2023 Summer transfer window - hopes, needs, expectations and rumours.

[algy]

Kante to Saudi is done.  £100m a year.  He'll have earnt about £18m before the season even starts.  Probably tax free I'd guess?

I used to work with a girl who spent her teenage years that way on - one of the oil states, can't remember which one.  Moved back there about 5-10 years ago. Anyway, she reckoned the pay was to all intents & purposes tax free, and going out drinking etc there was relatively safe as a western girl - just get a taxi to & from a hotel, don't go out on the streets at night, and nobody gave a shit.  Personally I'd find that a bit ... I dunno, off.  But she evidently didn't see it as weird.

Also reckoned it was bloody brutal if you had the wrong colour skin, though.

[Risso]

I don't get it. I know they've got more money than they know what to do with, but what's to be gained by paying somebody like Kante £2m a week? He's coming towards the end of his career and would probably be delighted with a tenth of that. There's no way that Saudi Arabia are ever going to have a "proper" big boys league, and nobody's going to be paying big money to watch it. I don't really understand what they're trying to do.

[LeeB]

I don't get it. I know they've got more money than they know what to do with, but what's to be gained by paying somebody like Kante £2m a week? He's coming towards the end of his career and would probably be delighted with a tenth of that. There's no way that Saudi Arabia are ever going to have a "proper" big boys league, and nobody's going to be paying big money to watch it. I don't really understand what they're trying to do.

Not sure regarding the Saudi league, but the golf is the example of what they're going for with football in general

[Risso]

Kante to Saudi is done.  £100m a year.  He'll have earnt about £18m before the season even starts.  Probably tax free I'd guess?

I used to work with a girl who spent her teenage years that way on - one of the oil states, can't remember which one.  Moved back there about 5-10 years ago. Anyway, she reckoned the pay was to all intents & purposes tax free, and going out drinking etc there was relatively safe as a western girl - just get a taxi to & from a hotel, don't go out on the streets at night, and nobody gave a shit.  Personally I'd find that a bit ... I dunno, off.  But she evidently didn't see it as weird.

Also reckoned it was bloody brutal if you had the wrong colour skin, though.

It's like most of the rich countries in the Middle East. Great if you're a westerner on holiday or working there, not so much fun if you're imported slave labour from the Sub-Continent.

[Risso]

I don't get it. I know they've got more money than they know what to do with, but what's to be gained by paying somebody like Kante £2m a week? He's coming towards the end of his career and would probably be delighted with a tenth of that. There's no way that Saudi Arabia are ever going to have a "proper" big boys league, and nobody's going to be paying big money to watch it. I don't really understand what they're trying to do.

Not sure regarding the Saudi league, but the golf is the example of what they're going for with football in general

Yes, obviously buying stuff (football clubs outside of Saudi and golf etc) is a great way of sports washing and buying soft influence around the world. I can totally see what they're hoping to get from buying Newcastle and LIV Golf/the PGA etc.

[chrisw1]

Kante to Saudi is done.  £100m a year.  He'll have earnt about £18m before the season even starts.  Probably tax free I'd guess?

Deal worth £100m wages, but doesn't say how many years? Can't be £100m for 1 year surely?

Fabrizio saying:

◉ Medical tests completed in London.

◉ 2 year deal with an option for further season.

◉ €100m per season salary — figure includes image rights, commercial deals and ‘creative’ portfolio.

[eamonn]

Absolutely obscene.

[algy]

I don't get it. I know they've got more money than they know what to do with, but what's to be gained by paying somebody like Kante £2m a week? He's coming towards the end of his career and would probably be delighted with a tenth of that. There's no way that Saudi Arabia are ever going to have a "proper" big boys league, and nobody's going to be paying big money to watch it. I don't really understand what they're trying to do.

Not sure regarding the Saudi league, but the golf is the example of what they're going for with football in general

Yes, obviously buying stuff (football clubs outside of Saudi and golf etc) is a great way of sports washing and buying soft influence around the world. I can totally see what they're hoping to get from buying Newcastle and LIV Golf/the PGA etc.

It wouldn't surprise me if we saw a push, in the next decade or so, for Saudi clubs to be incorporated in the Champions League ... or at least, a push for a higher status in the FIFA world club cup.

[Clark W Griswold]

Kante to Saudi is done.  £100m a year.  He'll have earnt about £18m before the season even starts.  Probably tax free I'd guess?

Deal worth £100m wages, but doesn't say how many years? Can't be £100m for 1 year surely?

Fabrizio saying:

◉ Medical tests completed in London.

◉ 2 year deal with an option for further season.

◉ €100m per season salary — figure includes image rights, commercial deals and ‘creative’ portfolio.

He is (or certainly was) a superb player but fucking hell. Hope the bubble bursts as quick as it's started.

[cdward]

I imagine that the 4 teams that the PIF (public investment fund) have bought is to try and make the league competitive and interesting.
It doesn't work like that, just look at the MLS, they were throwing money at players in the 70's and 80's, and only now with teams being somewhat established and fan bases growing is the MLS being taken seriously as a competitive league.
The Saudis are just doing what is easy and throwing money around.
Some players are going to get very rich.

[Risso]

China seemed to be trying the same thing a few years back. They seemed to get bored of it fairly quickly.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I would imagine Monshi but isn't he Basque so I'll wait a few weeks or months..

He isn't Basque. He is from the South of the South of Spain. I would go for Monchy

He's from Cadiz so just growl his name as though it's coming out of a transistor radio.

[LeeB]

Kante to Saudi is done.  £100m a year.  He'll have earnt about £18m before the season even starts.  Probably tax free I'd guess?

Deal worth £100m wages, but doesn't say how many years? Can't be £100m for 1 year surely?

Fabrizio saying:

◉ Medical tests completed in London.

◉ 2 year deal with an option for further season.

◉ €100m per season salary — figure includes image rights, commercial deals and ‘creative’ portfolio.

He is (or certainly was) a superb player but fucking hell. Hope the bubble bursts as quick as it's started.

The only positive is that he in particular will most likely use most of that to help people less fortunate than himself

[Chris_Jephcott]

If I can relate it to my career path:

There are airlines in that part of the world offering £22000 a month tax free to Aircraft Captains excluding education and living allowances, car allowance, duty pay etc…

We simply cannot keep up with the wages being offered out there in Europe. It’s obscene. I think that the above transpires across - much more money than sense. You’ve got wonder when the bubble will burst.

[Toronto Villa]

I do wonder when these phenomenally wealthy blokes get together and decide they want buy up golf or in this case a bunch of aging footballers, what’s the ultimate long term goal. They never get their money back. The ROI has to be terrible, which they clearly don’t give a shit about. Unless their public want to watch average football with a few past it stars then that’s fine I suppose. But the rest of the world likely won’t notice it’s there. Like wouldn’t £50m vs £100m have got Kante? Or even £25m? A player who has barely seen action in a couple of seasons. Why such an amount far, far in excess of what any other club would have paid.