sne Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 35 minutes ago, Genie said: Is Mbappe married? Does he have any kids? If he’s single then going out to that hole for a year will be less of a problem. He's been rumored to date a model who is transgender. No idea if they are still dating but I imagine it not all that common in Saudi Arabia... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 (edited) 25 minutes ago, sne said: He's been rumored to date a model who is transgender. No idea if they are still dating but I imagine it not all that common in Saudi Arabia... Might explain the stance he wants to stay in Europe (although there’s plenty of other good reason not to go). Edited July 24, 2023 by Genie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustibrooks Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 not totally surprising if true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Saudi was going to pay £259 million to PSG for Mbappe, even though PSG have said they would accept £150m. What are the Saudis up to??? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 12 minutes ago, foreveryoung said: Saudi was going to pay £259 million to PSG for Mbappe, even though PSG have said they would accept £150m. What are the Saudis up to??? Another favor for a would be super league club? Get's them out of FFP trouble for the foreseeable future in exchange for helping to further down the line when the next iteration of the super league is brought up again. Might even be a place or two for a Qatari club in said league. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Almost 3/4 of a billion in 1 year is crazy. Doesn't even sound real. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Rustibrooks said: not totally surprising if true At least he isnt a sell out then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KMitch Posted July 24, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted July 24, 2023 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 There's always people saying "we'd all take the money", and in the case of Henderson, Ronaldo, etc, I'd completely disagreed. But £700m for a year's work. If that's true, and he turned it down, fair **** play. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 38 minutes ago, Davkaus said: There's always people saying "we'd all take the money", and in the case of Henderson, Ronaldo, etc, I'd completely disagreed. But £700m for a year's work. If that's true, and he turned it down, fair **** play. Yeah it's actually wild, considering it's only for a year and he isn't trapped there so to speak. He can go to Real Madrid in a year's time being almost a billionaire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted July 24, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 24, 2023 Mbappé 2 hours ago, foreveryoung said: Saudi was going to pay £259 million to PSG for Mbappe, even though PSG have said they would accept £150m. What are the Saudis up to??? Too bad the Saudis aren't as generous towards their own people ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy7211 Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 (edited) Whilst I accept that sports washing is totally abhorrent, and this question totally ignores that side of things, but from a footballing perspective is anyone really that worried about KSA spending billions to manufacture a league to rival the Premier League? For decades now the Spanish can't match our global viewing figures even with Barca and Real being ultra successful, and France couldn't do it with Mbappe, Neymar, and Messi playing for the team in the most visited city in the world. Spending money on a small pool of players isn't going to attract fans to the SPL other than those of Arabic heritage. The teams over there have no history, and that can't be bought. It doesn't matter who plays for Villa, Man Utd, Liverpool etc, players come and go but the name of the club will always be famous. And even if the Saudi's do start poaching all the top players, wouldn't that make English football more accessible to all the other clubs again, and not just the Sky 6? Also, if the Saudi's continue to spend mega money on their own league to make it the biggest, could this spell an end of the huge investments of oil money into City, Newcastle, Chelsea, and PSG? Again, not a bad thing. Finally, and in my opinion, Saudi have to make a decision on where they're going to spend their money as the PIF isn't an unlimited source of money. It's a way of generating revenue and income beyond their oil reserves, which will hopefully soon be worth nothing as the world moves away from their reliance on fossil fuels. They can't maintain a spend like this infinitely. Players will chase the money whilst it's on offer, but I don't think the £700m deals are going to be on the table forever, just in the short term to get more eyes on the product over there. Edited July 24, 2023 by Jonesy7211 Their/there 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982am Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 TBF... Mbappe has more chance of winning the CL with Al Hilal than his current club. No brainer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Regardless of if this all comes off, it's hard to deny that they've created a genuine buzz about their league. I don't remember anyone particularly caring about the Chinese Super League about a decade ago, but right now the Saudi league seems to be dominating football discourse. You're starting to see people (jokingly usually) picking one of the top 4 Saudi clubs to support, and it seems that the 4 clubs (+ Al Ettifaq) are teams most football fans can name off the top of their heads if asked a trivia question etc. Whether it actually usurps European football remains to be seen, and frankly is quite a big ask...but they're growing the profile of football in their country for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMitch Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 11 hours ago, Keyblade said: Regardless of if this all comes off, it's hard to deny that they've created a genuine buzz about their league. I don't remember anyone particularly caring about the Chinese Super League about a decade ago, but right now the Saudi league seems to be dominating football discourse. You're starting to see people (jokingly usually) picking one of the top 4 Saudi clubs to support, and it seems that the 4 clubs (+ Al Ettifaq) are teams most football fans can name off the top of their heads if asked a trivia question etc. Whether it actually usurps European football remains to be seen, and frankly is quite a big ask...but they're growing the profile of football in their country for sure. I still think their endgame is bribing UEFA/FIFA to have the KSA's League join European competitions within a few years. At that point, there is no stopping them from building the best teams in the world. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 14 minutes ago, KMitch said: I still think their endgame is bribing UEFA/FIFA to have the KSA's League join European competitions within a few years. At that point, there is no stopping them from building the best teams in the world. FFP. if they joined UEFA they'd be subject to it like the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 Saudis want the World Cup so bad and this is part of the normalisation process within MBS’s 2030 project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 38 minutes ago, KMitch said: I still think their endgame is bribing UEFA/FIFA to have the KSA's League join European competitions within a few years. At that point, there is no stopping them from building the best teams in the world. UEFA would require a vote I'm guessing from both the 56 nations plus then also the 200+ team committee I don't see that level of corruption and bribery taking place Club world cup, nations league, hosting loads of stuff yep that's happening, actually joining the CL though is a different kettle of fish, I think villa would get a say on it for example and I can imagine that say would ryhme with duck off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 23 minutes ago, duke313 said: FFP. if they joined UEFA they'd be subject to it like the rest. I think they aim to create their own super league kinda thing, possibly an expanded FIFA club WC version that runs alongside the club seasons. Kill the CL and move the TV and commercial money to them/FIFA and force the UEFA leagues to agree to it as so much money would be gone from European football if they didn't. They are helping a lot of the would be super league clubs financially with FFP this summer so if it becomes a time to vote I imagine they can call in a favor. FIFA does the same when it comes to voting for the president or when the WC host is decided. Obviously there are tons of complicated issues but I think this is their play. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 Next stage is Club World Cup and show they can compete on a global stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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