Mass departures bad for Spanish league

The recent mass departure of top Spanish players from cash-strapped Primera Liga is good news for the Spanish national team but too bad for the league.Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Roberto Soldado and Thiago Alcantera became the latest Spain internationals to move abroad, joining the likes of David Silva, Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, Pepe Reina, and Javi Martinez among others.Although Real Madrid and Barcelona, can afford the best players and as a result dominate La Liga, the same cannot be said of the other 18 clubs that are forced to sell their best players in order to stay in business. Financially troubled clubs like Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao, Malaga and Sevilla have been forced to cash in on their prize assets, who are increasingly seeking a new challenge and better wages in the other top leagues—mainly in England. But what does the exodus of top players mean for the Spanish national team or where does it leave La Liga which is regarded by many as the best league in Europe? On the one hand, it’s good for the national team, but, on the other, it’s too bad for La Liga as it will only become weaker instead of getting better.For the players, it’s very helpful going abroad because they get to develop into great individuals as they get to know places and culture, especially if it is in England where almost all the Spanish players are heading to.Five years or so back, you would hardly find an established Spanish international playing outside his country but fast forward to 2013 and the trend has changed completely with almost half the squad playing abroad.By having more players playing outside of their country, the reigning World and European champions will only become stronger although the current trend will most likely to weaken the domestic league even further.In the same spirit, if only young English talent would go to Spain, Italy or Germany, they would become better players technically, and they would command a bigger sales sum if sold back to the English Premier League. As a result, the sale would benefit the selling clubs, and the increase in technical ability would do good to the English national team, which has struggled to match the hype that comes with their domestic league.While Real Madrid and Barcelona come first and third either side of Manchester United in Forbes’ latest football rich list, the rest of Spain is weighed down by an unsustainable debt and a talent drain that should be causing the authorities in Spain sleepless nights.Despite all the chaos in La Liga, the two heavyweights, Barca and Madrid still take 50 per cent of the television money at around €140m a year, while the other 18 top division clubs share the remaining 50 per cent, at least until 2016 when the current deal expires.For the huge disparity in TV money allocation, once again the Spanish champions will be either Barca or Real Madrid for yet another season since Valencia won it back in the 2003/04 season.