Micheal Laudrup, manager of Swansea, says he's finding out that funds do not go far in the Premier League transfer market, with player valuations having rocketed in recent years. "The problem is, for example, what would an offensive midfielder in the Premier League scoring 15 goals a season be worth? He would be worth more than the £2million we paid for Michu. "We have to be careful not to always go for foreigners, but in Britain you would have an issue with value for money." http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12691/7992564/Inflated-fees-irk-Laudrup I agree that in the Premier League it´s very hard to buy a player according to his actual worth. Many average players are being sold to clubs for amounts that, not so long ago, were unthinkable. It seems you don´t have to be regarded as a "quality" player these days to be worth over 10 million. With the Premier League being the richest in the world, and with almost every team financially well-off, they don´t have the need to sale players and they will only let players leave if they receive offers they can´t refuse, or if the player really pushes for a move. In La Liga, apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona, none of the clubs have the financial backing to say no to offers that many clubs in the premier league would reject for certain players. As Laudrup said, Michu cost him 2 million and he scored 15 goals last season in La Liga. If a midfield player scored 15 goals in the premier league last season he would not leave for any less 20 million. Another example is Jordi Alba who signed for Barcelona for 12 million euros which is about 10 million pounds, and he is one of the best left backs in the word. If he was in the prem then for under 25 million he would not leave, and teams would expect to those amounts. I think the inflated fees are justified, as if clubs don´t have the need to sell then players they are not going to let them leave cheaply, but I think it´s got to a point, where teams are paying, in some cases, almost double what players are actually worth. It´s good to see teams financially well-off in the premier league but it does means that prices are becoming ridiculous inflated. If fees keep rising as they are, then I can´t imagine how much an average player will be worth in 10 years time.
This is kind of a fatuous argument. Rayo are skint and desperate for cash and apparently Michu had a release clause in his contract so he's an unusual case even for a foreign player. It's also far from assured that he will score 15 goals a season in the premier league. Outside of the big two the defending in la liga can be pretty abysmal.
What about Jordi Alba then? (and I don't think the defending in the premier league is much better than in La Liga)
It was the last year of his contract and he really wanted to join Barca. £12m now or wait a year and he leaves on a free?
I think your surmation is pretty accurate. The prices are primarily higher for premiership players than players from La Liga because of the TV contracts. Premier league clubs do not need to sell anybody, and can afford to turn down offers of £5 million for fairly average players. In Spain everybody outside la antigua empresa is skint, so smaller offers for players are far more attractive. Of Course, you do run the risk that the player will not adapt to life or football in England, or that the generally poor quality of La Liga will have artificially inflated his quality.
Robin Van Persie is in his last year of contract and really wants to leave but he won´t be leaving for less than 22/23 million. Arsenal aren´t in need of money, unlike Valencia, who had to sell Mata, Villa and Silva to pay off debts.... Which is my point. The third best team in La Liga has more financial problems than Wigan.
There's also the fact that Arsenal were able to play the bidding war game. Alba knew he wanted to join Barca so they weren't under any need to drive the bid up like City and United were doing. But yes, the terrible state of Valencia's finances will have helped. Either way I can't help but feel Laudrup is blowing it out of proportion here. He knows his squad is already weaker than the one Swansea had last year so he wants to lower expectations.
Michu may have scored 15 goals in La Liga, but he'd never get 15 in the Premier League. A midfielder who can get into double figures in the Premier League is an extremely rare commodity, and undoubtedly one of the best players in the world, and would rightly be valued at upwards of £20m. I've always argued Karl Marx's view that a commodity is worth whatever its buyer is willing to pay for it. It's simple supply and demand, and most people who bemoan it don't have a clue what they're talking about. Besides, La Liga may have the two best teams at present, but there is far more quality in depth in the Premier League than in any other league, so valuations are naturally going to be higher there than anywhere else. Both the Michu deal and the Jordi Alba deal may have seemed like a steal, and in a way they were, but the values were so low because Rayo and Valencia desperately need to sell players in order to stay afloat, so they basically got ripped off because they had no choice. Had Alba been playing for Real Madrid last season, Barcelona would most likely have needed to pay at least £20m for him.
I don´t think Laudrup is blowing it out of proprtion. Look at it the other way, if Stewart Downing, Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson, Joe Allen, Steven Fletecher and Matt Jarvis were playing their trade in Spain would they cost: 20 million, 40 million, 20 million, 15 million, more than 12 million and 10 miilion respectively??? Edit: (Apart from if they played for Madrid or Barcelona)
No, no, no, yes, yes, no. The first three were horrendously bad anomalous deals, and Jarvis won't go for £10m no matter what they're trying to demand.
24 million on a 4 year deal. I thought City would win the title with more comfort than last year but with Van persie in their squad Utd have become a lot stronger.
Well Liverpool paid those fees for them because that's how highly they value them. They might have been able to haggle a lower price had they been playing for some cash-strapped Spanish teams, but I'd argue that would be less fair.
£24 million for a 29 year old in the last year of his contract, who has had one good season and 8(?) injury plagued ones. I'm not saying he'll fail at United, but if I was an Arsenal fan I wouldn't be too pissed off...
If the whole argument is based around "Spanish players are cheaper because more clubs are in financial difficulty" then surely it's inaccurate to say English fees are inflated, wouldn't it be more that Spanish fees are deflated?
Not for Michael Laudrup. He has come from Spain, so the 'deflated' Spanish fees are the norm for him. Thus English fees are 'inflated' from his perspective.
How do you know that is how much they valued them? I don´t think they valued Andy Carroll at 40 million but had offers rejected and knew that they had to offer a figure that Newcastle could not refuse, as Newcastle are financially sound and not in need of money, like almost all Premier League teams. If Andy Carroll had played for a team equivalent to Newcastle in La Liga, e.g Osasuna, he would have been sold for no more than 8-12 million.
It works in his favour as well, so I don't know why he's complaining. He might have to pay more than he's used to for talented players, but when the big clubs come after his players, he'll get a fortune for them. The Premier League is so much better than La Liga because of this. Big teams can't bully little teams because there are no little teams.
Because they signed them? If they didn't value Carroll at £40m then they wouldn't have paid it. Just like if you're stupid enough to pay £100 for a pint of milk, then you clearly value the pint of milk at £100.
