Does Money Really Buy Happiness?

There is an astronomical amount of money that is spent in the world of soccer every year. This summer alone for instance, Manchester United have brought in 9 players and let 7 go. There is still about two weeks left in the transfer window and they do not look to be done spending money. So far United have seen the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic, and Victor Lindelöf join their team. All three of these players were some of the more important players from their former teams. Lukaku came from Everton where he was a goal scoring machine. He was the primary reason Everton won games. Matic came from a Chelsea side that just won the Premier League. He is a midfielder that was a consistent starter. For most of Chelsea’s season, they played with three defenders in the back, leaving Matic to clean up the defensive midfield and cover any mistakes they may have made. Lindelöf came to Manchester from the Portuguese team Benfica where he was a powerful centerback who has not even hit his prime yet. Those three players cost United 164.4 million euros in transfer fees alone. That means, before paying these guys a dime in salaries, they paid the three teams they bought these players from a fortune. Teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester City have money that the other teams in the Premier League just dream of having. These teams can afford to set records in the transfer market and then set a record the next year. The money seems endless with these guys who are determined to buy themselves a championship. In the United States, specifically in relation to baseball, we would compare them to the New York Yankees. The problem with these teams is that they just get richer. They can afford to invest in prospects and turn a profit selling them later. This is not a new thing in the English top tier of soccer. The teams that are at the top have traditionally been around the top because they can afford to be.

This year is the year we are going to see these teams who spent big money see big rewards. Two years ago, we saw Leicester City win the league in a miracle season, going from worst to first. We also saw teams like Southampton, West Ham United and Stoke City place over Chelsea. The stars started to realign last year as Chelsea reclaimed the title and the top 6 teams were the 6 with the deepest pockets. In fact, none of these six teams have finished worse than 10th since 2008, when Manchester City was bought and became the one of the richest clubs in England. Those teams include: Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham. They have been able to buy their opponents best players, weakening the competition. This will lead to the top staying at the top.

This weekend Manchester United was clearly the best team in the league. They played a West Ham United squad that brought in good players who will help them contend but they were no match for the Manchester side. All the stars shined, as Lukaku scored twice on his debut, Anthony Martial scored once, and so did Paul Pogba. They looked to be the most well rounded team, getting solid play from everyone on the field. Manchester City welcomed in newly promoted Brighton & Hove Albion with a 2–0 defeat of the newbies. City dominated possession (had the ball 78% of the time) and had 2 times the shots and shots on goal that Brighton had. Tottenham had a rough first half against another recently promoted team, Newcastle United, but prevailed in the second half with a 2–0 victory. They looked disorganized at the beginning of the game but with Newcastle star Jonjo Shelvey getting sent off with a red card in the second half, the Hotspurs were able to muscle Newcastle out of a victory. The last of the big 6 teams to win their opening game was Arsenal. They opened the whole season by playing Leicester on Friday. It was a wild game with little to no defense. New signing Lacazette scored as well as Danny Welbeck, Aaron Ramsey, and Olivier Giroud. Ramsey and Giroud’s goals came in the last 10 minutes of the game. They ended up winning 4–3. Liverpool gave away a victory in the last minutes of their game against Watford and ended up drawing 3–3. A bright spot in that game was their new addition to the team, Mohamed Salah, scored. The big losers of the weekend were last season’s champions, Chelsea. A 2–3 loss to Burnley is not the way they needed to start their season. They looked sloppy and disorganized. After bringing in Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid this summer they decided to sit him on the bench for the first half. They had no offense in the first half. Subbing in Morata during the 59th minute led to the start of their scoring but there was not enough time to make up the 3-goal deficit at that point.

That was a lot of information but as you can see, the money that has been spent this summer has already started to pay off for these big clubs. In the past, we have seen teams spend big money and get little return. This season is going to be different. The quality of player that has been paid for is much higher. These transfers will help these top 6 teams stay in the top 6 this year. I’ll leave you with my predictions for the Premier League this season. If you would like me to go into a team by team breakdown for why they are where they are let me know but for now here it is:

1. Manchester United

2. Chelsea

3. Manchester City

4. Arsenal

5. Tottenham Hotspur

6. Liverpool

7. Everton

8. West Ham United

9. Leicester City

10. Southampton

11. West Bromwich Albion

12. Watford

13. Newcastle United

14. Stoke City

15. Burnley

16. Huddersfield Town

17. Bournemouth

18. Brighton and Hove Albion

19. Crystal Palace

20. Swansea City