Though Gary Neville has become an acquired taste for many, the former Man United and England star turned sports broadcaster might find he has a few more supporters after his outspoken views on the plethora of transfers with the Saudi Arabian Pro League.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the trickle of stars leaving the Premier League and other top European leagues is threatening to turn into a mass exodus.
There was a similar ‘gold rush’ when the riches were available in the Chinese Super League, though whatever it was the CSL were trying to achieve, they didn’t really come close to getting to their end goal.
With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante all having already made the switch to the Saudi Pro League, there’s reason enough to believe that the landscape of the game could be changing, and that’s clearly something that’s bothering Neville.
“The Premier League should put an instant embargo on transfers to Saudi Arabia to ensure the integrity of the game isn’t being damaged,” he told BBC Sport.
“Checks should be made on the appropriateness of the transactions.
“If it comes through that process, obviously transfers could open up again. But I do believe, at this moment in time, transfers should be halted until you look into the ownership structure at Chelsea and whether there are beneficial transfer dealings that are improper.”
Understanding that Chelsea’s owners, Clearlake Capital, have some sort of relationship with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, given that the latter are the movers and shakers in the Pro League as well as owning Newcastle does leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth.
Whether the Premier League will be able to find a way to investigate the deals and get to the bottom of if there have been practices that are a little shady for want of a better phrase, remains to be seen.
Football and integrity haven’t stood together for decades. Players get paid ridiculous amounts of money, and football is only about money now.
Clubs and players are greedy, pundits get paid daft money for giving opinion and nothing else, so I don’t think anyone within football can tell others where they can and can’t play football.
Did the righteous mr Neville not say a very short while ago that their money is here now and the horse has bolted about certain people trying to buy utd. Smacks of double standards there Garry
Next Saturday at home ni
I don’t know what is he talking about. They can buy anybody in the FA or even PL club officials. Who will investigate then? It’s just like Man City, Chelsea, PSG, etc spending much more than their income. The game is rigged.