The League surrenders to the economic power of the Premier League
It will either be the economic crisis that caused the pandemic or it will be the distribution of television rights. The fact is that the closure of the strange transfer market for the 2020-2021 season has left it clear to everyone that the Spanish league is no longer the best in the world. The Premier League is coming back with more money, more image and as a great attraction for the big players.
Leeds, Fulham and West Bromwich are the three promoted to the Premier League. Among them, 160 million euros have been spent on transfers. Cádiz, Huesca and Elche are the newly promoted teams. Together they have not reached the figure of 20 million euros when signing players.
Weeks ago we attended the disbandment of the Valencia. The departure of Rodrigo Moreno for 30 million euros to a newly promoted from the Premier was bloody for his fans and for a coach who already warned that he felt cheated by the lack of signings. The 9th of Spain on the way to England was the tip of the iceberg against which the Spanish competition has ended up crashing.
Thomas' departure from Atletico to Arsenal was the perfect metaphor for the situation. The eighth of the Premier signs a midfielder from the third of LaLiga paying every euro of his clause and without negotiating anything with the colchonero club. Atletico gets Lucas Torreira on loan, a discarded Arsenal player who does not make up for the shortcomings left by Thomas. "It's like if I ask for a sofa and they bring me a lamp" said Rafa Benitez when he was coach of Valencia. And when you could say. Now Simeone is silent and does what he can with what they leave him.
Premier League clubs have spent over 1.2 billion on players this summer of the pandemic. Spanish clubs barely exceed 400 million. Real Madrid dates back to 1980 when it did not sign any players. Back then, Gallego and Agustin from Castilla went up and the most important casualties were Pirri, who retired, and Juan Sol, who went to Valencia. The stadium and the reduction in income has forced the club to manoeuvre and put into play the youngsters who have been shaping up for some time to face up to situations like this.
At Barça they were more concerned about keeping Messi to avoid devaluing La Liga any further and taking away large salaries as has been the case with Luis Suarez. Dembelé has refused to leave and this has paralysed important signings such as Depay. In exchange, they have given Rafinha to PSG and Todibó to Benfica. The good news is that Puig is staying and will have a first team record. Another thing is that Koeman gives him minutes.
Cavani will play for Manchester United. It could not have been otherwise. The millionaire English club took the Uruguayan out of unemployment in exchange for paying his high score. To this we must add the 30 million paid by Tottenham for Reguilon (accepting until a future repurchase of Real Madrid) and the transfer of Bale taking over part of his salary. Let us not forget that James arrived for free at Everton in Ancelotti. Thiago is a new Liverpool player and a promising defender like Diego Llorente exchanged Real Sociedad for Leeds in exchange for 20 million euros. The icing on the cake was the 68 million euros Manchester City paid for Ruben Dias, Benfica's central defender.
Figures from a transfer market marked by low purchasing power in the Spanish League. The football bubble burst years ago. Let them tell Malaga that it was competing for the Champions League at the cost of inflating salaries. The Tebas' League set the salary limit and hard economic conditions for the clubs to measure their spending and their salaries in addition to settling their debts to the Treasury. This has turned clubs into large asset managers who buy and sell to balance accounts and are not sanctioned.
The distribution of television rights has been equalised downwards to all First Division clubs. Real Madrid and Barcelona do not give up one euro of their historic income because of their bad relations with La Liga and the company that runs football in the country is not able to sell Spanish football for more money because it is not worth it. Without Cristiano and with Messi playing his last few games in the Azulgrana, we can only hope that Real Madrid will be able to encourage the market next summer with Mbappé. Winning a Champions League wouldn't hurt Spanish football either but Real Madrid and Barcelona are in the works and are no match for the Premier League teams.
Lean years are coming for Spanish football. A good product, with quality players and well organized in spite of the endless tricks of the RFEF, but it has come up against a glass ceiling that it is not able to break. English football led the way years ago and now it's back again. It is time to reinvent itself.
