I am actually a huge fan of the famous saying that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, but I also understand that the room always exist for rules to be changed, modified and adjusted for reasons best known to Chuck Norris, Lord Voldemort and Genghis Khan.
The Premier League remains one of the biggest leagues in world football, and a lot of spotlight has been on the division for the right and wrong reasons. While the quality of football, especially from the top sides, have been a major highlight of the league, the standard of officiating leaves a lot to be desired, and even the introduction of VAR hasn’t made things as good as we would have hoped. However, it all adds to the intense drama we call the Premier League.
The Premier League is undoubtedly one of the richest in the world, and clubs from the division flex their financial muscles to poach the best talent from all over Europe, South America and the rest of the world. Like, how can you explain how a Greek international goalkeeper would leave the upper echelons of Portuguese football, as well as consistent Champions League appearances, to play for a Premier League side that has flirted with relegation since their promotion from the Skybet Championship. Since the likes of Khaldoon al Mubarak and Roman Abramovich brought their greens to the Premier League, the best players were acquired and dominated the division and the elite European competitions as well.
However, there is a new plot twist, as Premier League clubs have voted to introduce a cap on how much a team can spend on wages, transfers and agent fees! As expected, perennial spenders, Manchester United and Manchester City voted against this motion, while Chelsea abstained from taking a vote. Aston Villa also voted against the motion. The cap is expected to be directly linked with the amount of money earned in television rights by each club in the division. Apparently, it was postulated that the bigger teams in the Premier League have developed an ‘unfair advantage’, and this cap will level things up for all 20 teams in the division.
My two cents?
Let’s go with it and see how it goes. It’s not like those big guns at the upper echelons of the Premier League table need to massively improve their squads. Arsenal spent 220 million quid last summer to make some superstar signings that have been massively influential to their title charge this season, and while you can say Declan Rice and Kai Havertz have been awesome, we were robbed off the chance to see what Jurrien Timber courtesy of an ACL injury. If there’s a cap on who Arsenal can sign next season, I don’t see Edu Gaspar and Mikel Arteta batting an eyelid, as they were among the 16 teams that voted in favor of this new initiative.
Manchester City did well to replace Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez with Mateo Kovacic and Jeremy Doku, and I really don’t see who they could sign that would massively improve the team – maybe a Lucas Paqueta as the long term heir to the Kevin de Bruyne throne?
Chelsea is one team that can do with a cap, especially with the amount of funds they have splurged in recent campaigns, that has amount to them still languishing in mid-table. Liverpool haven’t been big spenders even though the make the odd marquee signing a season or two. As for Manchester United, lol.
We will not get a clearer picture regarding this spending cap till the summer, but it’s one worth stewing over.
I was supposed to be giving a Champions League semifinal review against Real Madrid tonight, but I guess I’d have to watch the match as a neutral.
Sayonara.
Follow Gooner Daily on Twitter @goonerdaily.
Visit Gooner Daily’s Facebook page.
Click on the “Follow button” to join Gooner Daily’s Mailing List
Leave a Reply