English Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore insisted Wednesday he was not worried by Spanish “super clubs” Barcelona and Real Madrid buying the world’s leading players.
Scudamore, speaking ahead of the start of the new Premier League season this weekend, was adamant the English top flight was a more competitive, and therefore more attractive, product than the Primera Liga for all the global stars on show in Spain.
This season has seen Real Madrid sign James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos after the duo starred at the World Cup, while Barcelona have bolstered their squad, notably in bringing in Uruguay striker Luis Suarez from Liverpool.
Asked how English football might compete with that in Spain, Scudamore told BBC Radio Five: “In one sense, you don’t.
“The way the economics of Spanish football work, you’ve got two clubs who, with the way they sell their television rights, they’re allowed to sell their own, and they clean up and they make more money than any of our clubs do,” he added.
“Our clubs, even our biggest clubs, have stuck with the collective which means we have a collective selling of TV rights. It’s then distributed, and therefore every club has a chance to compete.
“Whilst they do have two super clubs that have always attracted some of the world’s top talent — remember (Zinedine) Zidane didn’t come here, Luis Figo didn’t come here — we have the most competitive league.”
Scudamore added: “There are more teams being talked about as able to win our title than you’ll ever hear discussed in Spain.
“That makes us more interesting around the world. We have a much bigger global appeal than they do currently.”