General Premier League Thread 2022-23 - mod note in OP 12/03/23

Overblown is it? The Saudi’s are conveniently going to bail them out.

The right thing to happen is Chelsea should be barred (again) from making signings but this time for a considerably longer period as it’s not their first offence like this. They should be left floundering and forced into administration and liquidation.

Instead PIF is going to bail them out and you’re saying “it’s overblown”…”move on”…“nothing to see here”… etc.

Did the signings of Benzema and Ronaldo bail Chelsea out? Would Messi's arrival have bailed them out even further? There are also failed offers for Son, Saul Niguez, Morata, Coutinho, Dzeko, Brozovic, Lukaku, Bernardo Silva, Modric, Busquets, De Vrij, Giroud, Zaha and Gundogan.

Do you think those deals going through would have bailed Chelsea out aswell? Neves is a huge outlier with regards his age and heading over there but I think you'll find his move doesn't bail out Chelsea anyway.

I get theres a big bizarre hype over Chelsea being owned and saved by Saudi Arabia but in reality what all those players who rejected moves have in common is they are either in or approaching the twilight of their careers. Thats the player type that Saudi clubs are targeting. With Boehly giving 5-7 year deals to Mudryk, Badiashile, Madueke, Enzo Fernandez, Malo Gusto et al. Chelsea are keen to offload their older/past it players, which is exactly the type that the Saudi's are trawling the ENTIRITY of Europe for.

Those are fair enough prices actually, I had seen much higher figures yesterday

It's a very convenient situation for Chelsea but I suppose that isn't as bad as it first seemed.

I wonder what the long term plan is for Saudi - given their involvement in the Golf and other sports, other businesses etc..

Will they eventually be looking to get a part of the PL pie overall or look to create a dominant league of their own long term?

Will they push to get clubs into the CL?

The idea of the investment fund was to diversify their assists and income long term so the State is not in a difficult situation when Oil is no longer the world driving force it is now. So the question is just how do they think this will help them in that goal and at what cost to the rest of football.

They’re buying players from elsewhere as well but also bailing out Chelsea, doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. Don’t always agree with Gary Neville but in the case of Chelsea in particular I would apply an embargo on Chelsea transfers to Saudi Arabia and on more transfers in, while launching an investigation into their activities.

That would be setting some mad precedent to stop one club selling their players to any club in a particular league. I think you're reading way too much into it and coming to the conclusion you want to rather than what it is.

The Saudis want well known players to come to their league, established names to give their league more exposure and credibility. Chelsea have a surplus of the kind players they are looking to for and have abit of luck in the timing of it all. That's all there is to it really.

That's fair amd a concern for the future with the way things are going but like another poster said the pif has a 5% stake in clearlake

So they say. Put an embargo on their potential transfers until a full investigation is conducted and completed.

They did spend a tonne of money but that's not illegal, just risky. And it looks like they will re coup a decent chunk in player sales. I don't know the exact figures but Chelsea have generated alot through player sales over the years.

Anyway I don't think they need any punishment because if this squad re build goes wrong they will be in a bad place as they won't be able to shift the players on very long contracts.

No rebel got it wrong. I know what amortisation is. Wrong end of the stick as usual, like yourself.

They spent 400 million in the last two windows alone IIRC, amortisation notwithstanding. More than the rest of the football world combined. I will be circumspect about them no matter what anyone on here says.

It needs proper and thorough investigation as I alluded to above pj

Half way down that page 182 in conversation with titiangerm I conceded that I may have picked him up wrong and you’re dragging that up and throwing it in here and accusing me of lying? You have some cheek.

Was your man rebel a mod on here before or something. He seems quite sure of himself in his aggressive style accusing posters of “lying” etc. What a character.