Barcelona have taken a large sum out of their extremely large 'overdraft' limit by securing the signing of 28-year old Spanish international forward David Villa for around £34.2 million.
The signing reinforces the spending power of the two most powerful clubs in Spain - Real Madrid and Barcelona. Real Madrid's extraordinary signing of Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m from Manchester United last summer outstrips the most expensive Premier League acquisition of Carlos Tevez to Man City by £55m. So is the Spanish league the creme da la creme of club football?
The most obvious argument would be no, it is not. The English Premier League generates significant interest worldwide unlike the problematic La Liga. Barcelona and Real Madrid are two global marketing forces, while the third placed outfit this season, Valencia, lied 25 points adrift of second place. Competition? What competition? The two clubs are able to negotiate their own television rights, meaning they get a much larger portion in broadcasting deals than the other 18 clubs competing in La Liga. The Premier League's policy is to distribute collective broadcasting revenues to each EPL club equally and weighted according to the number of league appearances and final league position.
A study conducted by the University of Barcelona showed that the collective debt of La Liga clubs totalled in excess of £3bn, approximately £400m more than the collective debt of Premiership clubs. Teams like Real Mallorca, who have gone into voluntary administration, Valencia and Europa League champions Atletico Madrid, have hit financial desparation and are in need of an ownership restructuring, perhaps proof that La Liga needs to model itself on the Premier League's distribution of television monies.
Real Madrid are also bailed out by the local government, much in a similar way that the UK government did with the banking system two years ago. This means that they are able to spend excessively on transfers without worrying too much over going into administration. And plus, the club are backed by a billionaire from the Spanish construction industry, Florentino Perez.
Barcelona are run in a sightly tighter financial model than their arch rivals. However, their 98,000 Camp Nou stadium, as well as its global profile means it can attract the best players in the world. They do not also need to dive into their bank account to buy players, Barcelona also look to develop prodigious talent. The likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol all grew up as a Catalan other than Messi, who moved to Barcelona at a very young age. Left-winger Pedro Rodriguez and Bojan Krkic are next in line in a long Barcelona academy conveyor belt to be successes.
The latest news to come from Barcelona is that Arsenal's talismanic midfielder Cesc Fabregas is seriously pondering a move to the Catalan giants, proving that the powerful entities of Barcelona and Real Madrid will continue for a number of years yet. The two clubs have a great history, awe-inspiring stadia, fabulous traditions, great cities, and you can possibly count weather in comparision with England.
As far as leagues go, the Premier League will always better the La Liga competition. The case may go against the clubs, as Real Madrid and Barcelona continue to dominate the transfer market and swooping the best players in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment