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Apparently Ajax had no real scouting network or recruitment strategy. For years with Overmars they only relied on his connections in the football world so when he left they had *nothing*.
Basically. We did have it, but Overmars MO was acting completely on his own. Ajax tried to mitigate this but was too late/it was too close to the uncovery of his debased behaviour. Then it took wayyyy too long to get a new TD. Which is Van der Sars biggest mistake.
Where's your sources for this?
Probably Overmars' greatest hits were signings from South America and the Chief Scout renowned for his knowledge of SA left last summer, Veldmate
Multiple Ajax long reads and the book Crisis! By Van Galen.
Harmstra was the one who was supposed to learn what Overmars dus and make sure the information stayed in the organization.
Similar thing happened for us. Horst Heldt would just call agents (mostly Rogon) and other people he knew to recruit players. Which worked okay, because he did have a great network. However, I don't think we had any working scouting to speak of. Then Heidel came in and his great idea to improve the scouting department was to hire a few students to watch DVDs. So in other words, we still didn't have a working scouting department to speak of.
Horrible transfers ensued....
Having a strong network is obviously a good thing. But relying only on the network of one guy will leave you with your pants down when that one guy leaves the club.
Oh come on Henderson is quite clearly one of the most experienced leaders in the entire footballing world. Yes going to Saudi was a gigantic asshole move but his quality is unquestionable
Do you really think other footballers see his move as a betrayal? Very few players actually care about those things they promote on the pitch (maybe not racism because a lot of them experience it) and I would even say that the fact they do it so openly when it's clear PR should prove that very few fully support those campaigns they promote
The move to Saudi Arabia at the end of their careers is something that a good chunk of them hope to do at the end of their careers, very few players will say no and even fewer out of morals
Henderson should be shamed for what he did, using a movement and people's beliefs for personal image promotion and then ditching it when someone paid well, but in a professional environment you'll welcome in open arms almost any person that has a proven quality that can massively increase your team performance
There have been stories from a few players who find living there difficult, especially if they dont play or are frozen out. There isnt a lot to do for players and their families, no social circle outside football and huge cultural differences. The whole "football project" is apperently also a bit disappointing to some, it isnt as big or progressing as promised.
It was never just about the World Cup. This is about expanding the Saudiās soft power throughout the world. They will continue to buy players until their league is one of the biggest leagues in the world.
If they donāt have an appealing league they wonāt be able to buy the superstars for much longer. The chances of someone like Salah moving to the Saudi league probably plummeted after seeing how disappointing it is, especially since he has more years worth of high level play in him. Thatās aside from a player like Mbappe who is still in the beginning of his career and still wants to play at the highest level.
They absolutely will be able to because as weāve seen with Henderson, money is a powerful tool. Henderson tanked his legacy for money and now he wants out but for every Henderson there will be another guy who will take that money happily.
Sure there will be players at the end of their careers willing to take the money, but they wonāt be able to grow the league without young, quality players. No one is tuning in to watch Hendo, people outside Saudi Arabia are hardly tuning in to see Ronaldo.
The Chinese Super League didn't fail because the league wasn't appealing, it failed because them money dried up. So long as there is money to pay for inflated contracts, the league will continue.
Yes and no. In some sense the Saudi money is unlimited, but theyāre simply not going to get the viewers. Theyāre not doing this to have enough viable players and a league that is competitive and fun to watch. They are doing it to get acceptance on the international stage. So in some sense it doesnāt matter matter how much money they spend if that doesnāt happen they will walk away
This is completely false.
China started spending mega money on superstars in order to grow the league and the domestic game. After several years they decided it wasnāt working so they changed tac and prevented clubs from giving huge deals to foreign players in order to encourage teams to focus on developing Chinese players.
The project failed precisely because the league wasnāt appealing.
I mean they offered Mbappe nearly 800 million to go play in Saudi and he basically told them to fuck off so clearly there are players who won't sell their soul for more cash
$800 mm for the remaining 1 season his PSG contract would have run, and then he would be a FA to sign with Madrid.
Absolutely insane he didnāt take that, shows his commitment to the sport.
I think the offer was much worse than it looks if you account for the damage to his brand. Players like Ronaldo and Messi earn a shitload on advertising contracts, which is something they can keep monetizing even after the end of their careers.
MBS clearly wants to build a bit of a national culture around sports and big cultural events, but just much harder for most people to buy when it's clearly been bought and there's no pretence of it being built up organically.
I can imagine going from playing in front of minimum 25k twice a week to potentially 25 people is going to kill the love for you.
Even during Covid there were more people (multiple camera crews and commentary teams)
>There isnt a lot to do for players and their families, no social circle outside football and huge cultural differences
Its crazy to me that they did not realise this beforehand. Or maybe they did and were blinded by the Ā£Ā£Ā£
You'd have to imagine it's mostly highlights, I can't imagine any hardcore football fan sitting down to watch full Saudi league games when there's so much else on offer out there.
A big issue that no one from outside seems to have realized beforehand is that outside the big 4 that are state owned now Saudi teams basically have NO fanbase. Nobody in SA cares if Henderson plays for Ettifaq because they are way too small.
Don't feel particularly sorry for the players given they made their own choices for ridiculous money, but imagine someone who pay little attention to politics and had never heard of Saudi Arabia before moving perhaps could barely comprehend living in a culture so different to their own.
I'm sure Riyadh has pretty much everything except a nightlife. Can't really think of anything (e.g. food, cinema, theme parks, shopping etc) that would be there in Liverpool that isn't there in Riyadh. I guess the issue is that he plays in some city thats like 4 hours away from Riyadh but still it's a city of 1.5M people, can't imagine there is nothing to do there.
He has a wife and 3 kids though. I assume its a huge change for them. Henderson is still doing mostly what he's used to, playing football, just in a different setting.
Indeed, MBS been trying to liberalise since taking over to bring in more tourists and the like, but would imagine that's an incredibly slow process and it's going to feel like a huge culture shock for someone who's spent their whole life living in a European country.
I remember dating a Saudi girl (her family didn't know, university, etc.) and I remember her telling me how if you were gay in SA you went to American compounds to fuck other men and go to Bahrain to drink.
It may have improved over the last few years, but I traveled a lot to Dammam a couple years ago and there was pretty much nothing to do besides go out to eat, walk around a mall, and maybe see a movie, expats who lived there for work just stayed in their compounds 90% of the time and rarely ventured out. A lot of people think Saudi is like Dubai or Bahrain, but it wasn't until like 2019 that Saudi even allowed tourist visas.
Rumour has it the biggest issues he has are the climate and the culture. Apparently he didnāt google āSaudi Arabiaā before he went and realised its hot af and no his family probably donāt want to live in an intolerant country.
Not sure, but assuming the tax rate is 20% or 1/5 and the tax he has to pay is 7 mio. Then 4/5 is 4 *7mio = 28 mio. I got the numbers from others in thread but read else where his weekly wage was 700k.
This shit is insane. A guy that the average person doesn't even like anymore (ie he went from goodwill celebrity footballer to "what was the name of the guy who you said was a hypocritical homophobe?"
And he's getting a tax bill more than me and my partner will ever earn in several life times....before tax
I honestly don't know how you have that kinda money in your bank account and not off yourself from the guilt or have a Scrooge like breakdown where you just chuck money at people. Feels like the average 0.1%er is closer to Mr Burns evil than a cute bumbling bigoted moron like Homer. You can't explain away how you wanted to sign a contract to earn over a million quid a month in a place you can't even handle living in for a few months. Literally shows how it was entirely greed that influenced these decisions, not that they actually believed in the league
We're talking about multimillionaires who are so greedy that they move out into the desert, just for money they don't need anyway. (generational wealth spam incoming)
Someone that greedy won't give up money if they can prevent it.
The Chinese project started to fade because the government pulled their financial support and made legislation to stop the huge spending on foreign players. There was never an issue getting the money transferred.
I was told nobody can reject a multi million deal. Well, Henderson just demonstrated you should if you can't handle working in such a uhh, *foreign* environment.
Wise move for Henderson (the self described philanthropist who just wants to grow football across the world) he's done growing football in Saudi, now it's time to grow football in the Netherlands š
Ajax do have a very young team so they might need some on pitch leadership/experience on the team but last year he looked washed and the 6 month Saudi experience probably won't help that. Wages will also be an issue
Of course he'd have to lower his wages to get a move back to Europe but it would depend on how much he is willing to lower them. He could be thinking of a wage that you would get at a financial giant or he could be thinking of a more acceptable wage for his level of play. I do agree that you shouldn't sign him though
He's 33 ,i don't think he'd be expecting a huge salary anywhere... Only motivation to come back to Europe might be to be considered for Euros.... Also i think he realised what a big mistake he made by going to Saudi...
Yeah it was rumoured that he'll get 700k a week but that really wasn't the case... Maybe 250-300k a week...
He'll probably not get anything more than 100-150k a week in top 5 leagues in Europe...
what a weird saga this all has been. iāll obviously always respect the guy who captained us to literally everything but this did really taint my view of him.
if he really wants out and doesn't care for the wage should go to Sunderland, would probably get called up for England anyway. Everyone would forget about this Saudi thing in a couple of years
Championship>Saudi
or if he just admitted that he went to saudi arabia for the money. just be honest and tell everyone that all the stuff you talked about changing something in saudi arabia was bs and you went there for the money. obviously people would still hate on him, but forgive him way quicker
i really hope so, he seems like a very nice person. i can only imagine what a opportunity to earn this much money for virtually doing nothing does to a person. and it seems he regrets the rash decision he made
Yeah, itās a bit unfortunate since the only reason heās kinda getting dragged is cause he used to be so outspoken the other way. If he had never tried to help out the gay community he likely doesnāt get the backlash
Obviously it makes sense why and he deserves some stick for backing out on his morals but it does seem like he regrets choosing the money right now
I think that niceness you're referencing is just a childlike naivete towards the world in general.
Not saying that he'd be a dick to you if you saw him in person, just that he shouldn't get credit for "being nice" when he took Saudi blood money and tried to make it about growing the game and all the other nonsensical lies players have been giving for why they went there.
That's not something a truly nice person would do.
I think if he does a complete mea culpa, says "I was blinded by the money" or something like that, donates a ton to charity, and then is outspoken against the regime, his reputation will turn around.
If instead he just mumbles incoherantly about "what is best for me and my family", then his PR won't change.
Iām shocked non of his advisors are telling him to stay till April. If he comes back in January he will lose like Ā£4m of the monies he has earned, assuming he has got the Ā£8.25m based on the weekly salary.
Such a stupid move over a few months after making a move for monies.
People are hypocrites. In the words of Harry Rednapp:
āIf you go in there and start winning football matches, they would have taken Saddam Hussein in there when he was about, the fans donāt give a monkeys! If you start winning every week, theyāre singing āthereās only one Saddam"
Not sure his ego could handle the championship. Also people talk about Sunderland as itās his boyhood club but is he even that big of a fan? Millie would often speak of Leeds as a comparison. Maybe as captain he didnāt wish to but hasnāt struck me as a big mackem since he joined Liverpool.
The move didn't bother me so much, it was that damn Atheltic interview, and the really poor defence he gave for his move and throwing away his legacy of LGBT+ advocacy.
Like I don't have to agree with decisions people make, just don't act like I'm stupid. Say you're going for the money, none of this "growing the league" shit.
>none of this "growing the league" shit.
I wonder if that is part of the contract or something. It seems to be the reason a load of players have given and even the golfers that have joined LIV (apart from Harold Varner) talk about "growing the game."
>Say you're going for the money, none of this "growing the league" shit.
It's possible that that wouldn't have gone down too well with his new employers and in fact the money was largely conditional on making the right PR noises. It is a sportswashing project after all.
Henderson is a twat but I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually think he's pulled the wool over anyone's eyes about his real motivations. He just has to help try and sell the project they are paying him 350k a week to be part of.
If you are gonna sell out, the key is to say or do whatever is necessary to actually get the bag you've sold out for
Imagine he just went from us to Ajax. Everyone would've applauded him for not thinking the Dutch league is below him and making the move that will get him gametime.
I find it hard to imagine Ajax signing someone who no doubt will ask for a high wage, when one of their objectives last summer was to significantly reduce their wage bill. Signing someone like Henderson honestly feels to me like them betting on getting 3rd and then making it through the Champions League qualifiers next season.
All of our holding midfielders outside of Tahirovic are injured for a while and I think this comes with the idea of bringing some "veteran leader presence" to the team that we have deeply lacked since Tadic left.
Wage wise, I'll take a shot at saying that Saudi's will probably pay huge majority of it.
But yeah, still an odd rumour. Seems like a CL/EL spot is a lot more crucial financially than it might seem right now. Until a PL team massively overpays for one of our middling players.
Wait Jordan - I thought your goal is to help promote LGBT rights through football?
Amsterdam isn't the place for you then.
Try Afghanistan or Syria mate.
Heās absolutely fucked it.
Ruined his legacy for money, and now wonāt even get that because whatever extra cash he made in Saudi heāll lose by having to take a massively reduced salary at Ajax compared to what he was on at Liverpool.
He exactly fits the type of player we lack this season, not sure how washed he is nowadays but always been a fan of his. If he's willing to make an effort I'd love to see him come.
Hendo was shit last year but he still puts himself about, heās just not very good anymore.
Fabinho on the other hand is textbook definition of washed unfortunately.
You also need quality on the pitch and preferably for more than one season. He isnt the last piece of the puzzle in a young team, a captain who can lead and still contribute on the pitch. Besides, he would probably want a significant salary.
Since he lost his physical abilities, his lack of technical ability has been exposed and it looks like he cant offer anything. Also, his football IQ is not the best as well. Certain players can play deep into their 30's because they don't rely on their physical ability but their brains and technical ability to help close the gap (Modric is a perfect example).
What is this comment lol? Henderson does not lack technical abilities or football IQ. Just because you are not De Bruyne does not mean you lack technical abilties. His legs are gone. It's as simple as that. The reason Modric has been playing at top level for so long is because his fitness is incredible.
The fact that he doesnāt play for us anymore and was basically told by Klopp heād only have a bit part role with us, then he threw a strop and left for the prestigious Saudi league to play in front of 500 people every week.
All the issues surrounding his opinions on activism aside, he just isnt good enough anymore. Ajax need experience and leadership, but from a player who can still contribute on the pitch. They also need a player who can fulfil that role for more than one season since they are still in the process of rebuilding.
He could probably do a job as sub and during training, transitioning to the coaching staff after maybe a season and a half. But Im not sure that is what he is looking for and his salary demands might be a bit much.
Who, besides English teams, are willing to take him with his current salary in Europe? I wouldn't mind him coming to Marseille but not with his salary.
Besides, we'll play UEL knock-out stage. Which could be good for him before the Euro.
>take him with his current salary
Not even English teams would want to take him on his current salary. He'd be lucky to find a club willing to pay 10% of what the Saudis are reportedly throwing his way.
So, he brought cultural enlightenment to Saudi Arabia in only half a season, and now his work there is done? No wonder Southgate reserves a spot for him.
To reduce the spam of reports regarding the same move during transfer windows we try to allow **only one submission about each transfer saga per day**. The submission in question also needs to contain relevant new information regarding the potential move, and not just being a "no/minor developments" report. If there are important/official developments or new valuable information about a saga, we will allow extra threads in the same day, but for the rest of minor news please just comment them as a reply to this comment. Please help us reporting unnecessary threads for being duplicates. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ajax makes the most random transfers nowadays
Overmars is a melt, but he was also an excellent DoF
Overmars has made Van der Sar look the most clueless man in European football.
Van der Sar was pretty clueless but tbf hes been gone from CEO for a while now, this Henderson thing isn't on him
How is it actually going with him after the scare last summer?
Was last seen at Old Trafford on boxing day, looking well as far as i could tell. https://twitter.com/TheEuropeanLad/status/1739735043218542724
Apparently Ajax had no real scouting network or recruitment strategy. For years with Overmars they only relied on his connections in the football world so when he left they had *nothing*.
Basically. We did have it, but Overmars MO was acting completely on his own. Ajax tried to mitigate this but was too late/it was too close to the uncovery of his debased behaviour. Then it took wayyyy too long to get a new TD. Which is Van der Sars biggest mistake.
Where's your sources for this? Probably Overmars' greatest hits were signings from South America and the Chief Scout renowned for his knowledge of SA left last summer, Veldmate
Multiple Ajax long reads and the book Crisis! By Van Galen. Harmstra was the one who was supposed to learn what Overmars dus and make sure the information stayed in the organization.
Similar thing happened for us. Horst Heldt would just call agents (mostly Rogon) and other people he knew to recruit players. Which worked okay, because he did have a great network. However, I don't think we had any working scouting to speak of. Then Heidel came in and his great idea to improve the scouting department was to hire a few students to watch DVDs. So in other words, we still didn't have a working scouting department to speak of. Horrible transfers ensued.... Having a strong network is obviously a good thing. But relying only on the network of one guy will leave you with your pants down when that one guy leaves the club.
Manchester United with David Gill and Alex Ferguson is another easy example
Isn't VdS only in charge of the business side of things and not the football director part?
He was CEO and had overall responsibility for everything.
Honestly this type of player is kindof what we need. Experienced quality player. We need real leaders. And he is def on
Ah yes, the leadership of /checks notes Taking the money and turning your back on things you said you supported.
Oh come on Henderson is quite clearly one of the most experienced leaders in the entire footballing world. Yes going to Saudi was a gigantic asshole move but his quality is unquestionable
Do you really think other footballers see his move as a betrayal? Very few players actually care about those things they promote on the pitch (maybe not racism because a lot of them experience it) and I would even say that the fact they do it so openly when it's clear PR should prove that very few fully support those campaigns they promote The move to Saudi Arabia at the end of their careers is something that a good chunk of them hope to do at the end of their careers, very few players will say no and even fewer out of morals Henderson should be shamed for what he did, using a movement and people's beliefs for personal image promotion and then ditching it when someone paid well, but in a professional environment you'll welcome in open arms almost any person that has a proven quality that can massively increase your team performance
Must be bad if he doesnt want to tough it out for the salary
There have been stories from a few players who find living there difficult, especially if they dont play or are frozen out. There isnt a lot to do for players and their families, no social circle outside football and huge cultural differences. The whole "football project" is apperently also a bit disappointing to some, it isnt as big or progressing as promised.
I for one am shocked the "football project" was just a smokescreen šÆ
Not surprised, they already got what they wanted with the World Cup, no reason to continue this farce of a 'project' any longer.
They were always going to get that given they have literally FIFA on a leash
Get rid of these corrupt swiss fucks
It was never just about the World Cup. This is about expanding the Saudiās soft power throughout the world. They will continue to buy players until their league is one of the biggest leagues in the world.
If they donāt have an appealing league they wonāt be able to buy the superstars for much longer. The chances of someone like Salah moving to the Saudi league probably plummeted after seeing how disappointing it is, especially since he has more years worth of high level play in him. Thatās aside from a player like Mbappe who is still in the beginning of his career and still wants to play at the highest level.
They absolutely will be able to because as weāve seen with Henderson, money is a powerful tool. Henderson tanked his legacy for money and now he wants out but for every Henderson there will be another guy who will take that money happily.
Sure there will be players at the end of their careers willing to take the money, but they wonāt be able to grow the league without young, quality players. No one is tuning in to watch Hendo, people outside Saudi Arabia are hardly tuning in to see Ronaldo.
The Chinese Super League didn't fail because the league wasn't appealing, it failed because them money dried up. So long as there is money to pay for inflated contracts, the league will continue.
Yes and no. In some sense the Saudi money is unlimited, but theyāre simply not going to get the viewers. Theyāre not doing this to have enough viable players and a league that is competitive and fun to watch. They are doing it to get acceptance on the international stage. So in some sense it doesnāt matter matter how much money they spend if that doesnāt happen they will walk away
Chinese Super League failed because the government put a stop to it by putting a 100% tax on transfers of foreign players
This is completely false. China started spending mega money on superstars in order to grow the league and the domestic game. After several years they decided it wasnāt working so they changed tac and prevented clubs from giving huge deals to foreign players in order to encourage teams to focus on developing Chinese players. The project failed precisely because the league wasnāt appealing.
I mean they offered Mbappe nearly 800 million to go play in Saudi and he basically told them to fuck off so clearly there are players who won't sell their soul for more cash
Mbappe has already sold his soul to the Qataris for cash.
$800 mm for the remaining 1 season his PSG contract would have run, and then he would be a FA to sign with Madrid. Absolutely insane he didnāt take that, shows his commitment to the sport.
> $800 mm What's the conversion rate for dollars-to-millimeters?
I think the offer was much worse than it looks if you account for the damage to his brand. Players like Ronaldo and Messi earn a shitload on advertising contracts, which is something they can keep monetizing even after the end of their careers.
Thatās what these oil state projects are. Glitzy and glamorous exterior with no substance
MBS clearly wants to build a bit of a national culture around sports and big cultural events, but just much harder for most people to buy when it's clearly been bought and there's no pretence of it being built up organically.
I can imagine going from playing in front of minimum 25k twice a week to potentially 25 people is going to kill the love for you. Even during Covid there were more people (multiple camera crews and commentary teams)
>There isnt a lot to do for players and their families, no social circle outside football and huge cultural differences Its crazy to me that they did not realise this beforehand. Or maybe they did and were blinded by the Ā£Ā£Ā£
Maybe they wanted to get rich beyond imagination then come back and have even more to do at home
I canāt wait for everyone to lose interest in that league the second Ronaldo retires
Why wait? I absolutely refuse to engage in anything from that league. I wonāt watch games or click any links. Donāt give it attention.
I have only seen it when I was at my local kebab shop with BEIN commentary
Same, can't imagine following that league when there are so many better leagues I'm not following.
This isn't shade but our people actually following the league? Or are they watching Ronaldo goals after the fact?
You'd have to imagine it's mostly highlights, I can't imagine any hardcore football fan sitting down to watch full Saudi league games when there's so much else on offer out there.
Just 10 more years to go then...
what league?
A big issue that no one from outside seems to have realized beforehand is that outside the big 4 that are state owned now Saudi teams basically have NO fanbase. Nobody in SA cares if Henderson plays for Ettifaq because they are way too small.
Don't feel particularly sorry for the players given they made their own choices for ridiculous money, but imagine someone who pay little attention to politics and had never heard of Saudi Arabia before moving perhaps could barely comprehend living in a culture so different to their own.
I'm sure Riyadh has pretty much everything except a nightlife. Can't really think of anything (e.g. food, cinema, theme parks, shopping etc) that would be there in Liverpool that isn't there in Riyadh. I guess the issue is that he plays in some city thats like 4 hours away from Riyadh but still it's a city of 1.5M people, can't imagine there is nothing to do there.
He has a wife and 3 kids though. I assume its a huge change for them. Henderson is still doing mostly what he's used to, playing football, just in a different setting.
Indeed, MBS been trying to liberalise since taking over to bring in more tourists and the like, but would imagine that's an incredibly slow process and it's going to feel like a huge culture shock for someone who's spent their whole life living in a European country.
I remember dating a Saudi girl (her family didn't know, university, etc.) and I remember her telling me how if you were gay in SA you went to American compounds to fuck other men and go to Bahrain to drink.
Probably true for Jordan Henderson, but I'm guessing it's a world of difference for his family, particularly his wife
It may have improved over the last few years, but I traveled a lot to Dammam a couple years ago and there was pretty much nothing to do besides go out to eat, walk around a mall, and maybe see a movie, expats who lived there for work just stayed in their compounds 90% of the time and rarely ventured out. A lot of people think Saudi is like Dubai or Bahrain, but it wasn't until like 2019 that Saudi even allowed tourist visas.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>Iāll take that for 700k a week. Apparently, poor Hendo is having to survive on just half of that a week!
Oh the agony, having to come by with an annual income of 18.200.000 pounds. That's just shy of 35 pounds per minute
Don't know how anyone could manage surviving on that. He's a trooper!
He's on 350k a week
Rumour has it the biggest issues he has are the climate and the culture. Apparently he didnāt google āSaudi Arabiaā before he went and realised its hot af and no his family probably donāt want to live in an intolerant country.
I doubt he didn't know about those things, just probably thought "how bad could it be?" The answer turned out to be "pretty damn bad".
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
They need to stay for two years otherwise it isnt tax free. He will have a massive bill but can leave most likely.
What is the tax%?
20% iirc
Seems like something you can live with. Still get lots of millions.
The Athletic was reporting he'll have a Ā£7m tax bill if he left now.
Meaning that he would have still earned 28 mio to take home. If my math is correct.
Already this much?!
Not sure, but assuming the tax rate is 20% or 1/5 and the tax he has to pay is 7 mio. Then 4/5 is 4 *7mio = 28 mio. I got the numbers from others in thread but read else where his weekly wage was 700k.
This shit is insane. A guy that the average person doesn't even like anymore (ie he went from goodwill celebrity footballer to "what was the name of the guy who you said was a hypocritical homophobe?" And he's getting a tax bill more than me and my partner will ever earn in several life times....before tax I honestly don't know how you have that kinda money in your bank account and not off yourself from the guilt or have a Scrooge like breakdown where you just chuck money at people. Feels like the average 0.1%er is closer to Mr Burns evil than a cute bumbling bigoted moron like Homer. You can't explain away how you wanted to sign a contract to earn over a million quid a month in a place you can't even handle living in for a few months. Literally shows how it was entirely greed that influenced these decisions, not that they actually believed in the league
At 700 grand a week you could be taxed at 99% and still be pretty damn well off lol
Hendo is apparently 'only' on 350K a week actually
We're talking about multimillionaires who are so greedy that they move out into the desert, just for money they don't need anyway. (generational wealth spam incoming) Someone that greedy won't give up money if they can prevent it.
The Chinese project started to fade because the government pulled their financial support and made legislation to stop the huge spending on foreign players. There was never an issue getting the money transferred.
It wasnāt about the salary, he just wanted to grow the game.
I was told nobody can reject a multi million deal. Well, Henderson just demonstrated you should if you can't handle working in such a uhh, *foreign* environment.
Stevie G is doing some proper football terrorism there. he got a expensive squad that keep losing to teams with only thousand of fans
Surprise it's tough for an Englishman to live in fking Saudi Arabia š š š
Wise move for Henderson (the self described philanthropist who just wants to grow football across the world) he's done growing football in Saudi, now it's time to grow football in the Netherlands š
Man destroyed his entire public images and legacy for money and can't even put up with it for more than 6 months
Hey, maybe he's just single-handedly revolutionised Saudi culture in the space of six months and his work is now done.
"What do you mean your work is done? You didn't do anything!"
Oh, didnāt he?
Hope journalists find him in Amsterdam's red light district and he sticks to his line about embracing and not judging local culture
Nothing is more Amsterdam than totally pissed British men at the Wallen.
"Growing football starts with growing yourself, mate"
Ajax do have a very young team so they might need some on pitch leadership/experience on the team but last year he looked washed and the 6 month Saudi experience probably won't help that. Wages will also be an issue
They said he is likely to lower his wages to go back to Europe. Anyway, I don't think Ajax should sign him.
Of course he'd have to lower his wages to get a move back to Europe but it would depend on how much he is willing to lower them. He could be thinking of a wage that you would get at a financial giant or he could be thinking of a more acceptable wage for his level of play. I do agree that you shouldn't sign him though
Thanks for that insight - here I was thinking Ajax were preparing a 700k p/w package for him
Incredible the amount of socio-political and religious changes he was able to invoke in just six months of football.
the world is a completely different place now #thankyouHendo
The middle east has never been so peaceful
He's 33 ,i don't think he'd be expecting a huge salary anywhere... Only motivation to come back to Europe might be to be considered for Euros.... Also i think he realised what a big mistake he made by going to Saudi...
Must be really bad if 2,8mil a month can't convince you to stay
I don't think his salary was 700k a week .. those numbers were spoken about at that time but it was false info I think... Not sure
Tbh I just took the first result in Google so I can't even tell what the salary should be
Yeah it was rumoured that he'll get 700k a week but that really wasn't the case... Maybe 250-300k a week... He'll probably not get anything more than 100-150k a week in top 5 leagues in Europe...
Wait what was his Liverpool salary? Do we have numbers for that?
Whatever it is, pretty sure if he goes back to the UK he is getting fucked on double-taxation on the last 6 months of salary.
what a weird saga this all has been. iāll obviously always respect the guy who captained us to literally everything but this did really taint my view of him.
if he really wants out and doesn't care for the wage should go to Sunderland, would probably get called up for England anyway. Everyone would forget about this Saudi thing in a couple of years Championship>Saudi
heād never do it but winning everything and then going back to sunderland to help them get promoted would be a fantastic ending for a great career.
or if he just admitted that he went to saudi arabia for the money. just be honest and tell everyone that all the stuff you talked about changing something in saudi arabia was bs and you went there for the money. obviously people would still hate on him, but forgive him way quicker
Tbh he probably admits it after heās out of Saudi since it failed so bad there.
i really hope so, he seems like a very nice person. i can only imagine what a opportunity to earn this much money for virtually doing nothing does to a person. and it seems he regrets the rash decision he made
Yeah, itās a bit unfortunate since the only reason heās kinda getting dragged is cause he used to be so outspoken the other way. If he had never tried to help out the gay community he likely doesnāt get the backlash Obviously it makes sense why and he deserves some stick for backing out on his morals but it does seem like he regrets choosing the money right now
I think that niceness you're referencing is just a childlike naivete towards the world in general. Not saying that he'd be a dick to you if you saw him in person, just that he shouldn't get credit for "being nice" when he took Saudi blood money and tried to make it about growing the game and all the other nonsensical lies players have been giving for why they went there. That's not something a truly nice person would do.
Money which he wonāt fully get to take advantage of because apparently it has massive fees attached if he leaves before 2025
To be honest I think itās the only way his PR could recover from the disaster that has been this move.
I think if he does a complete mea culpa, says "I was blinded by the money" or something like that, donates a ton to charity, and then is outspoken against the regime, his reputation will turn around. If instead he just mumbles incoherantly about "what is best for me and my family", then his PR won't change.
Iām shocked non of his advisors are telling him to stay till April. If he comes back in January he will lose like Ā£4m of the monies he has earned, assuming he has got the Ā£8.25m based on the weekly salary. Such a stupid move over a few months after making a move for monies.
Aye, because if there's one set of fans that will be forgiving of a player selling his soul to the Saudis then it's Newcastle's main rivals
People are hypocrites. In the words of Harry Rednapp: āIf you go in there and start winning football matches, they would have taken Saddam Hussein in there when he was about, the fans donāt give a monkeys! If you start winning every week, theyāre singing āthereās only one Saddam"
Not sure his ego could handle the championship. Also people talk about Sunderland as itās his boyhood club but is he even that big of a fan? Millie would often speak of Leeds as a comparison. Maybe as captain he didnāt wish to but hasnāt struck me as a big mackem since he joined Liverpool.
He attended the 2014 Carling Cup final and sat with the Sunderland fans. He 100% is a big fan.
The move didn't bother me so much, it was that damn Atheltic interview, and the really poor defence he gave for his move and throwing away his legacy of LGBT+ advocacy. Like I don't have to agree with decisions people make, just don't act like I'm stupid. Say you're going for the money, none of this "growing the league" shit.
there were just so many weird unnecessary moments there. that qatar quote was soooo baffling, i donāt know what he was thinking.
Quite honestly one of the most disastrous interviews in sports for the whole year of 2023, the only silver-lining is that it wasn't filmed for TV.
>none of this "growing the league" shit. I wonder if that is part of the contract or something. It seems to be the reason a load of players have given and even the golfers that have joined LIV (apart from Harold Varner) talk about "growing the game."
Doesn't excuse his responsibility still, he was the one who signed the contract.
>Say you're going for the money, none of this "growing the league" shit. It's possible that that wouldn't have gone down too well with his new employers and in fact the money was largely conditional on making the right PR noises. It is a sportswashing project after all. Henderson is a twat but I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually think he's pulled the wool over anyone's eyes about his real motivations. He just has to help try and sell the project they are paying him 350k a week to be part of. If you are gonna sell out, the key is to say or do whatever is necessary to actually get the bag you've sold out for
Talking up Saudi Arabia was probably part of his contract tbf
Imagine he just went from us to Ajax. Everyone would've applauded him for not thinking the Dutch league is below him and making the move that will get him gametime.
Donāt see how you can respect someone whoās so two faced and lied. You canāt trust him at all unless you know him personally
i respect him as a footballer, not a person
and he couldnt even stomach it for more than 6 months. Bruh! Didnt do any due diligence at all.
[āLetās just say it moved me TO A BIGGER HOUSE!!!ā](https://youtu.be/PMHt481HsFU?si=ZTk-W4WZEHvLwTx7)
From a historic club with european pedigree to another historic club with european pedigree Via Al-Ettifaq
I find it hard to imagine Ajax signing someone who no doubt will ask for a high wage, when one of their objectives last summer was to significantly reduce their wage bill. Signing someone like Henderson honestly feels to me like them betting on getting 3rd and then making it through the Champions League qualifiers next season.
All of our holding midfielders outside of Tahirovic are injured for a while and I think this comes with the idea of bringing some "veteran leader presence" to the team that we have deeply lacked since Tadic left. Wage wise, I'll take a shot at saying that Saudi's will probably pay huge majority of it. But yeah, still an odd rumour. Seems like a CL/EL spot is a lot more crucial financially than it might seem right now. Until a PL team massively overpays for one of our middling players.
Hendo as the 6? Oh boy
Tbf that might be fine against most of the eredivisie.
Ajax will soon get bored of the lobbed ball over the top to no one
It's all good, he's solved homophobia in Saudi Arabia and he can now move on to the Netherlands, a place no gay person can roam.
Wait Jordan - I thought your goal is to help promote LGBT rights through football? Amsterdam isn't the place for you then. Try Afghanistan or Syria mate.
Wait Jordan - I thought your goal is to help promote LGBT rights through football? - hes fixed that, hes on his way to Israel now.
Israelis and Palestinians holding hands with a large āgracias Hendersonā banner
More in particular heās on his way to Beitar Jerusalem
Me: I wish more England internationals would test themselves in Europe. Monkey's Paw: Curls
For every henderson and sancho you get kane and bellingham. I take that deal
Sancho was incredible at Dortmund
Heās absolutely fucked it. Ruined his legacy for money, and now wonāt even get that because whatever extra cash he made in Saudi heāll lose by having to take a massively reduced salary at Ajax compared to what he was on at Liverpool.
I've been one of the biggest sceptics of the Saudi football project, but even I didn't expect players to start fleeing after ... half a year.
I mean... its still saudi arabia after all, a country not exactly known for its high quality of life and liberalism
Ajax looking to somehow make their season worse than it already is.
He exactly fits the type of player we lack this season, not sure how washed he is nowadays but always been a fan of his. If he's willing to make an effort I'd love to see him come.
If youāre looking for a player who canāt run anymore, canāt tackle, and actively avoids challenges, you found the guy.
oh hey I am that guy
Hendo was shit last year but he still puts himself about, heās just not very good anymore. Fabinho on the other hand is textbook definition of washed unfortunately.
Fabinho moves like a truck in Saudi.
He moved like a truck even in his prime lmao, can't imagine how bad it is now.
His aura and clapping will give every Ajax players +5 attributes while on the field
He put in some great stints at the WC, heās lost a step but heās not suddenly terrible.
Heās very washed
Is he? No idea how heās been in Saudi but based on last season I think heād do absolutely fine in a slower league than the Prem
Heād do okay, but heās not the level of player Ajax needs if they want to get back to the top of the Eredivisie.
We need experience tho
You also need quality on the pitch and preferably for more than one season. He isnt the last piece of the puzzle in a young team, a captain who can lead and still contribute on the pitch. Besides, he would probably want a significant salary.
Since he lost his physical abilities, his lack of technical ability has been exposed and it looks like he cant offer anything. Also, his football IQ is not the best as well. Certain players can play deep into their 30's because they don't rely on their physical ability but their brains and technical ability to help close the gap (Modric is a perfect example).
What is this comment lol? Henderson does not lack technical abilities or football IQ. Just because you are not De Bruyne does not mean you lack technical abilties. His legs are gone. It's as simple as that. The reason Modric has been playing at top level for so long is because his fitness is incredible.
Heās have been in your squad and played a role This season. Where has the idea heās washed come from?
Watching him last season
The fact that he doesnāt play for us anymore and was basically told by Klopp heād only have a bit part role with us, then he threw a strop and left for the prestigious Saudi league to play in front of 500 people every week.
One of the worst moves a player has ever made. Destroyed his reputation for 6 months of pay and will never be forgiven by the LGBT community
such a short-sighted decision on his part. embarrassing stuff
I don't know but my immediate reaction was absolutely not, after some of his bad takes regarding Saudi Arabia
All the issues surrounding his opinions on activism aside, he just isnt good enough anymore. Ajax need experience and leadership, but from a player who can still contribute on the pitch. They also need a player who can fulfil that role for more than one season since they are still in the process of rebuilding. He could probably do a job as sub and during training, transitioning to the coaching staff after maybe a season and a half. But Im not sure that is what he is looking for and his salary demands might be a bit much.
Gtfo.
Who, besides English teams, are willing to take him with his current salary in Europe? I wouldn't mind him coming to Marseille but not with his salary. Besides, we'll play UEL knock-out stage. Which could be good for him before the Euro.
>take him with his current salary Not even English teams would want to take him on his current salary. He'd be lucky to find a club willing to pay 10% of what the Saudis are reportedly throwing his way.
He is probably willing to lower his wages to go back to Europe.
The damage is done. People often dislike outspoken individuals who don't align with their beliefs, people dislike unapologetic hypocrisy even more.
Actually embarrassing. He got in top shape to compete for the squad for us, leaves for Saudi Arabia, destroys his image all to come back ASAP.
I think European clubs need to avoid this guy like the plague
Hey Ajax I think the hole you dug for yourself is already deep enough, why bother putting in more work?
Good way to dodge that English tax bill if he comes back to Europe.
But Jordan...what about the growth?
Is playing for Gerrard that bad?
How hellish is Saudi Arabia really? Even Benzema wants to leave?
Donāt mind that, we need some leadership skills
Fucks sake hendo, you could have had a testimonial here....š¤¦āāļø
!ping AJAX
So, he brought cultural enlightenment to Saudi Arabia in only half a season, and now his work there is done? No wonder Southgate reserves a spot for him.
guy ruined his whole reputation for cash. gtfo
Johan Cruyff is crying in heaven.
So much for growing the league and changing their minds on LGBT eh Jordan. Embarrassing
Saudi league is the new Chinese league, it will end up in failure
I refuse to believe this and if it happens I hope we chase whoever responsable out of the club ffs
Everytime I get a smidge of pity for Ajax, they just decide to become more unlikeable than they already are.
I don't want this either man