analysis
The main issue is the possible transfer of another superstar to Saudi Arabia. But the case of Mohamed Salah shows that there is much more to it than that. Football is just a spotlight.
The press conference with Jürgen Klopp before the next game in the premier league. The coach/manager of FC was allowed to do the same Liverpool repeat very early on what the club had given to some reporters with a considerable reach in social networks the evening before: Mohamed Salah stays.
His manager Ramy Abbas Issa said so on August 7, when Al-Ittihad allegedly made the first attempt to bring the Egyptian international to Saudi Arabia.
But what do such claims count in football, especially in the transfer business. There were experts who suspected that the pandemic would depress prices, including wages. But since Saudi Arabia has been pouring billions into the market, these experts would prefer to erase their expertise.
A Saudi Arabian portal, which also has a very wide reach, wrote on Thursday that another offer had been received from Al-Ittihad. It should be designed in such a way that Liverpool FC can freely determine the fee and Salah his salary. There are no other sources for this. But it’s no longer as absurd as it would have sounded a few months ago.
New era
With the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo by the Al-Nassr club, a new era in football began. The Saudi Arabian clubs, four of which have since been nationalized, are showing their power, which is based on their exorbitant wealth. That is becoming more and more apparent. It’s not just aging stars like Jordan Hendersonthe former Liverpool FC captain, who were lured with a rumored salary of just over 40 million euros a year.
Gabriel Veigacalled “gabri“, a 21-year-old Spaniard who has aroused the interest of top European clubs is about to move to al-Ahli. Toni Kroos commented on a corresponding post by the journalist Fabrizio Romano, who specializes in transfer news, with “awkward“.
Toni Kroos: “Danger for the football of the future”
At Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, the aging stars with a number of titles, he understands that they changed because of the astronomical salaries, said the German world champion in his podcast “Einfach mal Luppen”. With a young player like Veiga, however, he failed to understand: “Such a cut in his sporting career, lowering his demands just because of the money, I’m not a fan of that. It’s an incredibly bad example for a lot of young youth players that money is the motivation.”
Kroos sees “a threat to football of the future”. Other important voices from the industry take a more relaxed view. For Hans-Joachim Watzke, the managing director of Borussia Dortmund and head of the supervisory board of the German Football League, it is “too early” for a forecast: “If the head of state blows the whistle, it’s game over. That’s how it was in China a few years ago.”
Report on murder of refugees at Saudi border
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the head of state in Saudi Arabia. He is suspected of ordering the murder of a journalist to brutally suppress critical voices. Currently cares Human rights organization report “Human Rights Watch” (HRW) for diplomatic complications.
Saudi border police officers would have between March 2022 and June 2023 “hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers”who tried to cross the border with Yemen into Saudi Arabia were killed. The federal government requested a statement from the Saudis based on the HRW report and threatened consequences. Germany supplies war equipment to Saudi Arabia and also trains Saudi border police officers.
danger of double standards
This is one of the reasons why it is often said that critics of the brutal regime of the Saudi royal family use double standards to argue. The danger is there. It is difficult to consider one without the other. It’s easy to get lost.
It’s only superficially about football. It is only superficially about the desire to be able to host the World Cup in 2030 or 2034. It’s only about one facet sports washing.
The post-fossil fuel era
It’s about geopolitics. Saudi Arabia, just like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is rich in fossil fuels and has become so rich as a result. In times of increasing awareness of an impending climate catastrophe, fossil fuels are a thing of the past.
The Gulf States are positioning themselves for the future, pushing into other markets, establishing diplomatic ties. The Taliban have an office in the Qatari capital Doha, and a conference was held in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of August with the aim of finding at least a starting point for how Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine could be ended.
The union of the states of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, named after the initials “Brics”, announced after its meeting on Thursday that it would admit six more countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The group, which will be more than twice as large as of January 1, 2024, will generate up to 37 percent of global gross domestic product at purchasing power parity and represent 46 percent of the world’s population, said Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the meeting of “Brics”.
Something like that sheds light on countries, no matter how obscure their dealings with people and human rights.
Football is a spotlight in the geopolitical fabric and Mohamed Salah may be an aging star at 31, but he is the superstar in his native Egypt, the Maghreb countries of North Africa and the rest of the continent. These are regions of the world to which Muslim states like the Gulf feel much more drawn than to Europe, which continues to be Christian, which has been looking disparagingly to the south and south-east for centuries.
Bigger than Ronaldo and Messi
Luring Salah from the world’s best league to Saudi Arabia would be the biggest coup yet, bigger than signing Ronaldo as a footballer and Lionel Messi as a tourism ambassador.
Mohamed Salah will probably stay at Liverpool for at least one more season. His striker got himself “to 100 percent” known to the club, said Jürgen Klopp on Friday morning. He also railed against the fact that the transfer market in Saudi Arabia is open until September 20, about three weeks longer than in the big leagues in Europe: “Those in charge should make it clear that they (the Saudis) have to do their business at a time like everyone else if they want to be part of the system.”
When Mohamed Salah starts at Newcastle United on Sunday (August 27th, 2023, excerpts in the first sports show from 7.15 p.m.), which largely belongs to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the 21st matchday is coming up in the top Brazilian league. The transfer market in Brazil has been closed to newcomers since the beginning of August. But if Jurgen Klopp – or whatever European club – wants to sign a professional from Brazil, he can easily do so by early September. There is a risk of double standards.
Football has become more global – and even more political – due to massive recruitment from Saudi Arabia.