LaLiga president says Premier League 'not financially sustainable'
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has made some interesting comments regarding the Premier League. The Spanish lawyer claimed that the English top flight is “not financially sustainable.”
Tebas made the comments during a recent conference about economics in European soccer.
“What I’m worried about is the Premier League, and I’ve been worried for many years now,” Tebas said. “But now it’s converted into a competition that has losses all year. All clubs lose money. There is no sustainability in the Premier League. The Premier League is not a financially sustainable model.”
“They’re financed by the owners but with enormous amounts of money and that is distorting the market. They get more revenues, OK. But you lose money. And you’re injecting one and a half billion every year. What does it mean? It means you’re not sustainable at all.”
Premier League spent record numbers in summer
According to Deloitte, and reported by The Guardian, Premier League clubs had a net spent of over $1.2 billion during the 2022 summer transfer period. This was the first time in history that the league reached these figures.
To put this massive spending into perspective, the aforementioned report claims that the Premier League accounted for nearly half of all player transfer expenditure among the top five European leagues. It was the highest percentage of spending by the English top flight since 2008.
Tebas’s comments come at a time when only three Premier League teams announced a profit for the 2020/21 financial year. Leeds, Manchester City, and Wolves managed to actually make money during this timeframe.
LaLiga president wants regulations with Premier League clubs
LaLiga also currently has rules which state that teams can’t sign players if they are in a deficit. Tebas clearly wants similar stipulations in place in the Premier League.
“We can compete with the Premier League without any problem at all,” stated Tebas. “I’m not worried about the fact that the 15th position team in the Premier League signs a Spanish player. I’m worried about the fact that they sign them when they’re making losses. Because we don’t allow our clubs to do that.”
The LaLiga boss did, however, reject an insinuation that the Premier League has essentially become a ‘super league.’ Nevertheless, Tebas did suggest that regulation of the English top flight could have prevented the failed formation of the European Super League. The Premier League’s power and financial capabilities continues to upset Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
PHOTO: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire