Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - We are SO back, the Premier League returns!

Gilver

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The Coli loves the word "legacy" and the narratives that come with it, " but ma'h legacy! " :damn: :mjlol:

If they put that contract in front of Mbappe for a year, in the words of grandpa simpson, "I'd say take it!" :mjlol:
We're sports fans, we have to take the legacy angle.

We can not be stupid and acknowledge what's in the best interest of the player financially, but we're not getting that money, so we judge on legacy.

In 20 years time Mbappe may be living like a billionaire but i'll still be calling him trash for going Saudi. :blessed:
 
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We're sports fans, we have to take the legacy angle.

We can not be stupid and acknowledge what's in the best interest of the player financially, but we're not getting that money, so we judge on legacy.

In 20 years time Mbappe may be living like a billionaire but i'll still be calling him trash for going Saudi. :blessed:
fair enough:manny:
 

EA

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I get the CSL comparisons but this Saudi pot of money won't ever run out like the Chinese one did.

Ultimately the aim is to either be invited to the Champions League(extremely unlikely), or be part of the breakaway Super League(more likely).

Both could be unlikely however once the European elites start feeling threatened. They'll move to block them out.

That’s a good shout re: the Super League. Madrid, Barca & the Serie A teams are still trying to make that happen and considering that both Madrid and Barca have middle eastern ties, bringing the Saudi teams in could be a possibility. Would be absolutely terrible for the sport though.
 

Ukbrotha

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I get the CSL comparisons but this Saudi pot of money won't ever run out like the Chinese one did.

Ultimately the aim is to either be invited to the Champions League(extremely unlikely), or be part of the breakaway Super League(more likely).

Both could be unlikely however once the European elites start feeling threatened. They'll move to block them out.
Ultimately, Money talks. Saudi investors have set aside 700Bn for their investment projects. $700bn. The european elites at some point will just want a piece of that pie.
 

thatrapsfan

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Highly doubt this is a serious offer at all. Feels like Saudis just rubbing salt into Qatar wounds.
They’d be actually doing them a favour here, giving them a massive return on a player that was about to walk on a free. Politically Qatar and Saudi have reconciled at the moment too, so more likely working in concert on this one.
 

thatrapsfan

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If it was any other team, I’d totally agree with you but Real is the prestige club in world football so I don’t think there’s much shame in losing a player to them. The way they’ve been spending money right now, I don’t see any actually footballing IQ behind it.

For the record, I think this Saudi situation is gonna be another Chinese Super League situation and players will stop going once they start missing out on awards and international appearances. Money can’t build football heritage overnight and Saudi would still need to improve their own homegrown players to have any lasting power.
Chinese Super League did not have this level of state backing and players will still get international call ups while abroad.

Just look at players who’ve gone so far (Mahrez, Savic, Koulibaly, Mendy, Brozovic, Neves, Ronaldo) - only player at a remote risk of losing their NT spot is Neves the rest are mainstays no matter where they play.
 

Low End Derrick

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Highly doubt this is a serious offer at all. Feels like Saudis just rubbing salt into Qatar wounds.


full
 

concise

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Chinese Super League did not have this level of state backing and players will still get international call ups while abroad.

Just look at players who’ve gone so far (Mahrez, Savic, Koulibaly, Mendy, Brozovic, Neves, Ronaldo) - only player at a remote risk of losing their NT spot is Neves the rest are mainstays no matter where they play.


Saudi Arabia is also a lot closer to Europe than China or USA, so shorter flights, less jet lag.
 

EA

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Chinese Super League did not have this level of state backing and players will still get international call ups while abroad.

Just look at players who’ve gone so far (Mahrez, Savic, Koulibaly, Mendy, Brozovic, Neves, Ronaldo) - only player at a remote risk of losing their NT spot is Neves the rest are mainstays no matter where they play.

I don’t think it’s a given that players will still get called up. Players like Ramires, Oscar and Hulk were regulars for Brazil and the call ups stopped when they went to China. The level of competition is taken into account for the top countries when selecting players.

For players from the smaller countries, it may not impact them as much but I’d bet money that players in their prime from countries like France, England, Spain, Italy, etc are going to be taking this into consideration.
 

Liu Kang

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full
Of course they accept, they are possibly recouping on a 180m transfer :pachaha:

Realistically I think it's just them putting pressure on Flo so he officially goes for the transfer now.
 

MikelArteta

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Chinese Super League did not have this level of state backing and players will still get international call ups while abroad.

Just look at players who’ve gone so far (Mahrez, Savic, Koulibaly, Mendy, Brozovic, Neves, Ronaldo) - only player at a remote risk of losing their NT spot is Neves the rest are mainstays no matter where they play.

Damn you left off Kante?
 
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