1. Premier League is on top of the transfer league. €623.6m were spent on players in summer 2012 - €322.4m net spent because of sales of €301.1m. Given the fact that the richest football league in the world has already promised 70′% rise in income through great television deals, it’s a surprise that the English clubs didn’t spend more.
A closer look at the transfer market activity in England shows us that that 40% of the net spent is by Chelsea and Manchester City. Meaning that more and more clubs are trying to balance their books – probably before the Financial Fair Play takes affect but not City and Chelsea. Since 2010, Chelsea and Manchester City accounted for over 70% of the Premier League’s net spend on players.
2. Biggest spenders in the 2012 summer transfer markets were PSG (€147m), Chelsea (€100.3m) and Zenit St Petersburg (€95m). All of these teams are losing huge money and I doubt that they will comply with Financial Fair Play rules. This is UEFA’s big test made harder by the fact that Michel Platini’s son is the legal adviser of QSI, PSG’s owners, and Gazprom, owners of Zenit, are Champions League sponsors. Without severe punishments, these teams are just going to continue to spend big money and make a joke out of the FFP.
3. The Russian Premier League is getting stronger and stronger. More international players than ever (more than Serie A, Ligue 1 and La Liga) and more superstars than ever. This all came to be because of the European crisis and the fact that there is a lot of money in Russia right now. Russian clubs spent €223m on players in summer 2012. That’s more than La Liga and just €2m less than French clubs, which without PSG, their outlay on player would have been only €78m on players. Net wise, Russia is second only to the English Premier League. Russian clubs spent €183.7m on players – just €138.7m less than EPL clubs. I don’t think that they have a word for Financial Fair Play in Russian.
4. The Italian and Spanish leagues made profit from the transfer market. That’s the first time it happens since 2002/3. La Liga made profit of €53.4m and Serie A made profit of €15.3m.
Once upon a time La Liga and Serie A were the biggest spenders along with the Premier League but the economic situations in these countries + FFP led their leagues to become selling leagues. Like Portugal, Holland and the lower divisions in England and Germany.
5. Hulk is the biggest transfer of the summer - €55m. That makes him the 6th most expensive player of all time. More than David Villa, more than the Brazilian Ronaldo and more than Sergio Aguero. Is he THAT good? No. Then why did Zenit pay such a price for him? Because they could.
Go to http://www.transfermarkt.de for more details.
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