Dude Im just mucking around ... Australian born and bred, tertiary education and all and my syntax, grammar and spelling is atrocious.. who am I to criticise???  .. I'm "usually" pretty fluent in Greek and English and can muddle my way through French and Italian to a basic degree  Spanish is my next tackle but its kicking my butt, I guess my brain is getting older :(

Was just trying to be a smart arse, like I said, slow eek at work and having a beer at my desk on a Friday :)

Yeah bud - all g - I know you're just playing. Was reference to the other fella! :)

WTF going on in here - dav being a nazi commi as usual lol 

christ one thing is for sure alot of players are taking the $$$'s more than I expected.

Typical CR7 having to back himself up being his adversary Messi went the MLS route........
https://www.givemesport.com/best-mls-xi-vs-best-saudi-arabia-xi-after-cristiano-ronaldos-recent-comments/

OMFG....... You know my feelings about both rubbish plastic shit leagues but the Wella Woman Pty Ltd isn't wrong. On paper the Saudi league is just nuts.....

haha WW Pty.

Yer its just nuts alright and I agree about both comps.
Real concerns for the future of top flight football going to the weeds, FIFA the money grabbers won't help might I add.
Before I die I expect I'll be following some lower table like AFC Liverpool or Lower Breck sticking to my Liverpool ties.

Hahahahaah good one, Im holding out for "South Liverpool Hellas FC" myself, hahahahahahahahahahaha

Hey I just read Fab's move to Saudi Arabia could now be off the table because they wont allow his dogs into the country. hHAHAHAHAHAAH this is becoming like a reality show now. 

So apparently Al Hilal are prepared to pay Mbappe 700 million Euros to play one season WTF??? As part of the deal he can then leave to Real Madrid next year. 

Reports PSG have accepted deal. They don't want to lose out on money. Maybe a Saudi middle finger to Qatar owners too?

Honestly I don't care about or fear it. We support our clubs and our areas and a bit of a reality check for some clubs is good. PSG are a plastic shit show anyway who's kit has become a fashion accessory.

Should more top English players leave perhaps that'll be of some concern to the Premier League or FA but their talent pool is massive so it's little to worry about. 

Arab dick waving. 1 wave your dick at the west 2. wave your dick at other arabs

PSG have accepted a bid for Kylian Mbappe but the armchair experts in Australia arent taking them seriously and trying to compare them to the MLS/CSL....

even if this deal doesnt happen it shows the S.Arabians are clearly showing intent that we have never seen before....how many places can pay a player close to a billion dollars a season 

[honestly anyone doubting this could be world football changing is an idiot and kind of shows the ball knowledge on this site is on the floor] 

Yes it's a massive step and creates a new bubble of unseen proportions. Yet with so many people struggling nowadays, a downgrade in Europe is what many fans have wanted. The game certainly wouldn't die but would probably need something of a financial readjustment. Plenty of supporters realise relegation to a lower tier brings back how their club was when they started as a kid. The Championship is a bit messy with financing and debt etc but League One and Two has become very solid is support. 

I think German clubs saw their wage capacities contract due to the effects of Covid where they struggled to have the funds to pay the market rate. 

Mbappe apparently said he'd rather sit on the bench in Paris. Seems PSG just wedged at cashing in on his value. Bite bullet and sell to Real you'd think. 

Im sure your ball knowledge is supreme, absolutely world changing.... for this young eshay thats for sure...

the Ronaldo effect. I've seen kids wear the same jersey at shopping centres. 

kids follow players these days, not clubs.

Mbappe is the one in power. 
Unless the Saudi's offer him a 1 year deal, then he can join Real Madrid, i'd say he'd be happy to sit on the bench for one season.

Tha ACL is gonna be nuts this year. 

yes that true.....

That Mbappe offer if or not goes through
 includes a $332M transfer fee and $776M salary, which would make Mbappe the highest-paid athlete.

CR7 won't be Mbappey :)

Hahahahahahahahah noice :)

Just saying the Arabians need to be 'taken seriously' there is a blantent ignorance to the fact that 'money talks' 

the only reason the PL has been so successful is it lured much of South Americas and Afraicas best talent with $ if the tide turns, [and im not saying it will]  it does feel like power is shifting then it needs to be respected - for too long we have kept our head in the sand 

I post this comment whilst watching PSG vs Al Nassr - prior to CR7 going to the Saudie League i would not have bothered to watch this match but Brozvaic and CR7 starting against a Big side like PSG has been turned in....i wouldnt be the only one

Of course ill always be a Manchester United Fan (im a club loyalist) like someone else said many younger fans are more 'fans of players' - it seems the players themselves have become 'brands' - Neymar, CR, Messi, Mbappe etc are all (arguably) bigger then they clubs they play for....

I don't think anyone is blatantly ignorant on the matter just that for now its a recent disrupter and hell of lot more yet to unfold where this ends up......
For sure $$$ talk and just as they attacked Golf/LIV luring some top players away after just 2yrs an alliance happenned recently (with the PGA/DP world etc) that has yet to unfold entirely but it seems normal stations will return just that the entire golf world will have alot more resource and their finger in the big pot.

No matter how many players they buy they are in Asia therefore in the ACL at best for their Clubs.
Maybe in the following years the ACL might/will get alot more coverage and income due to this/the IPF.
Most players bought are not in their prime but well oiled proven players that surely will lift the SL standards.
A main good point they have P/R above all this.
Comparing to the EPL is apples and pears, yer sure $$ changed its course in recruiting players etc but all the Clubs have/had long established history going back the dark ages and following, all it needed was SKY $$ and re branded to EPL the rest is history.

There are only so many players who are "brands" per say in their own right as mentioned and good luck to them, the majority not.
Will be interesting what occurs in the future for Clubs from future gen to gen thats for sure.

Of course money talks mate, and yes absolutely the Saudis are spending up big but PSG is a good example why I think the opposite to what you predict... They have spent huge amounts over the past 4-5 years trying to create a French "Galacticos" but nobody, outside of France, is really invested in watching French football.... OK PSG may be a fashionable t -shirt to Hollywood strumpets but its not really raised the profile of French football has it?

Like LFC says above, EPL is the top of the heap not only because of the players and the salaries on offer, it was the prestige league in the world well before the big bucks came along.....  This Saudi experiment (in my opinion) wont be something that lives for very long, How long do you think these players "Brand awareness" will last playing in the desert with the odd exhibition match every year? If a world club tournament gains a foothold soon then sure, maybe, but the ACL will never have any interest outside of Asia and Middle east ... at least in our lifetimes. 

Money talks but to a certain degree - remember Super League anyone?

If MBappe doesn't go, I reckon it highlights how incredibly weak the long-term prospects of these oil clowns in SA are - imagine offering to pay 1 Billion for someone to work for you for a year and they reject it? Laughable.

Salient points 

Good point about PSG, The french can't even sell their league for TV rights to most places as nobody is interested

Reports Messi rejected a billion too for 40-50 million in Miami - what a slap in the face. 

Messi was always going to Miami regardless of what money was being offered in Saudi. 

Also, by the end of 2025, Messi’s career earnings will reach an estimated $1.6 billion, including playing salaries, bonuses and endorsements.

This is greater than what Saudi could ever offer Messi. 

yep yep and yep......

Dav makes some fair points and others not but all to its own.....
He's a club man but followed to watch ex MU CR7 game there - sure some would and plenty more not gaf.
I won't care to watch the 3/4 LFC signings now there with millions of others, doesn't interest me but only glance when on a news feed if I come across results.

Lique1, all the $$$ put in there hasn't raised the general interest much at all like the EPL and in the middle of EU, PSG the mirror of City having name players from best to better last 12yrs and who raves about the league, crickets.
LIV golf struggled getting spectator numbers barring the Adelaide event where we have been starving for a top tournament for a decade or more whereas LIV not gaining main streaming partners like ESPN/FOX etcetc was choking no matter the amount of $$$$$$$$'s behind it, hence the peace pipe done with the PGA and Euros.
The same will apply to the saudi league but for click bait headlines.
$$$'s talk but in the picture football is bigger than all the $$$$'s they have as shown up in the golf world.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-26/lionel-messi-fever-comes-to-miami/102642344

But Miami was able to put a more attractive package together.
Part of the allure is certainly the financial upside.

Messi is believed to be receiving a cut of Apple's revenue from its exclusive streaming of the Major League Soccer (MLS), in what industry experts have described as an "unprecedented" agreement. 
The GOAT's arrival at Inter Miami has already seen ticket prices skyrocket by up to 500 per cent and MLS Season Pass subscribers surpass 1 million, with numbers projected to grow. 

The contract is also understood to include a profit-sharing deal with Adidas, the official sponsor of the league.

wtf has his previous earnings got to do with what he's signing up for now ?

I do not 'disagree' but it is so short sighted - Asia has 5x the population of Europe and is around half the population of the entire planet....If the ACL was 'succerssful' then the tide would turn - the issue the ACL has is no one cares about it but if an AL side played Al Nassr i reckon you would get a sell out due to the CR7 effect....

i think the 'issue' PSG has is they are 'they only team' trying to pump money into the league 

It is similar to the bundesliga no one wants to watch a 1 horse race 

But lets be 'frank' PSG and Bayren M in the UCL people are interested in they do have appeal as a 'brand' compare it to La liga which isn't very competitive isnt super popular and it argubly only has 2-3 sides that can compete but when El Classico is and those two sides play they get >650 million of viewers....

im old enough to remember sides like Galatasaray, Panathinaikos, Schalke, Lyon and Marseille all being considering decent-good sides in Europe. 

Not old enough to ever remember Celtic being a decent side in Europe but they are 'still a house hold name' 

it takes time and effort to build a brand which is 'essentially' what big clubs are these day - the fact i know that Al Nassr and AL Hilal are the two big Saudi clubs - shows they are creating a brand. The other MASSIVE factor you are ignoring is the investment/ownership these clubs have in Europes big leagues. CFC, Newcastle United, PSG all in somewhat are Saudi money

Any if we are generalising it to the middle east ALMOST EVERY big club is getting money from these nations -this influnce means this isnt a 1 trick pony but you might be right but there is more too it then i think people realise. 

Ill give you a example of a club that started to 'build a brand' - LA Galaxy when they had Becks they were selling out friendlies (even here in Australia against the Jets) - the issue was once becks left they lost their star power and the salary cap strcuture of the MLS made it hard to maintain that brand appeal (however the US alone has enough people to support the league out side of the US not many ppl care about the MLS) 

I dare say if LA Galaxy came now no one would care....the Saudies have the ability to sustain that 'hype' and build something special and there financial influence is beyond any sport has seen. The fact i had a conversation with a die hard AFL fan who (himself admits he doesnt like Soccer) asked me about the Crazy money that 'French guy' got offered to go to the middle east is a prime example of that.... 

Money talks and there is no ifs buts or maybes the only question is how much money you need to make something happen 

As for the fukwits thinking the 'super league' wont happen it is a matter of when not if....there is simply too much money on offer for UEFA to maintain the current structure and as i said 'clubs are brands' not the leagues themselves