Q: Why are players signing for Saudi Arabian clubs?

[Leeds Ram]

15 hours ago, richinspain said:

£100k per week, that's £5.2m a year.

£1m per week, that's £52m a year.

I know where I'd be spending at least the next 2 years.

I know too and it wouldn't be in Saudi with blood money. 

[May Contain Nuts]

All of the "once you've got enough money..." style responses seem to be geared toward the amount of money a player is earning for themselves.

A Premier league player may be rich enough on the sums they've made to see themselves and their kids live an easy life, but it's not just about them is it? 

The money on offer in Saudi may be enough to see the next 3-4 generations of their family right - all for the sake of a few years easy work.

Edited September 4 by May Contain Nuts

[BathRam72]

On 03/09/2024 at 12:22, nottingram said:

Doubt it will really take off.

Even this year there has been a sharp drop off in the number of players going on and while they might attract players like Toney there is still a certain aura to the Champions League that will never be replicated (unless UEFA keep doing a good job of making it a bit crap).

I can’t ever really see the very top players going over there at their peak, and until that happens it won’t be a decent league. The money is amazing but it will probably still be there when you’re 32 so why go now and not be taken seriously?

Go there at 32 and maybe get a couple of years. Go there at 25 and have 6 or 7 years on huge wages. Let me think 🤔 

[nottingram]

3 minutes ago, BathRam72 said:

Go there at 32 and maybe get a couple of years. Go there at 25 and have 6 or 7 years on huge wages. Let me think 🤔 

How many elite players have gone over there at 25?

[BucksRam]

A year or 2 over there and he goes from being just rich to being super rich. That's him, his family, his relatives, his kids' kids' kids all sorted. I get it. But if you supposedly live for football and want to be the best you can, playing for the best teams then you're lying to yourself and others if you go over there. It was well documented when Henderson went there how he was unhappy with the football, the facilities, how his family were treated, oh and of course the tiny crowds (696 in one game!). I half expect Toney to move to Europe after a few months or so...

[Alph]

Saudis love a bit of Sports washing. 
 

Look, look! Shiny lights!! Follow the shiny lights. Don’t look left or right though. 

[SaintRam]

I think there's a different attitude about it depending on the players age. An older player cashing in? Perfectly reasonable.

If you're younger though? It's definitely justifiable with the money on offer, but you're likely to be saying goodbye to international football, and long-term sponsorships (post retirement) - and maybe even short term sponsorships I don't know what it's like over there - which does make the financial disparity a little less clear (but it's still certainly more money ofc).

If you a player has already achieved their dreams in football, or doesn't think they ever will, or simply doesn't have any - then it's just a job, and all that matters is the paycheck (and your advising agent's paycheck 😉)

It's just a job to a lot of footballers. 

[TigerTedd]

On 03/09/2024 at 16:08, Alty_Ram said:

I think any top Premier League player will be obscenely rich anyway though, so it's just extra digits on an already utterly massive pay day really. I'd expect that most players still become footballers because it is what they have a passion for and a skill in as well as knowing that they can make a great living in it if they make the grade. If I were a footballer though, I'd want to win things in front of adoring crowds AND be showered with riches as well as being able to say that I won the Champions League etc. Toney no doubt already has a fleet of flashy cars and a massive house.

People say "Well, we'd ALL chase that money" but I'm not sure that's always true. I haven't always gone to the best paid job. Obviously it's a significant factor, but location, working culture and a generally good feeling about the group of people that you'd be joining have all been weighed up in the decision, not just the bottom line numbers on the pay cheque.

I guess that if he were to do a year or two max and then come home and chase Champions League and domestic honours before his stock has fallen too much then that'd be more understandable. Thing is, he's 28 and should be in the prime of his career. This just feels like a 30 somethings decision, because he's achieved nothing of note in the game so far and scoring hatricks in a Saudi League winning side won't fix that.

Each to their own I guess.

It’s not uncommon for people to take a job on an oil rig for a year for silly money, knowing that for the sake of that year away from the family, they can spend the next two with them. 

[BathRam72]

17 hours ago, nottingram said:

How many elite players have gone over there at 25?

If you had bothered to read the post I was replying to. You would have noticed they had put the fact that players should go later in their careers so why go so early. My response was to say if you go at a younger age you get more money over a longer period.  It was rhetorical. 

[Gaspode]

12 hours ago, BucksRam said:

A year or 2 over there and he goes from being just rich to being super rich. That's him, his family, his relatives, his kids' kids' kids all sorted. I get it. But if you supposedly live for football and want to be the best you can, playing for the best teams then you're lying to yourself and others if you go over there. It was well documented when Henderson went there how he was unhappy with the football, the facilities, how his family were treated, oh and of course the tiny crowds (696 in one game!). I half expect Toney to move to Europe after a few months or so...

There are quite a lot of very good players who don't actually like the game - they were born with a talent and want to exploit that to the full so the underlying aim is to make as much money as possible....to those folk it's just a job.

[nottingram]

2 hours ago, BathRam72 said:

If you had bothered to read the post I was replying to. You would have noticed they had put the fact that players should go later in their careers so why go so early. My response was to say if you go at a younger age you get more money over a longer period.  It was rhetorical. 

I know what it said, I wrote it.

Your reply suggested the money involved makes it a no brainer to go and get more years of the cash rather than go at the end of one’s career so I was just wondering which players have done that

[BathRam72]

10 minutes ago, nottingram said:

I know what it said, I wrote it.

Your reply suggested the money involved makes it a no brainer to go and get more years of the cash rather than go at the end of one’s career so I was just wondering which players have done that

I don't know. All I was suggesting that Tomey has gone there for money.  If he is do driven by it. Then why wait a couple more years when he can get 52 million for the next 5 or 6 years? Like I said it was rhetorical. 

[BucksRam]

2 hours ago, Gaspode said:

There are quite a lot of very good players who don't actually like the game - they were born with a talent and want to exploit that to the full so the underlying aim is to make as much money as possible....to those folk it's just a job.

Yeah that's a fair point.  I'm pretty good at what I do (well, I think so anyway!) but don't I like it such that I get up in the morning, rub my hands in glee, and say yippee, off to work we go. Nope. I do it for the pay cheque each month and have stuck out contracts which I've not enjoyed because the pay was good. Sadly none of them were worth £1m a week.

[Gaspode]

7 minutes ago, BucksRam said:

Yeah that's a fair point.  I'm pretty good at what I do (well, I think so anyway!) but don't I like it such that I get up in the morning, rub my hands in glee, and say yippee, off to work we go. Nope. I do it for the pay cheque each month and have stuck out contracts which I've not enjoyed because the pay was good. Sadly none of them were worth £1m a week.

I'm pretty sure I remember Bywater being interviewed and he stated that he had no interest in football other than when he was playing - I think we (as fans) have difficulty getting our collective heads around that sort of approach...

[TomTom92]

Money aside, Toney only went there because he treated Brentford so poorly that he couldn't really go back to playing for them and therefore needed a move.

I bet if he was to be honest he'll be gutted he's had to take this option and will probably feel bitter that Chelsea, Spurs etc didn't come in for him.

[Alph]

You’d like to think you’d stick by your principals and also focus on developing as a player. 
No disrespect to the wonderful suburbs of London and Manchester or the fine British weather and people but if somebody is willing to put a hell of lot more money up for living like a Hollywood star in the parts of Saudi Arabia you’d see on a billboard then suddenly the drive past moss side isn’t such a fond commute 
 

I don’t think it’s hard to imagine why people say yes. Ruining your chances of being selected for your country is not guaranteed if you’re already on the fringes. But even if it did then that’s probably only going to hurt every 2 summers
 

It’s not like the majority of us follow our moral compass all the time. If we can deviate for an advantage then most of us would. I’d like to think I wouldn’t go rub shoulders with war criminals and human rights abusers but I’m sure for the right money I could at least have think about why it’s not my concern. 

Edited September 5 by Alph

[DarkFruitsRam7]

Fair play, might as well enjoy the generational wealth😂