Bayern Munich: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge critical of Premier League spending
It was an eventful winter transfer window for Bayern Munich as they added three players to the senior team. Despite signing three players, Die Roten had hardly spent any money during winter. Daley Blind arrived on a free transfer, while Joao Cancelo joined on a loan deal until the end of the season. The Bavarian club paid a fee close to €10 million for Yann Sommer.
Apart from Premier League clubs, most clubs across the top five leagues were economical like Bayern during the winter transfer window. Meanwhile, Premier League clubs spent significant money in January. Chelsea set a record for mid-season window spending as they ended up coughing €300 million for eight players.
The few days have seen significant debate over Premier League spending. La Liga chief Javier Tebas has been very critical about financial doping in the Premier League. The idea of the Super League has been again floated across Europe to cope with the riches of the Premier League.
Former Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge believes that incredible spending will not guarantee success for Premier League clubs in the Champions League. While talking to Kicker, Rummenigge insisted that English clubs have not been efficient in transfers despite having significant financial resources.
"“Other countries progress between financial difficulties and scandals, but they bring home the trophies. That means the English make crazy mistakes. Chelsea wasted hundreds of millions of euros just to find themselves tenth in the table. It’s absurd.”“Wealth must be better distributed. The globalization of the market has created incredible inequality.”"
Rummenigge makes a good point about success in Europe for Premier League clubs. In the past ten years, only twice Champions League was won by Premier League clubs. Real Madrid has been the most successful club in this competition, while the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich have also won the trophy.
Clubs outside England have majorly dominated Europa League. The ongoing Champions League campaign has also seen underwhelming performances from England. No Premier League club managed to register a victory in the first leg of the round of 16 clashes over the last two weeks.
The Premier League has done an incredible job in terms of getting significant revenue through broadcast deals. Moreover, the broadcast revenue is almost divided equally amongst all 20 clubs across the divisions. The other five leagues can definitely learn a thing or two in terms of selling their product to broadcasters in a more efficient way.
Three things to watch out against Union Berlin. dark. Next
Want your voice heard? Join the Bayern Strikes team!
For now, clubs outside Europe will have to be clever in the market to compete with the richest clubs in the Premier League. Bayern has done a good job in unearthing gems like Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala. They will have to stick with this approach to be competitive in the Champions League.