Untold riches will rain down upon the English Premier League next year, but for all their resources, the nation’s leading clubs seem incapable of staking claims to the title.
The record £5.14 billion (US$7.72 billion) television rights deal due to begin next year will reinforce the English top flight’s status as European soccer’s financial behemoth, but champions Chelsea have imploded, Arsenal and Manchester City remain hit and miss, and while Liverpool find their feet under Juergen Klopp, Manchester United appear to be stagnating under Louis van Gaal.
It has fallen to Leicester City to make the early running in what former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has described as “the most bizarre league that I have seen in a long time.”
Photo: AFP
The year’s first financial shock wave arrived in February, when Sky and BT Sport agreed a new domestic TV rights package for next year to 2019 worth 70 percent more than the deal for the previous cycle.
June brought news that record revenues of £3.26 billion for 2013-2014 had enabled Premier League clubs to post pretax profits of £187 million — the first since 1999.
Even before the new TV deal takes effect, Premier League sides have been carrying out essential housekeeping — net debt across the league falling by 6 percent — as well as splashing out in the transfer market.
Total spending across the close-season transfer window reached a record £870 million, according to financial analysts Deloitte, and spending for the calendar year pierced the £1 billion barrier.
City led the way, notably shelling out £55 million for Kevin de Bruyne, while United provoked gasps by signing the relatively unheralded Anthony Martial for a fee that could reportedly reach £58 million, but it was the transfer dealings of the smaller clubs that revealed England’s true financial might, from Xherdan Shaqiri leaving Inter for Stoke City to Crystal Palace signing Yohan Cabaye.
All the while, the money continued to flow in — United embarking upon a £750 million kit deal with Adidas; Chelsea striking a £200 million shirt sponsorship agreement with Yokohama Tyres; and a Chinese consortium paying US$400 million for a 13 percent stake in Manchester City.
The game’s megastars — Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Luis Suarez — might play elsewhere, but several Premier League clubs now harbor feasible ambitions of luring them to England and with oversights TV rights also due to be renegotiated next year, the monster shows no sign of being sated.
“This new English contract will dominate the market,” Bayern Munich chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in September. “We have just seen the tip of the iceberg. The transfer tsunami will increase in strength and height.”
While Europe’s major clubs brace themselves for renewed raids from England, the season to date has demonstrated that money does not solve everything.
Chelsea, champions in May by an eight-point margin, have been sucked into a relegation battle after losing nine of their first 16 games, creating speculation about Jose Mourinho’s future.
Doubts persist over Arsenal’s backbone, while Manchester City have already lost four times in the league, including 4-1 drubbings by Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
Meanwhile, Van Gaal is struggling to convince anyone that he is the man to restore Manchester United to the heights of the Alex Ferguson era amid reports of player dissent over the 20-time champions’ robotic play.
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