m glad Mbappé wasn’t fooled and immediately dismissed Al-Hilal’s offer. If this transfer had also happened, then the article would have had a different emotion. It is not the fact that censorship. To offer the leading footballer of our time at the age of 24, in fact, suspend his career for a season? It’s scary to even think about it, but even without Mbappé, the trend is obvious.
Subsection “Saudi Arabia” on our website
We even made a separate tab on the site in the “Football” section to make it easier to follow the entire circulation of transfers to Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Sports has allocated another 19,000 million euros until 2030. How many players can you buy with that amount of money? That is, apparently, this story will not close as quickly as in the case of China. And another big question is how good is it.
Here you have to share. For footballers, this, of course, is just a joy. They have the opportunity to win a lot of money. And I would not criticize the players themselves here. It is not known how you or I would have acted in such a situation. We just won’t be on it. For European teams, transfers to Saudi Arabia are also a joy. The best Italian clubs generally experience financial problems without exception and are happy with those who did not fit in the Premier League (from Pablo Mari to Christian Pulisic). It is extremely important for them to earn money: not all of them have yet recovered from the decline in income due to the coronavirus.
Roberto Firmino in a new club
Photo: Al Ahli
Only while clubs and players get richer, our favorite tournaments get poorer in terms of entertainment. Not only stars who are over 30 are going to Saudi Arabia, but also cool players in their prime. For example, Malcolm himself, who broadcast a cool season. Or Sergei Milinkovic-Savic, who reached the Champions League with Lazio. Yes, and if you take the old ones, then I wanted to look at Benzema more and more. But no more destiny.
The Russian coach was in the Saudi league before it became widespread:
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“The bars came down and locked me up.” Adventures of a coach from Russia in Arabia
