The English Premier League as a whole has never been stronger. This summer Crystal Palace landed Yohan Cabaye from Paris Saint Germain in a bargain £10m deal.
League laughing stock Newcastle United signed Feyenoord Captain Georginio Wijnaldum for a cool £14.5m.
The only problem with all this? The teams above them, he league’s supposedly elite clubs have never been weaker than they are at the moment.
In February this year the Premier League agreed a record three-year £5.136 billion deal, a stunning 71% rise on the last deal.
To put that into further perspective, BT are paying £7.6m per game that they broadcast whilst Sky will fork out £11.07m per match.
That is truly stunning when you consider it is 90 minutes of football we’re talking about here. The rise of the English game has been phenomenal:
For the record, it’s also not been mentioned that this does not include TV rights sold overseas (which was expected to be around the £3 billion mark).
The amount of money involved in English football now is almost unfathomable.
Half of the money is then divided equally between the clubs, with the other 50% based on league position and the amount of games clubs play in that are broadcast live into the UK.
Starting next season, the Premier League Champion will net itself around £150m minimum in prize money, whilst last place will still net a nice consolation prize around £100m.
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This will see all 20 Premier League clubs break into the elite spenders of world football, alongside Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
Yes that’s right, Stoke and Swansea might not have the attraction of those superclubs but they will have the spending power to match them. The Cabaye and Wijnaldum deals mentioned earlier are only the beginning.
It’s already paying off on the field. We’ve never seen a competitive season like this in the history of the league, with apparent minnows Leicester City leading the league in early December after 15 games.
Bournemouth beat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and they were at the bottom of the entire football league in 2008.
The shambolic Blues now sit two points above the relegation zone and would require a historic pace to reclaim their crown after the worst start by a defending Champion in Premier League history.
They’ve lost 8 of 15 games and one begins to wonder when Jose Mourinho’s job security will come into serious question.
Alongside the Pensioners struggles none of their fellow Premier League contenders can claim to be free of issues.
Manchester United cannot score, Arsenal cannot stay healthy enough to mount a serious title challenge and Manchester City cannot string together several games of good form thus far only able to display their great form in patches.
Meanwhile Tottenham and Liverpool simply are not ready to truly challenge for title honours.
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After years of European dominance in the late years of the last decade when Arsenal, United, Liverpool and Chelsea either made the final of the competition or won it, that is no longer the case.
The reality barring a run of fate like Chelsea’s in 2012, none of England’s elite could claim to consider themselves contenders for the European crown.
The harsh reality is while Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern and PSG have built mouthwatering super squads to cement themselves as the cream of the crop, their English rivals have fallen behind.
City have yet to prove themselves in Europe, Arsenal are stuck in a constant rut, United find themselves rebuilding on the fly and Chelsea are the continent’s biggest enigma.
It seems to be a year of transition for the whole league, and the competition is there for the taking if one of the aforementioned elite can take it by the scruff of the neck.
This might be the most competitive year yet since the Premier League formed, but it’s also one of the most winnable. City’s squad and depth makes it their title to lose, but the opportunity is there for their rivals with 23 games to go.
Irrespective of whether they win the title or not, England’s elite need to sort themselves out and fast.
With money pouring into their rivals pockets at record rates the chasing pack are getting closer than they have ever been. It’s time to separate themselves, or be sucked back into the chasing group.