Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claims that “huge financial power” has “destroyed” the concept of a level playing field in Europe’s five biggest leagues. The Gunners boss highlighted examples in France, Germany, England and Spain. Italy is typically considered the fifth member of the big five.
”Unpredictability has gone down,” Wenger said. “When you look at the five big leagues in Europe, in December we already knew four champions. That means something is not right in our game. The huge financial power of some clubs is basically destroying the competition.”
Wenger certainly makes a lot of great points. His argument has a very strong case.
Paris Saint-Germain, who won Ligue 1 in four of the five past seasons, are currently 11 points clear in France. Bayern Munich, who have won the Bundesliga five seasons in a row and 12 of the last 18, are currently 16 points ahead.
Manchester City, synonymous with egregious spending and owned by one of the top 100 wealthiest men in the entire world, are 15 points ahead of the rest of the English Premier League. Wenger made the comments right after a record shattering January transfer window closed, a window which saw $596.7 million spent on acquiring new players. $211.2 was spent on transfer window deadline day alone.
Premier League clubs also received $386.8 million in sales of players during the window.
In Spanish La Liga, Barcelona lead Atletico Madrid by 11 points. Powerhouse of all European powerhouses Real Madrid have endured a shockingly down season in 2018-19, as they are currently 19 points off the pace for top of the table and now reside in fourth place. In the past 13 seasons, Atletico was the only team to claim the title other than Barca and Real, and they accomplished that only once.
In Italy, Napoli are one point ahead of Juventus, who have claimed the Serie A title the past six seasons.
It is worth noting though that Arsenal broke the club transfer fee record this window, after also breaking it in the summer. The club managed by Wenger made the third most expensive purchase of any English team this window with their acquisition of Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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