Saudi Pro League side Al Shadab have approached Fulham winger Willian with a massive offer only ten days after the Brazilian winger signed a new deal with the Whites.
Fabrizio Romano reports that the 34 year-old’s representatives are now in discussions with the Saudi side – but now that Willian has put pen to paper on a deal committing himself to another twelve months in SW6, Fulham would be able to demand a serious free in any negotiation.
The former Arsenal and Chelsea winger professed his delight after agreeing terms on his new Craven Cottage contract and cited his desire to continue playing in the Premier League under Fulham head coach Marco Silva, who has rebuffed three offers to move to Saudi Arabia himself.
If this happens then football in this country can go fcuk itself!!!
It is all about money mate ! It is sad but true !! His head will turn this time !!
He’s yours for £200,000,000.00. He has signed a contract so he is our player. End of.
If this continues I think the British government should seriously consider refusing to sell them any more war planes and weapons.
blood money, remember what they do to journalist.
It is truly irritating, but in a way what the PL was doing to other leagues for many years. PL pay-to-view TV money made it the BSD of the footy world. Now there is a bigger BSD. Players’ attitudes haven’t changed; the balance of power has. Not what we want, but looks like what we have to get used to. Bummer.
I would tell them buy Mitrovic for 52m then we will let you have Willian for 10m
Be honest, whatever your job is, if another company “head hunted” you for a huge increase in salary, wouldn’t you be interested. Plus, Willian is getting old for a footballer so he’d be a fool not to be flattered coz what is his earning potential in the next few years.
Deep breaths, everyone. Two things:
1. If Willian does actually depart for the Bone Saw League, it is *way* better that it’s happening now than before. Now we can collect a fee but …
2. It seems very, very unlikely that this move actually is happening. PIF and the Bone Saws talk a big game but have they signed anyone that wasn’t already getting shown the door by their old club? They can yell very large numbers all they want “Eleventy Bajillion for Franz Beckenbauer!!!!1!” but until they actually sign a player away from a club that wants to keep him (which would require a fat transfer fee that they’ve seemed reluctant to pay out so far) we should probably view these ‘attention grabbing’ stories as more of a PR campaign than actual, functional offers.
(I know this is conspiracy theory-ish, but is some of this ‘yelling of big numbers about Fulham players, specifically’ connected to TK’s statements about the Saudis?)
The Premier League needs to intervene now because all these Saudi clubs are not following the rules regarding player contracts.
A strongly worded letter to FIFA should begin the process as to whether the rules are being broken.
It’s not right that Saudi clubs can cause disruption to another club especially Fulham.
Good shout 30f, it could be the TK comments that are behind this. As for the Saudis etc, it would send a strong message to everyone that any player who moves to a Middle Eastern league is thereafter not selected again for international duty. It would be equivalent to saying ‘you’re out of the serious football world so international football is not available anymore’. As for Willian, he was unhappy at Arsenal and agreed to rip up his huge contract. He was then unhappy back home in Brazil and did the same thing. He’s playing well at FFC and says he’s happy so would he really dump it all for 2 years money? Happiness is priceless.
Total madness don’t buy this nonsense about heads being turned how much will be enough.players now are on phenomenal contracts in the football league let alone premier league .the world has gone mad .People told they cause inflation asking for pay rises and then you get this utter bollocks
It’s not so much the offer as the way the offers are being structured. As a previous commenter wrote, the PL has been “poaching” players for years. It’s more, to me, the cynicism of the offers. High wages, low transfer fee. It’s like the Saudi’s want to create a wedge between club and player. Offer the player high wages so they want to leave…offer the club low transfer fee to keep the value of the overall deal “reasonable”. Create friction between club and player and play a game of chicken to see who blinks first. My perception is that historically the PL offered a “fair price” on the transfer fee and wages….almost like a “handshake/gentleman’s agreement” to not screw either side over. Just a perception but it seems like the rules of the game have changed.
How can they have approached a player who has just signed a contract without permission of his club? If they are making illegal direct offers to players they are breaking FIFA rules? What is the point of fair play rules if they are not enforced by the governing body? Just because a journalist says he is interested doesn’t mean he is.
This is a club that has an average of 5,400 a game basically Darlington! How come we get saddled with all this fair play rubbish and a small club like that can buy who they want! So the average means there are games with a lot less than that so if Willian wants to play his last days of football in front of no one then let him go and enjoy the great atmosphere that will create and if you remember the World Cup if they go a couple of goals down by half time not many come back for the second half! What a footballing hot spot …… not