Saysumthinfunnymike
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Are Champions League Clubs about to be feeder systems for the Saudis? 
Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - We are SO back, the Premier League returns!
Are Champions League Clubs about to be feeder systems for the Saudis?
Saudi league about to be what the MLS shoulda been
Saysumthinfunnymike
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Saudi league about to be what the MLS shoulda been
Eh MLS never had the money and still doesn't. They were signing Beckham way past his prime and shyt. This is different. I could see the Saudis going after Mbappe or Haaland while they're in their prime.
TobiOT
Veteran
@null saying how De Gea cracks under pressure reminded me of Diogo Costa looking like he's gonna shyt himself during the World Cup
Saudis have money but they're still idiots, if they're already paying 100s of millions per season for past their prime players how much will they have to shell out for Mbappe and Haaland? They learned nothing from MLS and China. They could've taken Benzema/Ronaldo/Messi money and bought the whole Serie A
But I'm sure they'll lose interest in football after they get the World Cup and beat Qatar in their dikk measuring contest
MLS wisely became a developmental league for Americans and a league where young South Americans can go for a better payday before heading to Europe.
China tried the same thing a few years back the Saudis are doing now. It didn't work because they put no effort into elevating the talent level. Also, the contracts are restrictive as fukk.
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But I'm sure they'll lose interest in football after they get the World Cup and beat Qatar in their dikk measuring contest
those oil states see this all as diversifying their economies away from oil.
like qatar airways is ranked no. 1 airline for 2022 but no one really associates the brand with the state's politics.
etihad #3
BA in 20th place
Lufthansa missing
I understand they want to diversify but this is not it. This is more akin to Sheikhs showing off their prized horses or falcons than building a sustainable industry.
That's why I jokingly said they could buy every single Serie A club for the money they're wasting on three 35-year olds, if this was really about creating profitable business to help pivot away from oil.
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yeah but longer term the further they can disassociate their country's name from "terrorism", "terror", "the enemy", "barbarism" etc the better for them.
those showpieces are not meant to make money, they are supposed to make 'image'.
that image then feeds into their brands and other commercial exploits.
the next generation is going to grow up thinking that brand "etihad"/qatar is elite and that they are serious about business.
(and that the UK /UK standards are joke. which they are).
old colonial (and non-colonial western powers) resting on their laurels are going to increasingly lose in a war of attrition where people have non-western 1st class options.
remember: 50 years ago japanese cars were a joke, korean electronics were not on the map. the new generation learns the world as they experience it.
there is a chart out there showing how global economic GROWTH has shifted location since WWII.
about sustainability note that the 2nd richest man in the world is Bernard Arnault - Wikipedia .
he runs LVMH, the largest company in Europe. a company whose value is rooted in image, a european image, of superiority that means that good quality but unspectacular tat is sold at multiples of their true value.
non-european countries with money are slowly eroding that patina of assumed superiority and quality.
that massaging of public opinion is why some now have notoriously unprofitable media outlets in english for a global audience.
like Al Jazeera, Wion, RT TV network ..
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TobiOT
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ZLATAN
