Prince and beggar of the transfer market: how much the Premier League has spent and how much the Argentine league has spent on player transfers

Nothing is revealed saying that the Premier League is the best league in the world. The pace, the quality of the players, the level of play and the high level of competitiveness are the factors that stand out. However, and of vital importance, the economic factor occupies a determining ring for the affirmation of the first line accepted by all (or almost) football fans.

The European winter market recorded impressive numbers. As it became known this week, English clubs have spent a total of €830m on transfers. Logically, this abysmal figure was the highest considering the rest of the leagues.

Just to put the numbers: France’s Ligue 1 spent €128m, Germany’s Bundesliga invested €67m and both Spain’s LaLiga and Italy’s Serie A bought players for €32m.

The economic data is more impressive when you take this into account a single club spent more money on signings than teams from the four leagues already named: He Chelsea, the team that closed Enzo Fernández at the end of the transfer market, paid out 329 million euros.

In other words, the Blues are responsible for almost 40% of the amount spent by the Premier Leaguebut they also exceed the invested figure of 83 million if the French, German, Spanish and Italian leagues are added up.

Obviously, the rest of Europe is not very comfortable with this situation. In these conditions it is impossible to compete for the players, who are trying to be able to emigrate and land in England.

Javier Thebespresident of La Liga, left a controversial sentence based on this situation. ‘Most Premier League clubs are financially drugged’. In line with this statement, Javier Gomez, La Liga’s corporate director, further explained what Tebas said. “Neither more nor less, they are drugging the club, they are injecting money that the club does not generate to spend. This puts a club’s survival at risk when this shareholder leaves and in our view this is cheating as it drags down the rest of the leagues.”complete.

On the other hand, he has also called for action from UEFA. “This is our fight, demanding that UEFA, with the new economic controls, which prevent club shareholders from being able to invest more than a certain amount of money, apply that rule and sanction clubs, regardless of which country they are in. “. , who do not respect this regulation”, concluded Gómez.

What is the reason for the economic power of English clubs?

Impressive investments are possible thanks to aa juicy TV dealThat distributed among the 20 teams and that last season was 3 billion euros. The lack of a salary cap and the millionaire owners of the United States, Saudi Arabia, among other countries.

Money overflows everywhere and consequently also quality. Sure, players dream of playing in the Premier League. First of all, it is the place to prove that you are worthy of the best and, as if that weren’t enough, fill your coffers with extremely attractive salaries. the combination is complete.

To avoid Financial Fair Play

The London team is not having its best season. The start of the season was with Thomas Tuchel sitting on the bench and, for a few months, Graham Potter it was he who took charge of the team to try to right the vessel.

Todd Boehly, who bought Chelsea in mid-2022 following the departure of Roman Abramovich, is an American banker and businessman with an estimated fortune of 4.5 billion dollars. All these toppings make the expenses exorbitant in its first months of management.

In total, there have been eight incorporations: 121 million euros for Enzo Fernández, 70 for Mykhaylo Mudryk, 38 for Benoît Badiashile, 35 for Noni Madueke, 30 for Malo Gusto, 12.5 for Andrey Santos, 12 for Datro Fofana and 11 for the loan of Joao Felix.

With all this money spent, Boehly will have to deal with UEFA and its regulations. To be more precise, you must meet the Financial fair play. Where is this? In essence, they are a series of provisions which establish that an institution cannot spend more money than it enters. The specific question is how are Chelsea going to be able to comply?

The way they found from the leadership of the England team is extension of the duration of the contractswhich allows you to extend the payment amortization throughout the link in the accounts. That’s why they signed up Fofana until 2029, Badiashile until 2030, Fernández and Mudryk until 2031. It will be necessary to see if the maneuver arrives in order to be faithful to the rules and overcome possible sanctions.

Europe and Argentine football, an ever-widening economic gap

If the difference between the Premier League and the rest of the European leagues is abysmal, the comparison with Argentine football is even further away. Impossible to think that, in an economy in ruins like Argentina’s, clubs are exempt from that reality and can commit excesses in incorporating players.

To give an example, Southampton – the second team that has spent the most in the Premier League, with 63.2 million euros – paid almost 14 million Of Carlos Alcaraz, a promising former Racing midfielder. The data is convincing.

When it comes to adding players, the vast majority come with the pass on their own or for paltry sums. Taking into account the last transfer market, River was one of the teams that spent the most: 2.5 million dollars for Enzo Díaz, 2 million for Nacho Fernández and 1.8 for Matias Kranevitter. These movements total $6.3 million.He.

Even the “Slumdog Millionaire” had to fire the Colombian Juan Fernando Quintero for not being able to comply with the payment in dollars, given the current restrictions.

On the other hand, Racing was the team that invested the most in a single player. Avellaneda’s team paid 6 million to Juan Nardoniformer midfielder of Unión de Santa Fe. The rest of the clubs did not spend much, perhaps Lanús or San Lorenzo can be highlighted, who paid 2 million dollars for Leandro Diaz AND Adam Bareiro, respectively.

Among the 28 teams that participate in the first tier of Argentine football, the total cost of acquiring the players amounts to nearly $34 million. -translated into euro they are 31 million-. In theory, the sum is similar to that of La Liga or Serie A, but there is one key factor.

It is only a face value, there is no money but the transactions are paid for with loans, dues or percentages on future sales. In addition, the number of participants in the European championships is 20 teams, while in Argentina there are 8 other clubs.

The “inflated” investment is also explained by the fact that economic difficulties force teams to constantly renew their squads, looking for players to replace the departures of others who choose to go to leagues where they pay better.

The local league is low in numbers but the players have gained value. The World Cup in Qatar 2022 seems to have increased the price of Argentine players.