This is the season that the new TV money comes into being
Our beloved Premier League sold the
television rights to its games for a record £5.136bn, 71% higher than previous deals.
Rupert Murdoch’s Sky paid £4.2bn for five of the seven TV packages while rival BT paid £960m for
the other two in the record TV rights auction
The deal will run for three years from 2016 and is by
far the most lucrative deal in football history anywhere on the planet.
According to Deloitte, Premier League summer transfer spending on new players will smash records
and easily surpass £1bn in 2016 in a single window
Overall spending for the 20 clubs in EnglandÂ’s
top tier reached £3.3bn in the 2014/15 season, a record
However, Deloitte claims this year the
figure is projected to rise to £4.3bn.
Hopefully with the added funds Premier League teams will be able to compete in Europe and be a
force the knockout stages once again
In recent seasons Spanish La Liga sides have dominated the
Champions League and the Europa League, taking both trophies back to Spain for the last 3 years.
The fact that the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finals were all Spanish affairs highlights the
strength of the top La Liga sides
Sevilla finished 7 th in the league but qualified for the Champions
League by winning the Europa League with a 3-1 victory over Liverpool
This was their 3 rd time in
succession and the clubs 5 th Europa League title overall, they won back to back titles in 200506,
200607.
It is hard to argue against La Liga being the strongest league
This year there will be 5 Spanish sides
competing in the Champions League due to a slot going to the Europa League winners
Sevilla will be
joined by heavyweights Barca and Real Madrid and Diego SimeoneÂ’s Atletico and Villarreal.
According to UEFA's league coefficient, La Liga has been the top league in Europe for the last five years, and has produced the continent's top-rated club 18 times, more than any other league and double that of second-placed Serie A.
La Liga clubs have won the most UEFA Champions League, 16 titles and UEFA Europa League, 10 titles, and its players have accumulated the highest number of Ballon d'Or awards with 19.
However, there is contention, for instance if you take Barcelona and Real Madrid out of the equation, no other Spanish side has won the Champions League or provided a Ballon dÂ’Or winner.
Also, the quality of La Liga sides diminishes further down the table you go, this is one of the reasons
Messi and Ronaldo score a sack full of goals each season
Unfairly, Barca and Real Madrid have been
getting almost 50% of Spanish TV money over the year, however this is to change to even the playing
field and maybe weaken both clubs in the future.
This years Premier League is looking like an exciting prospect, especially after Leicester CityÂ’s exploits
last season
We now have arguably the best coaches in the world
Jurgen Klopp will have his first full
season in charge of Liverpool
Pep Guardiola will be bringing his possession based football to the
blue side of Manchester and of course the “Special one”, Jose Mourinho takes his place at the helm
of English footballs most successful club Manchester United.
There is also Antonio Conte in the Chelsea hot seat, the Italian worked wonders with his national
team at Euro 2016, taking them to the quarter-finals with probably the weakest squad the Azzurri
has taken to a tournament
They defeated reigning European champions Spain 20 in the round of
16 before falling to the fancied Germans.
As coach of Juventus Conte won Serie A 3 years on the bounce and in fact did the double in Italy in
his first year in 2011-12, and went unbeaten for the entire season
In 201314, Juventus won the
Scudetto with a record 102 points and 33 wins
In If Conte can replicate the success he had at
Juventus then Chelsea will once again be a force in English and European football.
With all these top coaches surely it is only a matter of time that Premier League clubs will be taking
home European honours
But some will say, you need the best players to win trophies
And arguably
the best 5 stars in world football, Bale, Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo and Suarez, ply their trade in Spain,
and representing of course Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Some would argue we already have top foreign talent in this country with the likes of Hazard, De
Bruyne, Sanchez, Ozil and now Ibrahimovic, although he is 34, and almost all the top English players
are in the Premier League
It is a very tough league, a fact which Guardiola is soon to find out
HeÂ’s
had it his own way in Germany with Bayern Munich and had the best squad ever at Barca
Will he
succeed?
It may take a couple of seasons for GuardiolaÂ’s Man City to play the way he wants and dominate the
opposition
It may also take Mourinho a season or 2 to turn the Red Devils into world beaters
But
we saw with Klopp last year what an improvement a great coach can do at a club, unlucky in losing 2
finals in half a season in charge.
If Pogba goes to Manchester United instead of European Champions Real Madrid then that will be a
massive sign that things are changing in the world of football
Already we are seeing extraordinary
deals where a player is choosing a clubs like West Ham or Everton over giants like Juventus or Milan.
Instead of going to perceived European football giants, players are choosing to join mid table English
clubs.
One of ItalyÂ’s star players at Euro 2016, Emanuele Giaccherini, was on SunderlandÂ’s books
Not
Milan, Inter or Juve but Sunderland, a club involved in a relegation battle not competing for honours.
This just shows the pulling power of the Premier League
As the money continues to flow into English
football over the next few seasons the worldÂ’s best talent will have an option, play for Real Madrid
or Barcelona or in the Premier League.
I believe the huge wages that English clubs will be able to offer and the opportunity to play with the
best coaches is ultimately what will swing the power balance of football back in favour of English
clubs
IÂ’m just not sure if it will start this season or the next, or possibly the one after that
But one
thing I am sure of is more excitement and drama in the Premier League than any other league in
Europe.
Source : DSG
Source: DSG