KYLLING FOOTBALL Astonishing £259m transfer offer for Kylian Mbappe reveals Saudi threat to the Premier League.. and beyond

EVERYONE in football gave themselves a massive pat on the back when the European Super League was torpedoed in spectacular fashion.

Posted Tuesday, July 25, 2023 by Thesun.co.uk

The 2021 project — which included the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs — could have ruined the Premier League.

KYLLING FOOTBALL Astonishing £259m transfer offer for Kylian Mbappe reveals Saudi threat to the Premier League.. and beyond
Kylian Mbappe has seen a £259million transfer offer from Al-Hilal accepted by PSG Credit: Getty

But once it was aborted, English football retained its status as the world’s most powerful football beast from a financial point of view.

Yet no one saw Saudi Arabia coming.

It is 20 years since Roman Abramovich changed football in this country by buying Chelsea with his Russian oil money.

For a while, Chelsea were the most financially powerful club in this country, until Manchester City got their backing from Abu Dhabi in 2008.

But the remarkable emergence of the Saudi Pro League could have an even bigger impact on all of our clubs.

The problem is, no one has a clue how many major stars the division intends to hoover up.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s December move from Manchester United to Al-Nassr, which saw him secure wages of £170million a year, appeared to be some flash posturing.

Instead, it proved to be the first of a series of game changers leading into 2023.

KYLLING FOOTBALL Astonishing £259m transfer offer for Kylian Mbappe reveals Saudi threat to the Premier League.. and beyond
Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Al-Nassr in December opened the floodgates to Saudi Arabia Credit: Rex

Saudi side Al-Hilal’s £259m world-record bid for Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe is a game changer in terms of a transfer fee.

So are his potential £605m-a-year earnings.

Another game changer is ex-Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard — unlikely to get another Premier League job soon — landing £15m a year to take charge of Al-Ettifaq.

That raised the bar, meaning Fulham’s Marco Silva was offered £40m over two years to boss Al-Ahli.

Another seismic shift is the wages on offer in the Saudi second tier.
Boss Robbie Fowler takes home almost £500,000 a year at Al-Qadsiah.

Now coaches in the EFL have their eyes on a potential move to the Gulf.

A player like N’Golo Kante getting wages of £86m a year is another game changer.

He is a brilliant midfielder but, as the Frenchman has always admitted, he lives a modest life, summed up by the fact he used to drive to Chelsea’s training ground in a Mini.

So the fact his agent was able to drive up his annual wage to a staggering amount because of the player’s ‘image rights’ was not only taking the pee, but has now also increased the potential earnings of other footballers who might not have the biggest of profiles.

And the game would be rocked further if current internationals head to the Kingdom — with England’s Jordan Henderson considering joining Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq.

Incredibly, Newcastle’s controversial 2021 takeover by the investment arm of the Saudi Arabian government has proved to be merely a sideshow to what is now happening inside the country.

This all seems a world away from April 2021, when we worried about the ESL.

It was also around that time when football’s finances had taken a battering due to the effects of Covid.

We even spoke about how the sport might finally get a much-needed reset in terms of ridiculous wages and transfer fees.

Back then, Premier League players and others throughout Europe were being forced to take pay cuts.

Now, the same stars are able to add on a few zeros to their wage requests when considering a move to the desert.

There are obvious comparisons with the Saudi project and the Chinese Super League — but this project is built on far more stable foundations.

The accusations of sportswashing are understandable and the country’s human rights record is a disgrace.

From a sporting perspective, Saudi Arabia, a country of 37 million people with football the national sport, should not be confused with neighbouring Qatar, a small state with a population of under three million, with most of those expats preferring cricket.

Since Ronaldo arrived in Saudi, attendances in the Pro League have also increased although it is still around 10,000 per game.

Jeddah-based champions Al-Ittihad, where Kante and Karim Benzema moved to, have crowds around 40,000.

There has also been a huge increase in social-media engagement in football among women and girls, which is another aim of the government.

Right now, there are lots of questions over the direction of the Saudi Pro League and how quickly it will travel.

But what we do know is that those behind this project always get what they want, so we should not expect this to be any different.

Whether Mbappe leaves France or if Henderson quits England, there will be plenty more who will take the money.

KYLLING FOOTBALL Astonishing £259m transfer offer for Kylian Mbappe reveals Saudi threat to the Premier League.. and beyond
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is the latest star on course for a move Credit: Getty