The football world is reeling after Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Newcastle were eliminated from the Champions League this week.
The four English Premier League teams lost by a combined score of 28-12. LaLiga sides alone scored 20 goals against English opposition in the Round of 16. Newcastle’s 7-2 loss to Barcelona is one of the heaviest defeats in UCL history.
Because of these results, there’s never been a better time to say that the Premier League is dead. And plenty of people are saying that, but those people are wrong. As bad as these losses were for EPL sides, they say nothing about the overall quality of English football.
The Premier League is still the best league in the world. This week’s defeats only tell us that the gap between the Premier League and the elite clubs in other top-five leagues is not as large as people think, which makes sense if you understand football finances.
Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, and Barcelona are the only clubs in their respective leagues who can keep up with the Premier League’s spending power season over season. It’s not surprising that they can beat and even dominate English opposition. The bigger issue is when you look at the rest of the teams in their leagues.
According to Transfermarkt, the five least expensive Premier League squads have a combined value of €1.21B. The five most expensive LaLiga clubs are only worth €1.81B. Serie A (€1.81B), the Bundesliga (€1.64B), and Ligue 1 (€1.59B) all have similar numbers.
In other words, the Premier League has depth, while the rest of Europe is more top-heavy. This is obvious when you consider why the EPL even had six teams in the Round of 16. We can argue about whether one league should be allowed to have that many clubs in the competition, but it wouldn’t happen if the league isn’t the best in the world.
Is the Premier League overrated? Probably a little. Do some of its teams spend outrageous money on average players? Absolutely. But is it dead or “falling behind Europe’s elite,” as The Athletic said this week? No, definitely not.
If you’re not a fan of a Premier League team, it’s easy to poke fun after this week’s Champions League results, but English teams are still in the running for all three European competitions this season and could easily win each of them.
Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham, and Newcastle crashing out of the Champions League doesn’t change the fact that the Premier League is still the richest league in the world. As long as that’s the case, the EPL will be fine.
