The recent arrival of Suarez only serves to boost league’s profile.
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With Luis Suarez’s arrival at Barcelona this week, the Premier League lost perhaps its most talked about, and in some parts reviled, player in its 22 year history.
Some loved Suarez for what he brought to the pitch, his goals, his movement, his star quality that left the spectator unable to take their eyes from him, while others hated him for his biting, diving and racist abuse – in short, it’s impossible not to have an opinion on him.
So with his move to what is arguably the biggest club in the world, the English top flight has lost a major focal point – a headline maker that newspaper editors have been dreaming of since Gazza.
But not only that, his arrival at Barcelona will mean that they have what should be the deadliest strike force in the game today alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar.
There has been a case to say that La Liga has been the most open of the top European leagues last season, as a usual two-way title race was bust open and taken to the wire by Atletico Madrid, who eventually went on to win it.
While Manchester City’s million won them the Premier League, and Bayern Munich’s FC Hollywood stars made light work of Germany, the predictability of the whole season was capped of by titles for PSG in France and Juventus in Italy.
But not only that – the ‘smaller’ teams in Spain also held their own. Athletic Bilbao continued to impress on their march to the Champions League by utilising their latest crop of Basque stars. Sevilla held their own despite some hefty blows in the transfer market last summer and Valencia, under new ownership were just a few top players away from making a significant challenge of their own.
It will be worth keeping an eye on current champions Atletico Madrid in the upcoming campaign after losing star striker Diego Costa. They have replaced him with Mario Mandzukic to ensure that they’re not left light in attack, but with other big names likely to depart their title defence could take a bump before it has even got going.
The worry is that Barcelona will once again dominate, backed up by Real Madrid, who will no doubt look to match their rivals in the transfer market, forcing the others back to the outside.
Spain’s problems with the distribution of riches has been well documented, but several clubs are rallying against that with shrewd acquisitions and smart tactical play. As it stands it is Europe’s most open league, but it is teetering on the edge, and could be plunged back into old ways after just one year.
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