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Are world class players starting to shun the Premier League?
On TalkSport today, Adrian Durham expressed his bewilderment by the fact that, in his opinion, world class players were no longer interested in moving to the Premier League, and stated that he couldn’t understand why this may be the case.
I for one have my own opinions on the matter. For a long time now, English clubs have had far superior spending power in the transfer market, and have been able to take their pick of the world’s best footballing talent. In turn, players have been well aware of the fact that English clubs are happy to pay astronomical wages to lure the best players, and as such have been more than happy themselves to ply their trade in the Premier League.
In recent times however, clubs from some of Europe’s other top leagues have amassed their own vast wealth and are now in a position whereby they can compete with Premier League clubs in terms of how much they can pay a player. The result of this is that the top talent around the world no longer feel as though they are obliged to play in England to be paid handsomely.
I would also suggest that quality of life plays a big part when these players are deciding where it is they want to play. If you are going to be paid millions to play in the north of England or millions to play in the South of France, there really is only going to be one winner. Unless the individual in question is a fan of grey skies and wet weather, he will always choose the sunnier climes on offer on the continent.
If that wasn’t enough, I have always been of the belief that the most talented players have a reluctance to test themselves in England simply because of the sheer physical nature of the Premier League. Edison Cavani for example is far less likely to get kicked in the air playing for Paris St. Germain than he would have done had he chosen to move to ManchesterCity or Chelsea. Add to that the fact that the game in England is quicker and far more physically demanding than Europe’s other top leagues, and you begin to understand why those leagues become more appealing.
There will of course still be plenty of world class talent out there who will be more than happy to test themselves in England, just as there are still many world class players who already do. I just think that a lot of them would prefer to play in a less demanding league whilst having the added benefit of a little more sunshine than we are used to getting over here. If only the weather had been like this, when Radamel Falcao was deciding who to sign for.