Whenever I check out the gossip column on BBC Sport or there's a transfer rumour on social media, there's multiple players being linked with a move to the Saudi League.

Some big names being linked to go there as well. Benzema, Lewandowski, Gundogan, Kante, Messi as well as already having Ronaldo in there, who I believe is the start of big name players heading over there for a nice pay day. 

I personally don't know much about the league myself but all I can think is players are moving over there for the big fat pay day that they are being offered. 

It almost feels like when the Chinese Super League started gaining attention and got linked with pretty much every single big name player in the world and offering them hefty wages to sweeten deals. 

It's awful. I wouldn't be surprised if certain games are fixed.

The amount of shoddy errors that happen and own goals, it's quite suspicious. I mean, I don't expect their level to be all that high, but I have seen 5-year-old kids play better football, games which involve running and just kicking a ball.

It's sports washing pure and simple.  It's no different to the financial doping of Man City and Newcastle.  It should be called out, but won't be.

@Chris I've not seen too much of it but little bits that I have seen, it's not appealing at all. 

More than likely there's match fixing involved. I'd be amazed if there wasn't any. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtJdEh1ouFr/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

More players are being rumoured. 

 

The Saudi League isn’t all that special. I have seen games and it’s amazing how easily the likes of Ronaldo manage to find the net. It’s not a very entertaining league and it will only be ruined by throwing silly money at players at the wrong end of their careers.

Aging players looking for a last pay out hasn't worked before in the US or China, and I can't see it this time.  It may be different if players in their prime start getting lured over - a Haarland or a Mbape, but why would they go to a mickey mouse league?  The Saudis have enough money to buy golf, I'm sure they have enough money to collect players at their prime if they chose to. I suspect they will continue to financially dope clubs in other leagues for now though.

the mls can be good to watch but the standard still is not as good as other countires near to them let alone most of the weaker european leagues. i find the saudi league to be worse than chinas, both of which are just sideshow gimmick leagues.

The MLS is actually a decent league to watch tbf. Of course there are some games which can be looked at as a poor level of football but with their expansion and more teams becoming involved, it's getting to a decent level. It deserves more credit than it gets. 

But with the MLS there's more of a level playing field in terms of teams getting players but not able to go above a certain amount of wages due to the MLS franchise owning the rights as opposed to clubs. 

There is the exception to overseas players though however. As far as I understand it, they can get so many overseas players that are deemed of a certain standard and be able to offer them more than the allowed wages for all others. That's as far as I understand it anyway. 

Where as in leagues like China and Saudi, they just offer what ever the hell they like and it has little effect. Can't see it becoming any more appealing even with the players coming in. As @Ohh Tommy Johnson said rather than getting aging players they surely can try persuade prime players to come over for that kind of pay day. 

I should have been clearer... I was thinking of the original US league with Pele etc involved.  This version seems much more organic and sustainable.  

@Ohh Tommy Johnson oh yeah absolutely, the MLS back in the day wasn't that great. Although, they did have an interesting way of doing penalty shootouts. Quite liked the way they did them. 

W

13 hours ago, KB1862 said:

@Ohh Tommy Johnson oh yeah absolutely, the MLS back in the day wasn't that great. Although, they did have an interesting way of doing penalty shootouts. Quite liked the way they did them. 

Wasn't the offside rule different with a blue line midway between the halfway line and penalty box?  I seem to remember Roy of the Rovers being caught out by that in his brief sojourn stateside!!

@Ohh Tommy Johnson not sure I've heard that one, might have to look into some of the different rules and way they played the game compared to us back in the day. 

It was in Roy of the Rovers, so my source is not 100% reliable!! 

Their league is ranked somewhere around 80th in the world - that says it all really! Most players who go there are taking a shot in the dark, hoping to elevate their status and have some glory days before moving on again. It never lasts and I doubt it ever will reach much higher levels of success or excitement - it’s just not a very interesting league to watch at all! Even when Ronaldo plays there, the overall standard of play is quite poor.