Think it depends on how much the club push the potential sales. Dele could’ve easily joined PSG last January but for Levy. Ndombele may be a bit tougher seeing as he thinks he should be the first name on the team sheet for someone like Bayern or Juve but I always try maintaining a small bit of faith something can happen. Any potential departure of either though would likely be similar to the deals we’ve done for Romero and Gollini, loans with options, maybe even an obligation if we’re in luck.
Julian Alvarez certainly looks very doable, given he enters the final year of his River Plate contract in December That'll sort out a backup striker and RW option at the same time
I wonder if anyone's going to go in for Ben Brereton? Flown out of the blocks for Blackburn this season with 10 goals in 11 league games. He's also changed his name to Brereton Diaz and got called up for Chile. Less than a year left on his contract, but the club have an option to extend for a season.
Saudi takeover of Newcastle looks to be going ahead in the next 24 hours. Their net worth is more than that of Abramovich, Sheikh and Qataris combined. Newcastle could be about to become a major player at the top of the English game.
One thing that hasn't happened yet in the Premier League is a pornographically rich benefactor got bored and left the club up **** creek We've had lowkey versions of this, with the American owners of Villa and Swansea or the Qatari owners of Malaga deciding that if they weren't winning the league anytime soon there wasn't any point and the teams floated down to the second tier after a few seasons, but so far we haven't seen what happened to Dnipro who are currently in the eighth tier of Ukrainian football when their benefactor rage quit when they were banned from UEFA competitions for FFP violations ...funny how UEFA really crack down on FFP violations in countries that don't have lucrative broadcast deals, isn't it?
To be honest I feel differently about it. Likes of Abramovich, Sheikh Mansour and Americans are the effect of corporate greed and not the cause of it. United and Liverpool wanted crony capitalism and that's what they got. Super League is an inevitability at this point because United and Liverpool won't settle for being Tier 2 PL clubs.
When you take a working class sport (built on socialism) like football is and turn it upside down into a neoliberal enterprise this is the end result - State-owned and Oligarch owned clubs which are essentially a playground for the wealthy. American ownership was accepted (Anglo-American alliance) and they were seen as the good guys but since Abramovich's arrival there has been more Slavic and Arab interest in owning football clubs which has unnerved the status quo.
It's a failure of regulation. The FA let the Premier League open the game up to the billionaires and they will destroy it. It just depends what is left to salvage.
Gary Neville to his credit realises this, but he works for a company that is part of the problem. The death of football was not when Abramovich or Sheikhs arrived, it was when Wimbledon FC (114 year old club) was allowed to be taken out of Merton and relocated to Milton Keynes without anyone as much as batting an eyelid. If these owners had their way Chelsea would have moved to Battersea or NW London, Tottemham would have moved to Stratford and United/Liverpool would be playing home games in the US.
There's a few other, much earlier, suggestions for this 1892 - the Football League allowed John Holding to invent Liverpool and nick Everton's ground in the process 1904 - the Football League allowed Gus Mears to invent Chelsea after a failed attempt to buy Fulham and move them to the Stamford Bridge Athletics Stadium 1913 - the Football League allowed The Arsenal to move from Woolwich to Islington
She said, "I'm sorry baby I'm leaving you tonight I found someone new He's waitin' in the car outside" "Ah honey how can you do it We swore each other everlasting love" She said, "Well yeah I know but when we did There was one thing we weren't really thinking of" And that's Money Money changes everything Money Money changes everything We think we know what we're doin' But that don't mean a thing It's all in the past now Money changes everything They shake your hand and they smile And then they'll buy you a drink They say "We're your friends We'll stick by you 'til the end" But then their eyes go blank It all turns into a kind of a game Then the new way isn't any better they say Well at least it's not the same Money Money changes everything Money Money changes everything We think we know what we're doin' But that don't mean a thing It's all in the past now Money changes everything The original, courtesy of The Brains...and never a truer word was spoken...or sung (and produced by Steve Lillywhite - that bloke must ****ing own the 80's).
Apparently the PL have received legally binding assurances that none of the KSA leadership are involved in running the PIF, however MBS is listed as Chairman on their website. https://www.pif.gov.sa/en/Pages/About-OurLeadership.aspx In a previous job I worked with some of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the GCC and everyone and their dog knows that these are soft power vehicles as much as investment vehicles. Even without a member of the Saudi royal family on the board this would be against the spirit of the rules if not the practicalities of them, as things are, I don’t know how they’re greenlighting this. Well, I do, but still. I don’t begrudge Newcastle fans their joy at getting rid of Ashley but I wish it wasn’t like this. Newcastle United is one of the grand old clubs of English football, it’s a historic club with tradition and an incredibly passionate fan base. I’m sad at what it’s going to become.
As much as I dislike ENIC and the way DL goes about the clubs transfer policy I have always thought this would be what happened to us if ENIC sold us ,sad to say it will happen one day and that will be another reason for me to fall out of love with this club that I have supported for over 60 yrs
1919 - The Football League promoted Arsenal at the behest of two clubs caught match-fixing, neither of which were punished. Liverpool and Manchester United, to the surprise of absolutely nobody on here.
