Rumours Al Nassr have agreed a deal with Villa for 59M.

If that's the case just give them Disasi and Felix and shake hands. 

A pure ball striker that knows how to find the net. With the amount of chances we create he's have a field day, he doesn't even need to get involved in the link up. 

Wonder if it will be some sort of transfer merry go round. 
 

- Duran to Saudi 

- They have the funds to Disasi and Felix 

- We buy Tel from Bayern. 

2 hours ago, JM7 said:

Wonder if it will be some sort of transfer merry go round. 
 

- Duran to Saudi 

- They have the funds to Disasi and Felix 

- We buy Tel from Bayern. 

Then Bayern by Nkunku perhaps.

Funny if the 59mill fee is true, West Ham had one of 57mill rejected.

Imagine picking Saudi at the age of 21 when you have shown potential to be one of the next big name strikers in world football.

Now it looks like Duran is off to Saudi our wonderful club are rumoured to be engineering a Felix Garnacho swap now.  

Can someone kidnap our directors until the 1st of February?  

3 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Now it looks like Duran is off to Saudi our wonderful club are rumoured to be engineering a Felix Garnacho swap now.  

Can someone kidnap our directors until the 1st of February?  

4th of February (window ends at 11pm on 3rd)

7 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Now it looks like Duran is off to Saudi our wonderful club are rumoured to be engineering a Felix Garnacho swap now.  

Can someone kidnap our directors until the 1st of February?  

It wouldn't surprise if we signed some unknown called Felix Garnacho 😉

in the window - nobody wanted Duran. 4 starts later and we are kicking ourselves as he heads to KSA

Al Nassr bound for €77m. Really strange move considering he was talking about playing for a top team like Bayern at the beginning of the window. I feel his agent nudged him to make this move.

End of the day football is still a job.

17 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Imagine picking Saudi at the age of 21 when you have shown potential to be one of the next big name strikers in world football.

It’s sad. To be honest with you I wish they would just f*ck off. They’re not doing football any good.

Ivan Toney, Duran, Neymar, Kante, Ronaldo, Benzema etc. I would have liked to see them in Europe for a couple more years. Who the hell watches Saudi games?

21 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

It’s sad. To be honest with you I wish they would just f*ck off. They’re not doing football any good.

Ivan Toney, Duran, Neymar, Kante, Ronaldo, Benzema etc. I would have liked to see them in Europe for a couple more years. Who the hell watches Saudi games?

On a personal level i agree but i imagine this is how a lot of the other countries felt when we got the premiership TV money and started attracting all the talent with lucrative salaries. I suppose we can't fault them for wanting to create something over there, however i think football is different from other sports. They tried to buy the golf, because people follow golfers. They get involved with F1 and that's a worldwide sport. 

People follow teams, not players (except for a select few, looking at you Gol). At some point they need to turn a profit and no matter how many big names go over there people will still follow the teams they grew up supporting. No one i know is suddenly watching al Nassr games for Ronaldo.

1 hour ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

On a personal level i agree but i imagine this is how a lot of the other countries felt when we got the premiership TV money and started attracting all the talent with lucrative salaries. I suppose we can't fault them for wanting to create something over there, however i think football is different from other sports. They tried to buy the golf, because people follow golfers. They get involved with F1 and that's a worldwide sport. 

People follow teams, not players (except for a select few, looking at you Gol). At some point they need to turn a profit and no matter how many big names go over there people will still follow the teams they grew up supporting. No one i know is suddenly watching al Nassr games for Ronaldo.

I agree with your sentiment and I'd say that they are trying to introduce football into a country with no relation to the sport whatsoever. However, we are looking at it from an Eurocentric view. Yes, we are not going to follow the Saudi teams no matter which player plays there but the world is huge and they can target Pakistan, India, China, African countries and even North America with the players.

On 29/01/2025 at 10:40, JM7 said:

Wonder if it will be some sort of transfer merry go round. 
 

- Duran to Saudi 

- They have the funds to Disasi and Felix 

- We buy Tel from Bayern. 

Why didnt we just offer them Disasi and Felix and 5 million for Duran?

41 minutes ago, POCH OUT said:

Why didnt we just offer them Disasi and Felix and 5 million for Duran?

Concerns about his attitude from what I have read ...  hence "no bid"

3 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

On a personal level i agree but i imagine this is how a lot of the other countries felt when we got the premiership TV money and started attracting all the talent with lucrative salaries. I suppose we can't fault them for wanting to create something over there, however i think football is different from other sports. They tried to buy the golf, because people follow golfers. They get involved with F1 and that's a worldwide sport. 

People follow teams, not players (except for a select few, looking at you Gol). At some point they need to turn a profit and no matter how many big names go over there people will still follow the teams they grew up supporting. No one i know is suddenly watching al Nassr games for Ronaldo.

Agreed, also it's easy to judge those players as well when we're talking about decisions that may affect our club/league, but the truth is that somehow Saudi's investment is working on a worldwide level and it's no surprise here in Brazil we now have access to the Saudi league due to Neymar's presence there, same way I now see people everywhere wearing that pink Miami kit with Messi's name. Not sure anyone really follows those leagues, but at least they know recognise it as a "football country". 

Even there, Duran will still be called up to the national team, which is probably his "larger" interest in football, being an idol to his country instead of an european club. 

Good for him. People look at the move, and straight away get irritated about the money - but fair play. I have lived in the Gulf for 2 years, and have visited Saudi - and frankly, the standard of living is significantly higher than the UK, and certainly better than dreary birmingham. Good salary yes. But also - more sun, good schools, less crime, more respect from people on the street, bigger houses, a better way of life in general. A good move, away from the cesspit that is birmingham.

22 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Imagine picking Saudi at the age of 21 when you have shown potential to be one of the next big name strikers in world football.

It's a lot more complicated than that for some though. 

Can't see too many British players going to Saudi when they aren't any where near their peak, but maybe this is the sign of the times for non-European players. 

Would prefer him as our striker over Jackson, but just maybe we dodged a bullet, as there have been a lot of questions about his attitude and commitment and we already have more than enough flakey players in our squad. 

3 hours ago, RMH said:

I agree with your sentiment and I'd say that they are trying to introduce football into a country with no relation to the sport whatsoever. However, we are looking at it from an Eurocentric view. Yes, we are not going to follow the Saudi teams no matter which player plays there but the world is huge and they can target Pakistan, India, China, African countries and even North America with the players.

Certainly not moving for the glory and the atmosphere

1 hour ago, nonotnowjim said:

Good for him. People look at the move, and straight away get irritated about the money - but fair play. I have lived in the Gulf for 2 years, and have visited Saudi - and frankly, the standard of living is significantly higher than the UK, and certainly better than dreary birmingham. Good salary yes. But also - more sun, good schools, less crime, more respect from people on the street, bigger houses, a better way of life in general. A good move, away from the cesspit that is birmingham.

To be fair, the UK doesn't have billions of barrels of oil wealth, and we don't butcher opponents of the State either. Better weather over there though, I'll give ya that ! 🤣

On 29/01/2025 at 13:48, Scott Harris said:

Imagine picking Saudi at the age of 21 when you have shown potential to be one of the next big name strikers in world football.

Easy to say when it's not happening to you. It's not like he's even a starter at Villa and all it takes is one bad injury and it could be over. 

If I was in his shoes I would do the same thing. That amount of money is insane and he is still young enough to rejoin the top leagues after like 2 years in Saudi. 

1 minute ago, The Rising Sun said:

To be fair, the UK doesn't have billions of barrels of oil wealth, and we don't butcher opponents of the State either. Better weather over there though, I'll give ya that ! 🤣

For me, it is the lack of crime and generally better attitude that is the biggest draw. the other day I was speaking to a family who were here on holiday as we queuing for a ride in one of the theme parks. One of the lads was 13 yrs old - the same age as my eldest boy. He said that the week before they came on holiday to the UAE, he was mugged when going to the shop in a suburb town, as some lads saw his trainers and decided they would take them. They also took his Jacket for good measure. It wasnt some gangland or rough area, but a midle class suburb in surrey.

I cant imagine living like that or trying to raise my kids with that again.... Here my boy can go out, get taxis, go to the mall with friends, go walking at night alone - and generally speaking I never have to worry. No gangs. Nobody coming to mug him. No hassle or worry. I can leave my phone, watch and wallet on my car bonnet and come back 2 hours later and its still there.  A million miles away from the UK at the moment.

Dont want to politicise this thread - but there really is more to this part of the world than just the money and perceived lack of human rights that the UK media would like to portray.

 

On 29/01/2025 at 13:34, axman2526 said:

Then Bayern by Nkunku perhaps.

Funny if the 59mill fee is true, West Ham had one of 57mill rejected.

Even funnier is they wanted £85m, but they’re stuck now, as Duran is only going to want Saudi after the wage reveal, so even if our beloved sporting directors came in with a £70m bid, it wouldn’t matter. Pandora’s box opened. Such as shame, as he’s genuinely elite, 300k pw (possibly more with bonuses), at 21 years old. Basically equalled the *reported* wage of Raheem Sterling 😅 

10 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

For me, it is the lack of crime and generally better attitude that is the biggest draw. the other day I was speaking to a family who were here on holiday as we queuing for a ride in one of the theme parks. One of the lads was 13 yrs old - the same age as my eldest boy. He said that the week before they came on holiday to the UAE, he was mugged when going to the shop in a suburb town, as some lads saw his trainers and decided they would take them. They also took his Jacket for good measure. It wasnt some gangland or rough area, but a midle class suburb in surrey.

I cant imagine living like that or trying to raise my kids with that again.... Here my boy can go out, get taxis, go to the mall with friends, go walking at night alone - and generally speaking I never have to worry. No gangs. Nobody coming to mug him. No hassle or worry. I can leave my phone, watch and wallet on my car bonnet and come back 2 hours later and its still there.  A million miles away from the UK at the moment.

Dont want to politicise this thread - but there really is more to this part of the world than just the money and perceived lack of human rights that the UK media would like to portray.

 

Yes I can absolutely see the attraction Jim. My mate's son had his trainers stolen years ago. The sight of his son coming home with no footwear broke his heart.

A trial finished here few weeks back where 2 youngsters went out to get something to eat and were chased and murdered by a gang , case of mistaken identity. . They showed a brief video of one of the boys arriving smiling at the others house, he looked like my boy when young, within minutes both were dead. I couldn't get the image out of my head, and I can't bring myself to watch BBC documentary about it.   I moved to the south coast from South London years ago, best decision I ever made.

Thanks for your reply Jim, take care.

22 minutes ago, Term_X said:

Even funnier is they wanted £85m, but they’re stuck now, as Duran is only going to want Saudi after the wage reveal, so even if our beloved sporting directors came in with a £70m bid, it wouldn’t matter. Pandora’s box opened. Such as shame, as he’s genuinely elite, 300k pw (possibly more with bonuses), at 21 years old. Basically equalled the *reported* wage of Raheem Sterling 😅 

End of the day I am sure there are plenty of players out there who see it more of a job than a passion. With the money that has come in to the game, and the huge Saudi wages, if his goal is to make a load of cash quickly, the fair dos to him.