The January transfer window has now ended and the clubs in the Premier League between them have spent an eye-watering amount of money, especially compared to other major leagues. Despite being dubbed the best league in the world, they have blown others out of the water with the money splashed out.In total, all 20 teams between them spent £815 million, with Chelsea spending more themselves than the other four major leagues combined, which shows just how ridiculous it was for the top tier of English football this month.Understandably, when looking at those figures, it hasn’t gone down well with the rest of Europe’s elite, with LaLiga claiming the Premier League have been ‘cheating’ and ‘doping’ throughout January to spend so much.
What has LaLiga said?
The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, shared a video on Twitter of director Javier Gomez talking, in which he explains: “We are aware there is a lot of talk about how LaLiga's economic control means Spanish clubs sign less than Premier League clubs. Let's explain what's behind that. What's the truth? The reality is that at LaLiga we want clubs to spend what they can afford and generate themselves, that is to say, their own revenues.
“It is true that shareholders are also allowed to support the club and put money in to spend more than the club itself can generate, but within certain limits.
“The data is as follows: With data compared up to June 30, 2021, and across the five previous seasons, the PL and Championship -- top two tiers of English football -- lost €3bn. In that same time, the Spanish league lost -- we all suffered in the pandemic -- €250m. But what happened? During that same period, shareholders across the PL and Champ put in €3.5bn. Across that same period, shareholders in Spain put in €450m.
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“What's the issue? Essentially, they are 'doping' the club. They are injecting money not generated by the club for it to spend, which puts the viability of the club at risk if the shareholder leaves. In our opinion, that is cheating, because it drags down the rest of the leagues.
“That is our fight, demanding that UEFA implements a new economic regulation that prevents the shareholder of a club from putting in more than a certain amount and that it enforces this rule and sanctions non-compliant clubs. It doesn't matter which league or country it is, they should sanction clubs that don't comply with this regulation.â€
Video: Javier Gomez's rant about the Premier League
Overall, the spending differences are so drastic they’re not even comparable. However, other top clubs spend unholy amounts of money themselves so it is a little ironic, it’s just the Premier League, in particular Chelsea, have gone way over the top with their spending.