Renewals in the face of the Premier League threat
Contract renewals at Real Madrid
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez has announced contract renewals in this week of the club members assembly with the same frenzy as a politician inaugurating public works in an election campaign. The most delicate ones are still to be resolved: Cristiano's, which has the issue of how long it's to be for, and Bale, which has the issue of how much cash. Also outstanding are Pepe and Isco. Pepe is now of a certain age, while Isco's problem is the competition, James and Asensio, for the trequartista playmaker spot, that as of today doesn't strictly exist in the side. This summer the club encouraged him to leave, just as they did with James, but neither wanted to.
Premier League awash with cash
But it's not just Madrid. Neither Barça nor Atleti have an assembly, but yesterday they announced the renewals of Neymar and Carrasco. You already know what's behind these early renewals, a long way away from the contract expiry date: more money for the player, a longer contract, and above all, a bigger buy-out clause to protect the clubs's asset. The fear of the Premier stalks LaLiga, with the English clubs awash with oodles of cash thanks to their TV contract. They've so much dough that even our biggest clubs fear that their stars might be tempted. Hence the renewals, with better salaries and bigger buy-outs.
Keeping players in Spain expensive
LaLiga lives under this threat. The pressure explains many decisions taken in our football, particularly the dispersion of kick-off times across the weekend, to fight for market share. Our two big Galician clubs, Celta and Deportivo, have suffered Premier League raiding: their two big name players of last season, Lucas Pérez and Nolito are now over there. We won't see them in the derby tomorrow. Madrid didn't extend themselves to signing Pogba, while United did. All precautions taken are necessary. These contract renewals are expensive, but it would be worse to see the best players of our league heading off to the Premier, our great worldwide competitor.
