Soccerex Findings Damning for Premier League

The annual Soccerex conference was once again held in Manchester last week past week, in which various figures from world football came to meet, exchange ideas, and in general grow their personal brands.

In amongst the clutter of sports commercialism that was Soccerex, there were indeed some genuine lectures of intrigue and debate which are worth discussing. In particular, the Transfer Review findings produced by Prime Time Sport were of interest to our readers here at Fanfeud.

These findings which will be highlighted and extrapolated upon below showcase the dangers of the overzealous spending of Premier League clubs in 2015. Furthermore, they also look outward through Europe, examining their current spending trends in the transfer market.

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Big Spending Often Results in Big Mistakes

The central issue from the findings was the amount of ‘mistakes’ Premier League clubs have made of late, when targeting big name, and perhaps more pertinently ‘big money’ signings.

For example, Manchester United (€161m) and Tottenham (€138m) topped the list of players that failed to succeed, spending a combined €300m on 12 players last season. The findings showed that €650m worth of players signed by Premier League sides over the last three seasons were only used in 50% or less of the total minutes of their club’s season – a staggering statistic.

Ángel Di María (€75m) may have been the star name of the 2014/14 summer window but the Argentinian tops the list as the biggest disappointment of the last three seasons while Marouane Fellaini (€32m) sits second.

In contrast, Alexis Sanchez was the most profitable signing last season in Europe (playing 86% of minutes) – which will undoubtedly please Arsene Wenger, while Romelu Lukaku, David Luiz and James Rodríguez were next in line for the most profitable of signings.

It is interesting though, in how Prime Time collate their findings. Lukaku signed for Everton for £28m – not exactly pennies. By May of the 2014/15 campaign the Belgian forward has scored 10 goals and five assists in the Premier League. On average that equated to a direct contribution to a goal every 191 minutes. Aged just 22 and already of an elite pedigree, Lukaku may very well be rightly placed among Prime Time’s list.

European Resurgence

There were many key points raised in Prime Time’s study, other just the Premier League. While indeed it was noted that the Premier League remains at the hub of European football by again surpassing €1billion in players spending, which is up 14% on last year and sets another record high spend, it goes on to detail how Europe has begun spending big again.

"Serie A is back in the top two for European League’s spending the most with €579m spent this summer."

All top European leagues (except France’s Ligue 1) hit record high investment figures. Furthermore, we’re told that eight of the top ten most expensive transfers ever made were completed by Real Madrid (5) or FC Barcelona (3) – though the Spanish top two are surely in a world of their own when it comes of financial pulling power.

The resurgence of Serie A in particular will interest fans of a certain vintage. Indeed, during the 90’s in particular it was Italy’s top division which continually broke the transfer record – until Real Madrid’s Galactico project begun. The disparity in television money between the Premier League and Serie A though means the gap is unlikely to be fully closed upon any time soon.

Second Tier Hits Eye Watering Landmark

It turns out that England’s second tier – The Championship – saw the biggest expenditure by country for second division leagues. English Championship sides invested a massive €137m. That was four times more than Bundesliga B (€35m), Serie B (€20m), Liga Adelante (€5m) and Ligue 2(€1m).

"Strong TV income for all Premier League teams also resulted in strong purchasing power even for promoted teams."

Watford (€47m) spent more than every other promoted team combined in the other European leagues. Also, a word of sympathy for Bournemouth who broke their transfer record twice this summer on Max Gradel (£7m), and Tyrone Mings (£8m), with both likely to miss the entirety of the Premier League season through injury.

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Homegrown Talent Price Skyrockets

Premier League sides hunting for English talent has resulted in the average cost of homegrown players climbing to €6,7m – the highest amount ever (+67% on last year’s average).

Manchester City’s capture of Raheem Sterling stands out as the most expensive English player ever in the Premier League (€60m). Tottenham have taken over from Manchester United as the side with the most home-grown players in first team squad (6).

However, the Premier League continues to have the lowest number of national players (just 32%). On the opposite side, Spanish La Liga has the highest (58%). With the need for home-grown players increasing, so has the price. Despite the need for it, clubs still seem reluctant to have more than is required by the rules.