Engulfed

In 2034, Saudi Arabia will host the men's FIFA World Cup and mark the culmination of Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious plan to modernise Saudi Arabia, a kingdom of unfathomable wealth at the heart of the Islamic world, which is only now emerging from nearly a century of self-isolation. How did we get here? Why would a country spend tens of billions of dollars, perhaps even hundreds of billions in the long run, to buy and control sport?

Engulfed is a story about ambition, family rivalries, extreme wealth, power, murder and disinformation. It is also the story of dictatorship, political corruption and, at its root, how sport—football, yes, but also golf, boxing and even e-sports—became a vital geopolitical tool for Saudi Arabia.

An examination of soft power and manipulation in the 21st century, Engulfed charts the rise of Mohammed bin Salman from a then unknown prince to the Kingdom's de facto ruler. It explores his desperate efforts to buy Newcastle United, subvert FIFA and conquer the PGA tour, whilst leaning on political figures in the British and American political establishment along the way from Boris Johnson to Donald Trump.

Drawing on Montague's exclusive first-hand interviews from his extensive travels across Saudi Arabia, the US, the north-east of England, Spain, Turkey and beyond, Engulfed uncovers how the House of Saud zeroed in on the political power of sport, using it both as a powerful political tool of influence and as a way to rectify the PR damage caused by one of the most infamous assassinations in history: the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.