Judging by what the Premier League has spent on mid-tier players this summer, Erling Haaland was a steal. The fact that the two billion mark was broken also has something to do with panic.
Norway’s King Harald V. can’t stop raving about his compatriot Erling Haaland, who is 63 years his junior. Football legends like Michael Owen and Matthias Sammer also pay homage to the hat-trick hero, who made a dream debut at Manchester City with nine goals in five games. English media are pretty sure that the election for the “Golden Boot” was decided in August just ended. And in fact, there is a great deal to suggest that the Scheich-Klub has invested the fixed 75 million euro transfer fee to Borussia Dortmund brilliantly.
Wild sum for the Brazilian Antony
Not only measured against these 75 million euros, other current numbers leave many football fans at a loss. The fact that the English league had already broken the two billion mark on the expenditure side a day before Deadline Day this summer (with income of around 750 million euros) gives the impression that the Corona crisis did not exist at all. At some clubs, the transfer behavior looks like showing off, at others panic has apparently broken out: especially at Manchester United.
To make 70.65 million euros available for an over 30 player like Casemiro, although central midfield is really not the biggest weak point – amazing. But at least Casemiro has already achieved great things in world football, he knows how to win the Champions League and is also a great personality off the pitch. But United have also paid Ajax Amsterdam a total of €152.37m, with €95m for Antony and the rest for left-back Lisandro Martínez.
No clippers and just a strong foot
Especially the 95 million for the Brazilian Antony sounds wild. The left foot can pull from the right into the middle and finish well in the style of Arjen Robben. But due to his one-footedness he is also very predictable and not exactly a clipper: there were eight goals in the Eredivisie last season, nine the year before – and the level in the Netherlands is not comparable to the English league.
Perhaps also a reason for the generosity of the Glazer brothers: Man United had made a false start to the season, but finally want to attack big again and definitely get back to the premier class. Ultimately, there is now a transfer minus of 226.52 million euros, and despite all the rumors, Cristiano Ronaldo could not be gotten off the payroll – it will be exciting to watch further developments.
Bundesliga invests only a quarter – and makes Plus
Overall, the Premier League invested around four times as much as the 18 Bundesliga clubs. And the German clubs even generated a plus overall, which was largely due to the two departures of Haaland and Robert Lewandowski to FC Barcelona.
The fact that England can lure with such sums – in this transfer summer alone eleven professionals came beyond the 50 million euro mark – is due not only to the significantly higher TV income, but above all to the investor and owner model. While the 50+1 rule in the Bundesliga rules out clubs being taken over by sheikhs and oligarchs, in England, for example, Newcastele United is owned by a Saudi Arabian state fund, the “Public Investment Fund”.
TV revenue in another sphere
At Manchester City, Sheikh Monsour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan holds 86.21 percent of the club shares and has long since exceeded the billion mark with his financial injections to finally win the Champions League. The local rival is ruled by the brothers Avram and Joel Glazer, to the displeasure of the fans, and nostalgia would also be out of place at the other cult club Liverpool FC: billionaire John Henry and ex-Bill Clinton are through the American investment group “Fenway Sports Group”. Advisor Tom Werner the owners of the “Reds”.
The TV revenue is also not comparable to the Bundesliga. According to “The Telegraph”, the Premier League will receive more than 12 billion euros over the next three years from domestic and foreign marketing in roughly equal shares, while the Bundesliga will receive around 4.5 billion in the same period. While in the German Oberhaus in the pre-season of the table-18. Greuther Fürth received 34.2 million euros in television money, while the bottom of the Premier League, Norwich City, received 125.7 million.
“Kind of weird, kind of crazy“
In England it seems at least reasonably clear where the money for the crazy investments comes from. This is not the case, for example, with FC Barcelona, which has well over a billion in debt.
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann comments on the transfer behavior of the Catalans, who, in addition to Lewandowski, took the Brazilian Raphinha from Leeds United and Jules Koundé from FC Sevilla for a total of more than 150 million euros this summer: “It’s the only club in the world that has no money but buys any player they want. It’s kind of weird, kind of crazy.”
