Premier League spending during the recently-closed summer transfer window hit record-setting levels - with the 20 English top-flights clubs splashing out a massive £1.9 billion between them on new recruits.
Chelsea (£253.79 million) and Manchester United (£216.30m) both broke the £200m barrier in expenditure, while a further seven clubs exceeded the £100m mark, per Transfermarkt.
After a feverish few months of transfer activity, Premier League sides ultimately spent more than the whole of La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga combined, according to BBC Sport.
The ever-growing gulf between spending in the Premier League and the rest of Europe is a matter that has got La Liga president Javier Tebas so riled up that he's announced he plans to complain to UEFA about it in a recent presentation.
La Liga president brands Premier League spending 'unsustainable'
As Barcelona's inability to register players over the past couple of years has proven, Tebas and his colleagues are committed to rigidly enforcing the La Liga salary cap - and the 60-year-old Spaniard wants similar control measures to be introduced in England.
"Premier League revenues are 1.8 times more than La Liga or Bundesliga but this negative amount is 20 times more than the Spanish league which has very good financial control," Tebas began, per The Daily Mail, speaking at a meeting to discuss La Liga spending caps this season.
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"Something doesn't make sense there, so what's happening? There's a lot of chequebooks coming out from clubs like Manchester City that sign a certain amount of players. Even the Championship lost €3bn over five years. The contributions of capital from club owners from Premier League clubs to compensate losses compared to La Liga.
"There were €277m in capital increases in La Liga. €2376m in Premier League which are contributions and loans provided. In the Championship it was €1385m. It would be normal if they signed twice as many players but they have spent much more than even that. This can only be possible if the owners get out their cheque books and these are different models.
"I know the Premier League has a model to limit losses to £108m, do we want unsustainable models? What happens if the owners stop spending the money? We could let the sheiks and big companies come in here to buy out clubs. PSG can get more gas whenever they need to buy more players or use a related business.
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 14: Todd Boehly, Owner of Chelsea FC looks on prior to the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on August 14, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
"The football industry has changed and there's much more money. If there's no control then we could endanger the industry itself. The two competitions that are the most sustainable are La Liga and the Bundesliga and we have to really fight for sustainability.
"10 years ago we weren’t like the Bundesliga but we are now. We’re going to put all this to UEFA and it is important for all the other European leagues as we want sustainable European football."
How much did La Liga clubs spend during the 2022 summer transfer window?
Over the summer, Barcelona were the only side in the Spanish top-flight to spend more than £100m on new players.
La Blaugrana forked out a total of £137.7m on Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde. Elsewhere, fierce rivals Real Madrid spend just £72m in the window as they added French midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni to their ranks.
BARCELONA, SPAIN - AUGUST 28: Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona celebrates after scoring their side's first goal during the LaLiga Santander match between FC Barcelona and Real Valladolid CF at Camp Nou on August 28, 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
No other La Liga side broke the £50m mark in terms of purchases, as the competition as a whole posted an overall spend of just £408.32m.
With La Liga's spending power dwindling, its biggest clubs are finding it increasingly tough to compete for the world's top players.
For months before his eventual move to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund, Norwegian striker Erling Haaland was tipped for a potential switch to either Barcelona or Real Madrid.
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN - JULY 23: Erling Haaland of Manchester City celebrates after scoring their team's first goal during the pre-season friendly match between Bayern Munich and Manchester City at Lambeau Field on July 23, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
When it came time for Haaland to sign on the dotted line, though, it was Pep Guardiola's City who got their man, landing him on a massive £375,000-a-week deal.
Real Madrid also famously failed to tempt Kylian Mbappe to trade Paris Saint-Germain for the Bernabeu. PSG were able to convince the French forward to remain in Ligue 1 after handing him a three-year contract worth an insane £1.3m-a-week.
Tebas took a swipe at Mbappe's decision to snub Real, declaring: "Mbappe stayed in a championship that is not competitive."
There's definitely more than a hint of sour grapes in Tebas' comments. It remains to be seen if he will back them up with a formal complaint to European football's governing body.
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