Is the Balance of Power Shifting?

MUSIC: Nas- Halftime

Of the many, many things the Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka signings mean, one of the most hotly debated right now is whether this signals the shifting of power away from the Premiership and toward La Liga, or if they are the capricious urges of a singularly powerful club. Like everything the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but I am slightly more inclined to the latter than the former.

The premiership still has more money at its disposal. Its tv packages and gate revenues will continue to be ahead of Spain's. The level of football is more or less open to debate because there are different styles played in England and the continent, but when they go head to head the results are difficult to ignore. 3 years running now 3 of the 4 semi-finalists in the Champs League have been English teams. In the last 5 years only 2 teams outside of the Prem have even appeared in a Champion's League final.

The reason there is some consideration of a shift to Spain is simple: The prem, as a league, holds the balance of power but Spain has a) the best club in the world in Barcelona and b) the most powerful single club in Real Madrid. But league to league the Prem still occupies the first spot. Compare teams further down the table from La Liga to their counterparts in the Prem. Is there a mid-table team in Spain splashing cash like Manchester City? Is there a pedestrian Tottenham-like team that has no real hope of winning a place in the CL but can make moves for Keane and Defoe and Pavlyuchenko (14 million pounds)? Absolutely not. There are no flavor of the moment guys making a move to Getafe or Malaga after an exceptional performance at the Euros the way Pavlyuchenko did. At the very top Spain holds the edge but that is due to circumstances unique to Barcelona (they have produced more elite players themselves than anyone in the last quarter century) and Real Madrid (they are unfathomably wealthy and have an inimitable appeal in Spain, Portugal, and Ibero-America). But the premeirship is still number one.

Now here is some devil's advocating of my own theory: Chelsea were rumored to have beat any Real offer for Kaka by 10 million pounds and it didn't work, then they were snubbed by David Villa despite bidding more than 12 million dollars above Real Madrid. Franck Ribery said, although perhaps half-joking, that he wouldn't approve a move to England because the weather sucks. These things might signal a Spanish allure that overrides money. Maybe. But it will take more than Real Madrid buying the super-duper-stars to convince me. When guys like Benzema and Luis Suarez and Mauro Zarate go to clubs like Sevilla and Deportivo over Everton or Manchester City I will concede I am wrong.