Is the English Premier League the best in the world?

For many years, we in Britain have had it drilled into us that the Premier League is the best league in the world.

We can attract the best players in the world, we have the best managers in the world and we have the most unpredictable league in the world, but as this all changed?

In my opinion, the Premier League certainly isn’t the best league in the world today, and there are a number of reasons why.

 

Is it competitive?

The main argument for the Premier League is that anybody can beat anybody, which is true as we’ve seen this season. For example, we’ve seen Manchester United lose to Huddersfield and Chelsea lose to West Ham.

Yet, when you look at the Premier League table, it tells us a different story. The same 6 teams occupy the top positions.

How can a league be ‘so competitive’ and the same teams finish near the top of the table? It cannot be possible. The other major leagues in Europe have different teams competing in the Champions League and Europa League every season.

Then you look at the so-called title race, and there isn’t one!

Manchester City are running away with the league, and the way they dominated Manchester United on Sunday, the second-best team in the league, it makes a mockery of the Premier League.

The gap between first and second place in the Premier League is bigger than any other between the same positions in Europe’s top 5 leagues.

The likes of Bayern Munich and PSG don’t even have that big of a lead in their respective leagues, teams that have been ridiculed by British press as having it easy in their countries as there is no competition for them, and all of a sudden, the Premier League is becoming that league, and the rest of Europe will view it as a non-competitive league.

 

Does it have the best players?

Another argument has been that the Premier League possesses the best players in the world, but when you look at the talent across Europe, I believe that this, again, is another wrong statement.

If the Premier League is the best league in the world, why didn’t Neymar move to the Premier League? Why didn’t Kylian Mbappe move to the Premier League? Why didn’t James Rodriguez move to the Premier League?

If the Premier League was the best league in the world, these players would bite your hand off at the opportunity of playing in it, but they chose to play elsewhere.

And when you look at the rest of the talent in the Premier League, there are only four players that you can say are world class players. They are David de Gea, Harry Kane, Kevin de Bruyne and Christian Eriksen. These players deserve to play elsewhere in Europe and prove themselves against the very best in the world.

I know you can argue that the likes of Sergio Aguero, Alexis Sanchez and Mo Salah are world class, but are they?

I would happily replace Aguero with Mauro Icardi or Robert Lewandowski, who are both at the top of their game this season. I would happily replace Sanchez and Salah with Mbappe, Neymar or Dries Mertens, all three who are having far better seasons than Sanchez and Salah. Put simply, the Premier League doesn’t have the star power it once did.

 

It’s a financial powerhouse

Finally, the Premier League is, certainly now, all about finance and not about the football itself.

The fan experience in the Premier League is being submerged under the financial tidal wave being implemented by greedy Premier League owners.

Look at Stan Kroenke at Arsenal. Arsene Wenger has done a fantastic job at Arsenal, but his tactical ideology is becoming a bit stale and he’s being left behind by the likes of Guardiola, Klopp and Pochettino.

Yet, Kroenke will simply not get rid of Wenger as, financially, Arsenal are still thriving and the American simply doesn’t see a problem with the management. As long as he’s making money, it doesn’t matter who manages the club, and this is becoming more of common factor in the Premier League, and it has to stop.

European clubs simply do not have these problems. The owners love football and will do whatever it takes to win trophies.

We’ve seen Borussia Dortmund sack Peter Bosz this week, because they want to win. We saw last season Inter Milan sacking Frank de Boer after less than a month, because they want to win trophies. We’ve seen Carlo Ancelotti get sacked by Bayern Munich, because they want to win trophies.

This should be the mentality in the Premier League, and the sad story, is that it isn’t.

 

Conclusion

Simply, the Premier League isn’t the best league in the world.

It isn’t competitive anymore, it doesn’t have the best players and it’s all about the money rather than the football.

The likes of Serie A and the Bundesliga are a far better watch than the Premier League so far this season, and I don’t see this trend changing any time soon, and the Premier League will continue its demise.

 

Written by Sion Misra

Follow Sion on Twitter @sionmisra

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1 Comment

  1. Ojefia Ezekiel

    December 24, 2021 at 18:49

    The premier league is not the most toughest and competitive league in the world. But the less competitive and toughest league. Pep Guardiola has proven it that the premier league is not the strongest nor toughest league. For instance, how can Manchester city defeat the top six and even go unbeaten in 18 premier league games without any other club to challenge them? When you take a Look at the points margin between Manchester city and Manchester united, it is evident that the premier league is not competitive. If it is competitive, such thing would not have happen. Then, what about their performance Europe? They have performed below expectation for the past seasons? They don’t play good football. They don’t have the best players. Their playing styles are less superior in comparison to other European leagues. With the arrival of Pep Guardiola, the premier league is undergoing some positive changes in their method of playing football.

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