adminTHE Premier League has led its European rivals on a record-breaking summer spending spree with British clubs outlaying £630 million in the transfer window. The previous record set by English teams was in 2008 when a combined £500 million was spent on transfers.But led by the likes of Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and, right at the death, Arsenal, the Premier League again underlined its status as the world’s richest national competition.
“As the financial rewards for participation and success in the Premier League increase, so it follows that clubs are investing on the pitch to ensure they continue to benefit from the remarkable Premier League growth story,” Deloitte’s Dan Jones said.
However, European clubs have not faltered in their pursuit of investing in the market with clubs from the continent’s major leagues not shying away from big price-tags.
But the big buys from the continent came from Spain where Barcelona nabbed young Brazilian starlet Neymar while Madrid again broke the world record with the purchase – reported to be in the vicinity of 100 million euros – of Gareth Bale.
The massive influx of money into the transfer market has raised eyebrows as clubs are now under the governance of the Uefa’s new Financial Fair Play rules.
But Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports business at England’s Coventry University, said despite the big deals, clubs were indeed complying with the new restrictions.
“A lot of English clubs have gone on a spending spree but they haven’t breached the Financial Fair Play rules as they are only spending what they have earned,” said Chadwick,
Meanwhile, fourth-tier Rot-Weiss Essen is one of three German clubs in line to benefit from Mesut Ozil’s record-breaking 50 million euro move to Arsenal.
Ozil started his career at the former Bundesliga club before making the switch to Schalke – based in his hometown of Gelsenkirchen – in 2005 at the age of 16. A year later, on 12 August 2006, he made his Bundesliga debut for the Royal Blues in a 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.
After making a total of 30 appearances for Schalke, Ozil moved on to Werder Bremen in 2008, before making the 18 million euro move to Real Madrid following his eye-catching performances at that summer’s World Cup finals.
All three German clubs are now due a portion of the Ozil transfer windfall. According to Fifa regulations, all clubs Ozil played for from the ages of 12 to 23 are entitled to training compensation, with a total of 5 percent will be divided between those clubs. The allocation formula means both Schalke and Rot-Weiss Essen will each get a 30 percent share of the compensation, with the rest split between Werder Bremen and Real Madrid.
The three top-flight clubs may scarcely notice the small boost to their balance sheet, but the speculated 750 000 euros due to Essen – around 50 percent of their annual 1,5 million euro first-team budget – will represent a major payday for a club which went into administration in 2010.
“We will investigate the exact transfer fee and invoice Arsenal,” Rot-Weiss Essen executive Michael Welling told Die Welt.
Ozil’s move to Arsenal makes him the most expensive German player of all time, overtaking Mario Gotze’s fee of 37 million euros paid when he moved from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich earlier this summer.-Soccernet.
Online Reporter