The Spanish Invasion, as the Premiership plunders the Primera Liga

Alvaro Negredo - Manchester City

Liverpool's Luis Alberto

As at the last count , Monday 22 July to be precise, thirteen (13) Spanish players had signed for various English Premiership clubs for the coming 2013/14 Football season in deals totaling a little over £60m.

It is no news that Manchester City were the biggest spenders with around £40m on the pair of Navas and Negredo both from Sevilla. The news is the

fact that the smaller cubs are now tapping into this market as well. In fact Swansea City topped the list of the Spanish Invasion with the signing of three players Muniesa(Barcelona), Amat(Espanyol) and Canas(Real Betis. However of the three, only Amat was signed for a fee of £2.5m with the others coming on a free. So what could be the attraction to players from this region?

Years back, Premiership managers would think really hard before considering buying players from Spain or Latin American countries despite their obvious superior technical abilities to the English players. They were usually regarded as high risk due to the fear of them not being able to cope with the physicality and high intensity of the English game albeit there have been few successful ones in the past. However with Spain winning almost everything in World football in the last few years, their players have since become the toast of Managers all over the world. In the Premiership, the few clubs that had Spanish players in their ranks benefited immensely from their individual outputs. Take Fabregas when he was at Arsenal, Torres at Liverpool, Michu at Swansea, Silva at Man City and of course, Mata at Chelsea. They brought flair to the Premiership and above all came at a cheaper price than the average home grown footballers. Now, everybody is going Spanish and the smaller teams are not left out...New boys Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham, West Ham and even Stoke City have all got at least a Spaniard on their books for the coming season. 

The thirteen signings so far represents more than the half of the entire Spanish contingent in the Premiership last season which was twenty six(23). And to think that Fabregas, Higuain and Soldado etc are still on the radar of English teams, one begins to wonder what will become of the Primera Liga as it is stripped of its best talents. It could be argued though that the country is streaming of abundant talents and besides, the best in the Liga still remains in the Liga while the ones sold overseas could be ably replaced with players from South America which is La Liga's major market for players. 

The attraction appears to be mutual though, as the Spanish players themselves love the structure and the competitiveness of the Premiership unlike in their native Spain where everything revolves around Barca and Real. Another big factor is the economic factor which the Premiership enjoys. The financial power of clubs in England is quite strong that even the smaller clubs can conveniently accommodate players on £20k and above which is a lot of money for most Primera Liga clubs to pay due to the disparity in the way revenue is shared. Money generated is spread across board in England unlike in Spain where the top two gets more than half of the entire revenue from TV etc.

One thing that is certain is that flair will be added to teams featuring some of these players but whether the plundering of the Spanish market will continue next season is hinged on the success of the ones acquired now. Bring on 2013/14 season.