Home ›› 13 Aug 2021 ›› Sport
La Liga, just three years ago the undisputed monarch of European football, returns for a new season on Friday after a traumatic summer that ended with its crown jewel being given away.
The free transfer of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday drove home the financial turmoil that is eroding the power of Spanish football.
While Messi is the biggest star to leave, and his former club Barcelona have been particularly cavalier in racking up debts estimated at 1.2bn euros, Spanish football has money worries
The pandemic has cost the top-flight clubs some 2bn euros (1.4bn dollars) and the desperation is showing.
The league is trying to enforce a tough salary cap, while searching for funds. Its assembly on Thursday will vote on the sale of 10 per cent of commercial rights for 50 years to private equity firm CVC in exchange for 2.7 billion euros. Real Madrid and Barcelona are fighting the deal saying it is selling their futures.
Real and Barcelona, who between them won every Champions League final from 2014-18, are living, and dying, by free transfers.
Like Barcelona, Real Madrid decided they could not afford a new contract for their talismanic captain. Like Messi, Sergio Ramos departed for a late-career jackpot at Paris Saint-Germain. Such is the cachet of Real and Barca that they can still attract a high class of free agent.
Barcelona have picked up Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Sergio Aguero.
While Real are, once again, being linked to Kylian Mbappe of PSG, the biggest fee either club has spent is the 9m euros Barcelona gave Betis for Brazilian fullback Emerson Royal.
Real have replaced the hard edge of Ramos with the all-round defensive quality of another trophy magnet David Alaba. Real are under new management, with Carlo Ancelotti returning to replace Zinedine Zidane who, for a second time, quit in frustration.
The Italian must cope with the consequences of the club’s long shopping addiction and work out what to do with returning loan stars such as Gareth Bale, Martin Odegaard and Dani Ceballos.
Villarreal, fresh from another European exploit as they brought a trophy back to Spain by winning the Europa League, have seemed the most buoyant of Liga clubs this summer, making two of the four eight-figure signings so far.
They paid 15m for Juan Foyth, a price set the previous year when the Argentine defender joined on loan from Tottenham, and 12m euros for centre forward Boulaye Dia from Reims.
