Yes you’re right it’s the CWC they are looking to build up, not the Saudi league, which does make a lot more sense.
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Damn, did not take long. I posted that thought this morning.
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Apparently the Saudis can buy players until 20th September. That’s plenty of time to take the best players from the Premier League.
Not Saudi related, but this appears to where most of that Sports Washing convo is - the parent company that owns the NBA and NHL teams in Washington DC has just sold a “minority stake” to QSI, the Qatari fund that owns PSG. This is thought to be the first soverign wealth fund in US sports, a notoriously closed shop that probably wouldn’t let them in through the front door.
@NUFC are also monitoring @juventusfc forward Federico #Chiesa and @acmilan left-back #TheoHernandez. No official negotiations in progress. @SkySport
Interesting times for Newcastle. For 3/4 of the season they played like big underdogs. Not just in attitude but in style. Their LB is a 6’6" CB who barely left his half other than to go up for set pieces. Someone like Theo Hernandez would represent a huge adjustment in approach. That next step is going to likely mean being a bit more expansive and proactive, which this move definitely would be, but many teams have come undone trying to make that transition. As those of us around in the early 00s remember.
Nothing is going to change as long as those involved are making tons of money. Football is a commercial business now and is gone to the dogs unfortunately.
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its honestly just boring… whatever, destroy the sport…go for your life…
one thing you’ll never ever ever be able to grasp is what makes it so special at grass roots level…
Let the spree commence.
Howe - “What limits, we’re still restricted to what we can do”
Yeah fuck off with that bollocks Eddie mate.
Another lengthy contract, designed to get round FFP regulations.
I find myself wondering how good UEFA and PL regulations are about payments post-retirement. In addition to absurdly long contracts, one of the dodges we saw in the early era of salary caps in North American sport were backloaded contracts. Players would make $1M per season in the first year, and count only that toward a salary cap. Their last season of the 10-year contract, they would be earning $8M. When you did the time value of money calculations, the per year pay would come out looking about what you would expect for the actual period in which that player might be worth the big numbers.
Player would then play the 5 years or so of useful career he actually had left. Club would announce a ‘mutual consent’ deal, player retires - and receives the balance of the outstanding contract, but not as salary, and not as counting under the cap. Turns out a bank guarantee was in place anyway, and the player had a line of credit letting them borrow against ‘future earnings’ from the beginning of the contract.
All of this was being done by teams that were operating under the profit imperative - cheating the system, but not truly willing to lose money. The mind boggles how creative one could get if you don’t actually care about profit.
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Off topic but related that that post, Planet Money did an analysis of the Bobby Bonillia deal a few years ago and argued that despite the derision, and ignoring what the Mets/Wilpon chose to do with the money they saved in the short term, it actually was a fair deal for all parties
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Always what you want to see…
Nothing to do with the massive wage increase then?
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So he’s been to Newcastle now, then?
Is he any good? Not seen anything of him. Sky reporting that he’s got “Pirlo’s grace and Gattuso’s granite,”
I guess they will now form more of a double-pivot midfield with Guimaraes and Tonali at the base. And add a new #10. The likes of Longstaff, Willock and Joelinton to stay and offer competition.
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I always laugh when people mention him being a hardman. Gerrard always said he had a bad bark, but was as scary as a kitten
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I’ve seen bits and pieces but was never looking for him and he didn’t “force” me to. Doesn’t jump off the screen as a top player.
Also doesn’t seem one on paper. For a DLP he’s only completing 4.76 progress passes per game, pretty low, and then he only has a 75% completion rate. Below average in every defensive stat. Looks to me that most of his creative/chance creation tendencies come out in set pieces.
Hard to really see where he stands out from open play.
Might be the Italian Ward-Prowse 
Edit: Isolating Ward-Prowse and Tonali statistically… Ward-Prowse is actually better (statistically speaking, anyway).
So when we sign JWP for 20p we’ll have got the better deal.