The whole Saudi thing is pretty massive but I happen to think that once the dust settles (perhaps literally) on the stampede over there, the problems what will ultimately structure its failure will become apparent, such as:
- No global recognition for the clubs as brands, versus Europe's big names
- No credible equivalent of the Champions League (they've requested a spot, but they'd have to be subject to FFP then, or cause absolute chaos anyway)
- No real life footprint in Europe's traditional stadia, so no true alternative for matchgoing fans
- No credible football competition between clubs that are all in effect owned by the same entity
And I wouldn't be surprised if the Saudis paid big money to enclose and air condition their key stadia over time, but there's no way they can make expat life in a pampered Gulf enclave feel like life in London, Milan or Madrid.
Every bit of these transfer fees (if not the insane wages) are flowing into Europe's clubs and leagues, destabilising FFP while it all goes on, and if you were a player you'd certainly have your head turned by the thought of one of these £50m or £100m contracts, so everything's going to inflate.
From an Arsenal perspective it's a blessing we've already re-signed our stars as we're going to face poaching big time, if not of our existing squad so much, certainly of our targets. Because of this I think the whole dynamic will help us in the Premier League over the next two or three seasons, unless PIF really does funnel huge cash into Chelsea and Newcastle through overvalued transfers.
Reckon the Saudis might have been better off massively underwriting a new super league proposal on condition a lot of the matches were played as exhibitions over there, or similar. This is a massive intervention but I can't see a future in which Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Inter, AC Milan etcetera accept a status as irrelevant vestiges of l'ancien régime.
