The abysmal game of differences between the Premier League and the Professional League: a multi-billion dollar market against 17 clubs that didn't spend a penny on transfers.

The Premier League kicks off a new season this Friday, following a stratospheric (and also obscene) transfer market that has so far moved nearly €2.8 billion and has seen Liverpool , the reigning champion, also top the league for big wallets: Alexis Mac Allister 's team invested more than $360 million in reinforcements. It's the most powerful and opulent league on the planet. And, tastes aside, it's also the most competitive.

Light years separate it from the Argentine Professional Football League. The reality is completely different in the tournament that gave birth to the 26-time world champions of Qatar 2022. This is a huge obvious fact . There is no indicator (GDP, inflation, recession, public debt, and exchange rates, among others) that allows us to imagine/desire/long for the numbers to be similar. Not even close. It's the difference between one of the largest economies on the planet and that of a third-world country condemned to live in a loop with the consequences of a lack of state policies and the damage of eternal corruption. And what happens in one country cannot fail to happen in a football league or any other...

The most curious thing is that on the pitch, eleven against eleven, everything is equal at the national team level. It happened a little less than three years ago when Lionel Messi and his fabulous Scaloneta brought France and the other 30 contenders to their knees in the World Cup held in the Middle East. It was extremely meritorious because Argentina ended 22 years of European hegemony. And because competing would be impossible if the national teams were made up of the players who make up each league and not by their places of birth—or those listed in their passports. There, England

The differences are astronomical. To start, a reminder: at the end of 2023, the Premier League sold its TV rights for the 2025/2026-2028/2029 period for 6.7 billion pounds ($9 billion over four seasons, at a rate of more than 2.2 billion every 365 days). This is more than double the revenue of Spain, Italy, and Germany. Argentina? A mere $120 million to be shared among 30 teams! It's just 5 percent of what is shared in elite English football.

The other thing worth pointing out is another obvious fact : the Premier League is an importing league, and the Professional League is an exporting league. The data supports this statement: in England, 71 percent of footballers are foreigners (430 out of 605); in Argentina, just 16 percent (147 out of 911).

Regarding market value, Transfermarkt reports that the Premier League is valued at $1.155 billion and the Premier League at $14.198 billion. There's more: four clubs are valued more than the entire Premier League (Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool).

The transfer market in Europe is passionately experienced, and closing day is often the subject of entire episodes of the elite club series that proliferate on streaming platforms. Here, however, the suffering is more than the enjoyment. The reality is that in the last offseason, 17 of the 30 Primera teams didn't invest a single dollar in signings : reinforcements arrived on free transfers or on free loans.

In total, Argentine teams spent approximately $70 million on reinforcements . A total of 477 transactions were made. In the Premier League, it was reported, $2.8 billion was transferred across 278 transfers.

River Plate is the team that spent the most on the local market, with $21.6 million between Maximiliano Salas, Juan Carlos Portillo, Matías Galarza Fonda, and Juan Fernando Quintero . They are followed by Racing with $10.23 million (Tomás Conechny, Elías Torres, Alan Forneris, Duván Vergara, Adrián Fernández, and Franco Pardo); Boca Juniors with €9.36 million (Marco Pellegrino, Leandro Paredes, and Malcom Braida); and Independiente with €7.75 million (Walter Mazzantti, Facundo Zabala, Leonardo Godoy, and Matías Abaldo).

And here the comparison becomes impossible: Sunderland , one of the three promoted teams for this Premier League season, invested 177.5 million dollars. The most expensive players were midfielder Habib Diarra (36.5), Simon Adingra (28.3), Enzo Le Fée (26.7), Chemsdine Talbi (23.2), Granit Xhaka (17.4) and Paraguayan Omar Alderete (13.4). Yes, a team that comes from promotion spent almost triple what the entire Professional League. The other promoted teams? Burnley spent 145 million euros and Leeds United a little more than 98.6 million.

In terms of market value and beyond the signed buyout clauses, Kevin Lomónaco is the highest-valued player at $14 million, followed by Juan Nardoni ($12.7 million) and Kevin Zenón ($10.5 million). In England, Erling Haaland is the most expensive at $210 million. Bukayo Saka ($174 million) and Florian Wirtz ($162.5 million) complete the podium.

And a funny thing happens that clearly marks the differences between there and here. River , with 112.2 million dollars, is the most valuable team in the country, but in the Premier League there are nine footballers with a higher value. To the aforementioned Haaland, Saka and Wirtz we must add Declan Rice , Cole Palmer , Alexander Isak (140), Rodri (127.6), Phil Foden and Alexis Mac Allister (116).

The conclusion is simple: the vast distance between one league and the other highlights the abyss that exists in football. The only thing that's curiously and relatively close is the price of tickets. A popular ticket in Argentina costs 23,000 pesos, without extras, while the lowest price to see, for example, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City is around $60.