WILLINGNESS TO SELL PLAYERS is of course essential.Disagree, Saudi is crucial to the model.
They’ve made 5 and counting (likely 7 by window end) big money sales to Saudi. PIF and Clearlake have a very, very friendly business relationship and they understand Saudi is a key PSR source.
Liverpool are doing very similar things with the Nunez transfer and will do the same with Salah in the next couple years.
I’ve had Saudi clubs described to me as a “get out of jail free card” Chelsea know they can count on. This is just observable fact, not conspiracy.
And sure, no doubt they have developed a working relationship with the Saudis, volume helps. Volume is their whole game.
At the current scale of their squad they can essentially credibly threaten to banish literally anyone in the team, which puts everybody in sight of the exit door, it's easy come, easy go.
But their transactions with the Saudis are arms length, and claims to the contrary are a bullshit that further cathedrals of bullshit are being built on top of in a lot of minds, and it drives me insane.
