Premier League clubs pay more in the transfer window, says sports marketing expert
Thursday 1 September 2016 14:04, UK
A competitive market, television revenue and an "aspiration" to play in the Premier League means some English clubs pay "an inflation" in the transfer window, according to a sports marketing expert.
Premier League clubs spent more than £1.1bn during the 2016 summer transfer window, while Serie A clubs spent £590m, Bundesliga sides £460m, teams in La Liga splashed out £400m and £165m was spent in Ligue 1.
It is the first time Premier League sides have spent a combined total of more than £1bn during a transfer window, and, asked if top-flight English sides were getting charged more because of an increase in TV money, sports marketing expert Esteve Calzada said there were a number of factors.
"There is an inflation here for sure. Obviously if you are to sell a player to a Premier League club you know that the clubs are wealthy, so probably you will try to price up and that will continue to happen and it is part of the system," he told Sky Sports News HQ.
"The teams are paying expensive and also it has to do with more than one club wanting the same player, which means if you are in a selling position you really have some bargaining power and then ask for a higher price and this probably will continue to happen.
"You also need to factor in that the players want to come to the Premier League and that is also a very important component here. It has become an aspiration for the players and managers to be in this league and also for some leagues, like the French, it has become an objective of the clubs to produce players that can ultimately be sold to the Premier League clubs.
"It has become the number one revenue stream and, if you look at France, it was £100m negative net spending which means that most of it has been about selling players and most of them into the Premier League."
Three of the last five transfer windows have seen a dramatic increase in combined investment in the top five European leagues, not just the Premier League, with this summer seeing a 28 per cent rise in spending across the top divisions compared to the window from last summer.
This year £2.72bn was spent across the five leagues in England, Italy, Spain, France and Germany, a marked increase from the £2.13bn in 2015/16 and £1.77bn in 2014/15.
Asked if this trend will continue going forward, Calzada said: "It will be difficult, 28 per cent is a lot coming already from a record high the previous season. I would say that this summer we have seen a combination of factors that probably we will not see all together in an upcoming season.
"The most important one is the new TV contracts for the Premier League teams and that increases dramatically, almost doubles, disposal income for Premier League clubs to go and sign.
"Also, we could add what happened in Italy with new Chinese investors in some of the clubs, Bundesliga some of the clubs having a big renovation and that is also contributed to the big numbers.
"It will be difficult to increase this number, especially for the next two or three years. Let's see what happens with the next TV rights cycle in the Premier League because, obviously, if it goes up again we will continue to see the inflation."
Calzada pointed out that, while unable to compete with Premier League sides off the pitch, teams from Germany and Spain, especially, are competitive in terms of winning trophies.
"They can compete on the pitch, definitely, if we look at international results and Champions League. Other leagues, especially the Spanish league are very successful in terms of competing on the pitch and the way to compete off the pitch is sometimes to be very accurate with the finances, sometimes it is about bringing in foreign investors," he added.
"We are seeing more and more the Premier League is almost done in terms of welcoming foreign investors so that means there is a move from the money that would like to come to the Premier League, it is going to other leagues such as Italy or Spain.
"Then we can also see the other leagues being more active and probably more aggressive in promoting homegrown players and taking more risks. A combination of things need to happen but it is very difficult to compete, definitely."
