We clearly didn't sign Bowler with a view to him ever playing for us, unless we went down, because he never played for us. He hasn't disappointed, he just has never been in contemplation for the first team. I suspect we signed him so he could play for Olympiakos, or because we thought we could make money hawking him on loan to other clubs where he might develop (like Chelsea did with players like Bamford some years ago). Same with the Korean forward.
I think it makes the Saudi club look stupid, not Fulham. It's not like we (or Fulham) have signed him as their number one target and building a team round him, he would have been a squad player.
There is a suggestion that the Saudi clubs are specifically targeting Fulham because Khan publicly said the things about their human rights records. They've already targeted Mitrovic and Silva.
I think that the aggressive Saudi investment in football is worrying for a number of reasons, but I'm not too bothered about them actively creating relegation candidates who aren't us.
I can't yet tell if we're "worried" just because someone seems to have the money to compete with the PL.
They can pump money in year over year for the next 5+ years but I can't see it competing long-term with the PL or even La Liga and Seria A. They don't have the extra curricular stuff that footballers want really? The vibrant city. Countryside. Culture. History.
Though even as I write that I question myself. Maybe they don't give a fuck and will basically live in a compound for 10 years while earning billions.
The most immediate issue I see is that if PIF-owned clubs in Saudi pay staggering transfer fees to PIF-owned clubs in the European leagues e.g. City, Newcastle, PSG and so on, those clubs are going to quickly gain a massive FFP advantage over the rest of the league due to their artificially inflated incomes.
Fair point. I don't know if they're likely to collude to drive advantage for all Middle Eastern-owned clubs; I actually hadn't realised that PSG were Qatar and not PIF.
Until very recently, Saudi and Qatar detested each other. There's a lot of rivalry out there, and I don't think they'd collude in order to drive advantage for other ME countries. It's a giant willy-waving contest, and Saudi has by far the biggest tool.
Anyway, the PL has been doing this to other leagues for years; it's just getting a taste of its own medicine. Longer term I don't know that it will compete. The big Asian markets care only for the big European clubs like Man U, Liverpool, Real et al. A tinpot league with overpriced players is still a tinpot league.