Isak’s signing by Newcastle, who pays Real 70 million in exchange for the Swede, the last of many moves from Spain to England
Newcastle United broke the summer market in the final stretch with a pharaonic transfer of 70 million fixed euros plus another five depending on variables to Real Sociedad for Swedish striker Alexander Isak. The move, which surprised locals and strangers alike and shocked the League for its magnitude in times of lean times, is by no means an isolated event, but rather an operation affecting a clear trend in world football: no one can stand up to the economic power of the Premier League.
And it is Newcastle, a club with tradition in England but which has declined in recent decades, is the last to step on the bandwagon of foreign capital. The Saudi investment is starting to show in St James’ Park, where Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes arrived last summer in exchange for more than €40 million and now Isak has landed, beating the bank.
More than £1,700m has been spent by Premier clubs in a market where they’ve barely entered £700m in player sales. The secret of this financial manna is mainly hidden in the income from television rights, a section in which the English championship has a different dimension from the rest of the major European competitions. More than €3,500 million in that sense entered England’s top 20 clubs in the 2021-22 season, with the League just over 2,000 million, the Bundesliga below 1,500, the Italian Serie A at 1,123 and the French Ligue 1 at 687.
It is therefore not surprising that in the offices of the Spanish clubs they start to tremble when their English colleagues are on the line. Another example is Casemiro’s transfer to Manchester United. The ‘red devils’ decided to heal their sporting sorrows by going to Spain for purchases and after seducing Atlético for Joao Félix and putting 130 million euros on the table, they managed to convince the Brazilian midfielder to leave the Champions League champion to in a Europa League team. They did that with a four-year contract plus optional, emoluments practically double what the player received in Chamartín and €70m which, depending on variables, could reach €85m.
According to recent events, not even the mighty Real Madrid is safe from the Premier’s might, in which they landed this summer from the Diego Carlos League, for which Aston Villa paid Sevilla 30 million; Estupiñán, signed by Brighton to Villarreal in exchange for almost 18 million; or Guedes, so far a Valencia star who has taken on Wolverhampton for 40 million.
It is no longer that the ‘Big Six’, that select club of the six biggest in England, has left behind more than £800m in reinforcements – Chelsea, £201.59m; Manchester United, 143.02; Arsenal 132.06 million; Manchester City, 121.75; Tottenham, 119.9; and Liverpool, 85.8-, but also the Premier’s middle and underclass has the ability to snatch key players away from teams in Spain’s noble zone, witness the fact that it has moved 900 million euros.
And it is that the six best clubs of the last competition have invested 337 million euros in acquisitions -Barça, 153; Real Madrid, 80; Royal Society, 31.5; Seville, 28; Athletic, 26.5; and Betis, 18, less than half the size of the ‘Big Six’, but the real contrast is that the remaining 14 clubs have spent barely a hundred million on the market.
Free transfers and transfers are the formulas favored by the League’s managers and sporting directors, in marked contrast to the English extravagance. There is no competition in the financial chapter and only the clinical eye, the local talent and the expertise on the board ensure that Spanish football can stand shoulder to shoulder with the representatives of the looming prime minister year after year.
Source: La Verdad
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