Is the Premier League losing its interest?

The Premier League once upon a time was the best league of all. The continuous tradition and rich history are just a few of the things that have attracted the world’s best players to come and play here, and not forgetting the money.

The Premier League’s top clubs previously used to use all their fortune and power possible to get their star man to sign on the dotted line, whether it was Chelsea and their Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, Manchester City with their new wealthy Abu Dhabi owners or Manchester United and their global fan base.

Yet, this is no longer the case anymore. Recently many top players have opted for a different club in a different league. If you look at the recent activity in the transfer market you can see that the Premier League is no longer a first choice destination for players from not only Europe but globally too and this paints a very worrying image.

You can’t deny the fact that the signs have always been there. Barcelona and Real Madrid have always being a possible destination for a lot of young players. In our generation players grow up dreaming of playing at the Camp Nou or in that famous white shirt worn by the likes of Zinedine Zidane.

Last season, the Champions League semi-finals are a prime example of the new and renowned force of the German teams. Not so much Borussia Dortmund, but Bayern Munich have always prevailed in Europe, but as of late they haven’t.

They replaced Jupp Heynckes with ex-Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola. This managerial change has seen a new light for players who wish to play the tiki-taka style football. Thiago Alcantara was set to sign for Manchester United, only for him to snub the champions of England and re-join former boss Pep at the Allianz Arena. This is just one marquee signing that has opted away from the Premier League.

The list is endless as Arsenal’s main transfer target Gonzalo Higuain gave Arsene Wenger the cold shoulder and joined Rafa Bentiez at Italian side Napoli. The Thiago Alcantara and Higuain deals both had specific reasons why they didn’t join the Premier League clubs. Thiago’s was to join former boss and Higuain’s deal was the down to the fact Real Madrid could get more money off Napoli than Arsenal. But why did Napoli have all this money to spend?

Well the reason they have so much money to spend was simple – the departure of Edinson Cavani. Paris Saint German signed the Uruguayan international for a fee believed to be in the region of 50m. Three or four years ago, a player like Cavani would have signed for one of the big rich clubs in the Premier League for that price. But why did he opt to join PSG?

It wasn’t as if there was no interest from clubs in the Premier League because there was. Both Chelsea and Manchester City showed their interest in the 26-year-old striker. Cavani wasn’t the only one to choose the French Ligue 1.

Radamel Falcao decided to join newly promoted Monaco instead of joining a team in the Premier League. Why is this the case, is the Premier League really losing its interest?

Both Monaco and PSG have finally caught up with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United in the sense that they are finally able to spend big money without worry. Not only that, they now have rich, new owners who are prepared to go to any length possible to sign a marquee player. As for the Italian top clubs they have now emerged from the days of miss-financial management and are slowly rebuilding.