Hull is a city I enjoy visiting, but it hardly matches Turin. Juventus have won the Italian title thirty times and have been European champions twice. Not so long ago Hull were languishing in the fourth division. Yet in the summer transfer window Hull, determined to stay in the Premier League, spent more than Juventus.
Hull is a city I enjoy visiting, but it hardly matches Turin. Juventus have won the Italian title thirty times and have been European champions twice. Not so long ago Hull were languishing in the fourth division. Yet in the summer transfer window Hull, determined to stay in the Premier League, spent more than Juventus.
The £835m spent by English clubs this summer is not far off the combined spending of the top sides of Italy, Spain and Germany. The Premier League’s closest competitor was the Bundesliga with £95m. As far as clubs are concerned, only three Spanish clubs can match the spending power of those in the Premier League: Barcelona, Real and Atletico Madrid.
Some £520m (£392m net) went to overseas leagues: £239m to Spanish Leagues, £84m to those in Portugal and almost £50m to those in France. No doubt this will trigger another bout of complaining about foreign players ruining the English game.
However, perhaps it is time to take a long, hard look at why the academy system, in which there has been considerable investment, is not producing more top quality players. As it is, many of them adorn non-league sides. Are the coaches good enough? Or is it that the opportunities aren’t there for promising players because of the number of foreign players which are seen, rightly or wrongly, to offer bigger bargains?
What is arguably the case is that the loan aystem has become highly distorted and distorting. It is no longer used just to provide emergency cover or to provide younger players with match experience at a lower level. Again, some of the distortions are the result of attempts to cope with financial fair play rules.
Chelsea have 26 players on loan across Europe, very few of whom will even make the substitutes bench for the first team. However, it’s entirely rational on Chelsea’s part: stop other clubs getting them, develop them and sell them on. This provides revenue that can be useful in financial fair play calculations, but this stockpiling sets up tensions with competitive balance.
It is also evident that financial fair play had litle impact on the amount of spending, apart from constraining Manchester City. With another television bonanza due in 2016, the day is not far away, according to The Times, when West Ham will have as much money as Bayern Munich (and a new stadium).