The Premier League is often described as the best league in the world and is often the destination where many players want to come, but is England’s top league really the best?
As the latest La Liga news highlights, the Premier League is trumped in several areas including player quality, dynamic ball play and fan atmosphere, however, only La Liga’s “rejects” seem to leave Spain for England…and it never seems be the hottest talent.
Gareth Bale and Ronaldo both decided to go continental and now regarded as some of the world’s best players, not to mention most expensive. The top three clubs of La Liga; Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are miles ahead of the top clubs in the Premier League, as we often see in the Champions League. Admittedly, the Premier League is far more competitive, the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs are continually vying it out for the title whereas in Spain, it is never more than a three horse race.
Whilst Leicester City’s fairy tale of last season was a joy to watch, it shows just how far the Premier League is behind La Liga as a team other than Barca, Real or Atletico taking the title is pretty much unthinkable and something that we’re not likely to see for a long time to come.
In fact, to find a team other than those you must go as far back as 2004 when the now struggling Valencia were victors. In that time till now, Barcelona have won the title eight times, Real three and Atleti once. In the Premier League, Arsenal, Man United, Man City, Chelsea and Leicester have all won the title since then.
There are far more goals scored in Spain than England too. Last season, Champions Leicester scored just 68, whilst the team in the league with the most was fourth placed Man City with 71. La Liga Champions Barcelona on the other hand scored an enormous 112 goals whilst runners up Real scored 110. Luis Suarez was the top score in the league with a casual 40 goals, whilst Ronaldo was just behind with a still impressive 35 goals.
The top scorer in the Premier League was Harry Kane who notched a modest 25 goals. If you combine the 40 goals from Luis Suarez and the 26 from Lionel Messi, that accumulates to nearly equal amount scored by England’s reigning champions, from just two players. And if you add Neymar’s 24 goal haul, it more than trumps it.
It may be that the attacking prowess of the Premier League is no-where near the standard seen in La Liga to why England struggle to attract their talent. Ronaldo, Bale and Suarez had no qualms in leaving for Spain but the latest name to arrive from Barca to the Premier League is the once highly rated Bojan who is now playing his trade for Stoke.
That speaks volumes. Most of the world’s top stars are in La Liga…if you think of the best players in the world, Messi, Bale, Ronaldo, Suarez, Bale and Neymar. So it’s no surprise that in the last 19 European ties between English and Spanish clubs, it’s 17-2 to Spain and since 2000, Spanish clubs have won 26 European trophies whilst English clubs have won just seven.
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andym
Founder and chief editor of La Liga Blog, Andy fell in love with Spanish football after a university placement year in the Costa Del Sol. His favourite Tapas is Albondigas and on Saturday afternoons, Andy can regularly be found trying to emulate his hero Carles Puyol for his amateur football team.