Fulham’s Tony Khan: Saudi Arabia have money to ‘get away with anything’ including murder

Fulham’s Tony Khan claims Saudi Arabia have money to ‘get away with anything’ including murder’ amid interest in Aleksandar Mitrovic.

Al Hilal are currently tempting the player away from the Cottagers, with Sky Sports News, saying that the Serbian has told relatives he will never play for the club again after the Cottagers valued him at around £52 million.

The price, reportedly been quoted from his agents, is likely to put off Mitrovic’s suitors, but the player had been considering staying away from Fulham’s pre-season tour altogether, only to reluctantly be convinced by his agent Pini Zahavi and PFA representatives to join the squad as they depart for America.

Zahavi is urging Fulham to lower Mitrovic’s value to somewhere between £35m and £45m.

But now Khan have controversially hit out at Saudi Arabia as he was quizzed on the influx of players into the Saudi Pro League amid more speculation surrounding Mitrovic’s future.

Fulham owner Tony Khan on Saudi Arabia’s transfer recruitment:

“It’s amazing. If you have enough money you can get away with anything, including murder. 🇸🇦

“They’ve certainly approached a lot of great players, but we’re committed to keeping our top stars,” he told… pic.twitter.com/VTnAJirPO2

— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley) July 19, 2023

This response from TK about Saudi interest in Fulham personnel went from 0-100 *real* quick 😯

(H/T @Barnettski for finding)pic.twitter.com/yfqNjS6GPz

— Fulhamish (@FulhamishPod) July 19, 2023

Khan is standing firm on his valuation of the player and has hit out at Saudi Arabia’s approach to signings this summer.

Speaking on The Dan Le Batard Show, he claimed: “It’s amazing and I think if you have enough money you can get away with anything, including murder, and try to sign up all the top players in the world.”

This comes due to a growing concern about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, which Amnesty International labelled “atrocious” earlier this month.

The group wanted Steven Gerrard to highlight equality issues after he was appointed as the manager of Al-Ettifaq.

Saudi Arabia have attracted a number of global stars in recent months, with Cristiano Ronaldo joining Al-Nassr in December, before his former Real Madrid team-mate Karim Benzema moved to Al-Ittihad last month.

N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Edouard Mendy have also moved to Saudi Arabia, and Mitrovic’s international team-mate Sergej Milinkovic-Savic recently signed for Al-Hilal.

Mitrovic wants to join him, but Khan has insisted he has no intention of selling the 28-year-old.

Players who have left for Saudi Arabia

Al Fateh	Cristian Tello
Al Hilal	Matheus Pereira, Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic
Al-Ittihad	N’Golo Kante, Karim Benzema, Jota
Al Nassr	Cristiano Ronaldo, Luiz Gustavo, David Ospina, Marcelo Brozovic
Al Shabab	Ever Banega
Al Ahli	Roberto Firmino, Edouard Mendy, Ezgjan Alioski

Here’s how fans reacted as Fulham’s Tony Khan says Saudi Arabia have money to ‘get away with anything’ including murder…

@Mortgage_Stu: Tony Khan’s going for it, don’t blame him.

@FulhamFanbase: He hasn’t really filled me with faith here

@StuartBluman: Also probably a side-swipe at WWE for hosting 2 annual shows in Saudi

@will_AFC1: Tony telling Saudi clubs to leave Mitrovic alone and using that to take a subtle shot at WWE as well and their Saudi deal

@john606sc: I hope all of the top, sorry money grabbing, players disappear to Saudi or Qatar, along with all of the tourist supporters! Get the English lge back to something what it was like before the @SkyFootball TV money ruined the game!

@Super_Leno: AHAHAHAHAHAH YES @TonyKhan 🤍

@MarshallTrade: I don’t have a problem with what he said. It is factual. He’s also frustrated obviously with the way Al Hilal has handled the approach. It is amateurish. Let them hate us and not want to do business with us again. Great.

@johnol1978: At least he says it as it is fair play

@Jackanovic: Tony going with the “only way to get them to fuck off is piss them off” approach and I’m here for it. Maybe don’t take the Yacht to Dubai for awhile though 😅😂

@CRFulham: 😳 Jesus Tony.

@ScouseCommie: My respect for Tony Khan just went up a notch. More people need to be talking about who these scumbags are and the things they’ve done, inclding chopping a journalist into pieces.

@paul_a_murray: Wow. Did he just blurt out the thing about the Saudi’s murdering Khashoggi and then realise that maybe he shouldn’t have said it?

@fulham_mike1: The most savage of 2 footers from TK. Maybe his finest minute since being involved with the club

@Preach090777: Off his nut on chisel. 👀

@smaugsrevenge: That means he’s going

@aid01: Will be interesting to see if TK is as good as his word on Mitro following this. More interesting to see if he even remembers this interview looking at his demeanour 😂

@sm1879_14: can count on one hand how many times he blinks 🤣🤣

@BenBenSCCC: Tony sniffs so much gear. Cunt doesn’t blink once

@carlyraejetfuel: Every other club at the function: ok lads the Saudis are really treading on our toes but let’s play it cool and not burn any future bridges Khan loudly Kramering into the room in a puff of coke dust: what you mean like the khashoggi thing

@michaelread1: Regardless of what you think of him, excellently delivered swipe at the Saudis and sportswashing in general

@Heffman10: Talking about having money means you can get away with murder… How is this man allowed to run anything sporting wise?

@JerryTheSaint: If he’s that passionate about the saudis and their wrong doings, don’t do business with them. Simple.

@georgeconroy02: Fuck me 🤣🤣🤣

@GBFC98: “Committed to keep our top stars”… unlucky Tony. Mitro doesn’t wanna commit to you lot.

@UTF1879: Just hope he don’t make a tit out of us if Mitro goes 😆

@jon_sim2: Credit to @TonyKhan, more people on football should be speaking out about it

@blackwhite_fred: This seems like TK saying we don’t want to sell anyone to the Saudi league, which means Mitro must be the one pushing for it 🥲

@BCFCkie: Milk those Saudis for as much as possible

@jcharvardapp: Appreciate his honesty, I’ll be surprised at an apology.

https://t.co/ymLWOKSMyd pic.twitter.com/AiEx58XxkZ

— Sponge (@monkeysponge) July 19, 2023