An analysis of the pull of the La Liga giants, RM and Barca

First, I confess that I am not a professional football analyst, nor am I an esteemed sociologist or psychologist, my field of study is law and engineering, although all the above along with economics and politics are huge hobbies of mine.

Without further ado, I will start my analysis:

First, we need to understand the pulling factors for footballers: as I see it, the factors are;

1- Economical: Money,Fame.
2- Glory: Trophies, chance to get NT football.
3- Logistical: The city, the language, etc.
4- Prestige: The history of the club, personal preference of the club, past legends of the club.

Second, we analyze each of those factors for the respective two sides:

Economical:

It is no hidden secret that players play for the money, even of it not their first priority, which is sadly becoming more true this era. We might not see the difference between 90 k a week, and 100 k a week, but the extra 10 k might make one players choose a club over another. The fame associated with the club brings even more green (look at the Messi underwear advertisement, if not for his fame he would never have made those).

It is also not a hidden secret that the Spanish tax laws help high earners much, which makes Spain a popular destination economical wise. In truth, most big clubs can offer the same financial package of the two giants, but the Spanish tax laws makes a similar salary in Spain significantly larger than the same counterpart in Italy.

Both RM and Barca hence have a financial advantage over other clubs simply because of the favorable Spanish tax laws.

Glory:

This is simply the case for Barca, players want to go there to get a shot at some east trophy grabbing. Being the strongest club in the world, Barca guarantees silverware for its players, something Arsena, Milan, Inter, Juve, and even M.U and Chelsea can't guarantee. The rise of RM seems to give Barca the only challange to their La Liga dominance, and there is no danger to Barca choking a final against Birmingham (I hope I got the name right).

While the case for Barca is quite obvious, RM is a different scenario. Not winning anything except the Copa Del Ray for quite a while now, RM cannot guarantee a trophy, but they guarantee that they will always compete for one. Unlike counterparts in Italy an England, RM have a healthy debt situation, and hence are always able and wanting to reinforce regardless of the costs. This makes players relaxed at the prospect of winning. RM is a project made for winning, like Chelsea was, and Man C is. Unlike Arsenal, whose prudence in the transfer market cost them more than once, or Milan post 2007, where financial difficulties made them unable to compete.

The only factor against going to RM or Barca is the possibility of becoming a bench warmer,, and hence lose NT credit, but many are willing to forgo that for the chance to be a part of a winning team, and the green helps as well.

Logistical:

Spain is a really nice place, and being very much like South America in language and culture, Spanish is the preferred destination for South American talent (except Brazil). Players will always prefer Barcelona or Madrid over Manchester or Liverpool, and even London. While Italy is not as attractive language wise. Simply out if you are South American, you don't have to make any effort to adapt to Spain, and if you are not, then the sunny atmosphere and the laid back culture will help you adapt. This true for all Spanish sides.

However, there is a dark side when it comes to Spain, African players prefer other places because of the obvious racism, and the lack of effort to solving it. (Italy suffers as well, but the Italian Federation banns the fans on any suitable occasion).

Also, the pressure pot that is Madrid can make or break your career. Simply put, it is not nice being at Madrid and not playing well. And at Barca, the identity of the team always makes breaking into the team a chore. The vocal Madrid and Barca fans don't make the process of adapting easy for the players.

But then again, adapting under the Spanish sun is easier than under the rainy clouds.



Prestige:

This unquantifiable concept has always been Madrid's strongest pulling factor. Despite not being dominant for any lengthy amount of time during the last 20 years, Madrid could always pull talent its way from other team's radars. Somehow like the pre-Calciopoli Juve, but with an even stronger magnet. Players who like being the main men in their teams do not mind playing second fiddle in Madrid.

Barca, until recently did not have the same effect on players, but the influx of trophies cause their pretige stock to sky rocket, like the Milan of the early 90's.

Fans of other teams can argue that their teams are more prestigious, or that their history is more illustrative, but none of those teams market their prestige as good as Madrid (only the early 90's Milan, and the Moggi Juve comes close), and Barca markets theirs in the pitch.

In Conclusion:

Going to Barca or Madrid is shortcut to greatness for some players, they don't need to wait as much to become famous or wealthy. They don't need extra grit to earn trophies. And they don't need to do all of that in an unpleasant environment.

However, this creates a very boring situation where players will just gravitate away from their teams for those two.

The problem is not coming from the other leagues, but the Spanish league itself.
Yes Madrid and Barca are reaping the rewards, but the Spanish league is becoming increasingly uncompetitive, which makes the league easier to win for the two. Also, the tax laws are a huge loss of income for Spain, whose questionable economical practices are towing the country down.

What I see is a new breed of players like Sahin, who instead of developing into WC players methodically would jump ship to a new club out of fear they won't get another chance (if you are great, you will always get another chance).

Please don't take this as a dig at RM and Barca, I only intended to make an analysis of an increasing trend in football.

Discuss;

You wasted your precious time (or not depending on how much freetime you have) and mine as well
Nothing in your long text is new or of any interest. Even the conclusion has got loopholes
You think that Sahin can't be great therefore he was afraid that he wouldn't get another go at Real Madrid First of all, you never know, he could turn great... Second, maybe he wants competition and higher level of play Why label someone negative from the very start?

What club do you support / league follow, by the way ?

babun1024 wrote:You wasted your precious time (or not depending on how much freetime you have) and mine as well
Nothing in your long text is new or of any interest. Even the conclusion has got loopholes
You think that Sahin can't be great therefore he was afraid that he wouldn't get another go at Real Madrid First of all, you never know, he could turn great... Second, maybe he wants competition and higher level of play Why label someone negative from the very start?

Sorry you did not enjoy the thread, but I made it in bullet form at the beginning to exactly know what to expect from the thread, so you shouldn't have gotten in the first place.

Also, is is funny how you got this as an attack on Sahin and ignored all the other points. Sahin, unlike Ozil had CL football to play, and just gotten the bundesliga championship. He could have been the linchpin of a legacy. Like Owen could have been 10 years ago.

I agree with everthing here except for one little detail.

You do have to make an effort to go to Spain if you're not Brazilian or Argentinian.

Fantastic post Lord Spencer once again.

I agree with every word of it, despite being a Barca fan. I also liked the way you broke it up into bullet points so people like me feel like they are reading something small and digestible

I hope all the points you made while valid dont go over people's head.

+1 for you.

It's not that it's bad, actually a good read but it's something that has been said and written before. This of course, looks like it's free of bias undertones from either a Madrid or Barca perspective which makes it even better.

As for Sahin, he did what he thought was the best thing for his career. He could have stayed but he chose to go. Anyone of your points you brought up could have been a factor. It also could have been none.

babun1024 wrote:What club do you support / league follow, by the way ?

This may sound awfully cliche, but I am a fan of football first, then a fan of Serie A.

I also support Milan, and have been a fan of Dortmund in the old days, and still am.

Also, i know some if not all of this have been said before, but I never pretended to have some secret knowledge, and only wanted to shed some light on the points.

And being a football fan, wanted the opinions of other football fans on other pulling factors, and/or methods other clubs can improve their pulling factors.

I am sure that even Madrid and Barca fans would like more competition from other clubs, a two team CL is not fun to watch.

Again, I am not attacking La Liga, I just want parity back between the leagues for the sake of competition. Of course, tactics and youth policies and many other factors are involved in that, but club charm is the topic. I hope other topics on the other subjects are made.

Any player would prefer barca or madrid over any other club. RM players and Ozil keeps repeating these words "I'm a winner, I came here to win trophies". Now barca's new players are repeating the same line.

Good effort and i agree with most.

Good read.Would be great if similar article can be written on Seria A.

BeautifulGame wrote:Good read.Would be great if similar article can be written on Seria A.

It would be the opposite article then;

"An analysis on the diminishing pull of the Serie A giants"

When City sign Aguero its money oriented, when Madrid sign Kaka and Cr7 yet only match the trophy haul of Birmingham City...its cause everyone wants to play for them.

All the galaticos have 1 thing in common..no other club would match their fee. no magic, no allure...just that.

If Madrid sign Cr7 for 25m cause he forced a move due to love..then well talk.
Its like every..and i mean every...new city signing saying theres 1 club in Manchester...its pre meditated BS.
Every Madrid unveiling has the same thing...a youngster breaking through the security to embrace Madrids new star, and a pic of them kissing the badge.
6 years ago, Kun wouldve moved to Real for 30 odd million and wed be talking about Madrids appeal, now City are about and thats changed.

Lord Spencer wrote:

babun1024 wrote:What club do you support / league follow, by the way ?

This may sound awfully cliche, but I am a fan of football first, then a fan of Serie A.

Oh, nice, another Barca fan!

I kid... I kid... sort of?

Anyways, while your analysis is quite correct and it takes a lot of important things into account, I also agree with the general impression that it's nothing new. It's more of a description than tackling a problem. Unless people didn't know that footballers chose spain for culture, language, weather, and prestige before?

Also, you say some African players chose not to go to Spain because of the racism, but I can't come up with a single case where a player simply left Spain because of the racism. Not saying it's not a problem, just that your point about that is unsupported to my knowledge

This is just recycled english tabloid talk.

Whatsup with english hate on madrid anyways? Is it cause we stole the lights away from english football for so long? we got beckham and owen? I dont get it.

There's a lot to hate

Lord Spencer wrote:

babun1024 wrote:What club do you support / league follow, by the way ?

This may sound awfully cliche, but I am a fan of football first, then a fan of Serie A.

Make an analysis on Seria a if you have time to spare That would be more interesting because Real/ Barca topics are covered in more than one ways. We miss guys for Bundesliga, Serie A and little bit for EPL

BarrileteCosmico wrote:There's a lot to hate

Alfred, always sentences with more than a single meaning There's a lot to hate on Farca as well

I find Manchester fans hate Real Madrid quite a lot, because of Beckham, RVN, Cristiano, even Heinze lol.

yo man, i just spent 10k each on hooker after hooker and more keep calling...
Women love me dawg, i wonder whats so appealing about me?....

*whips out another 100k*

Yo, before i started spending ridiculous amounts of money on women circa 99, my biggest catch was a scouse escort called stephanie mc manaman and that bitch was on a free , but since i got all this money, its every womens dream to be with me.
I guess my families history and success in the 50s and 60s onlycame to light in 99 cause before that, we aint sign any high profile 5hit.

Must be the history that attracts the honeys...

About Sahin case;

Sahin left becouse Real Madrid is a prestigous club, Mou has been following him all season so obviously he is in Mous plans, and Özil and him are really close friends.

To be honest I'd jump the ship like him to Real Madrid too even if I wasn't a Real Madrid fan.

Nothing weird and I don't see anything wrong with players who leave for the best clubs in Europe.

Thread where one of the following words is used; Messi, Ronaldo, Barca, Madrid. Created by a third party asking a question. Laced with sarcasm by the second page.

I know how this works out!

Thread cataclysm imminent in 3. . . 2. . . 1. . .

cyberman wrote:yo man, i just spent 10k each on hooker after hooker and more keep calling...
Women love me dawg, i wonder whats so appealing about me?....

*whips out another 100k*

Yo, before i started spending ridiculous amounts of money on women circa 99, my biggest catch was a scouse escort called stephanie mc manaman and that bitch was on a free , but since i got all this money, its every womens dream to be with me.
I guess my families history and success in the 50s and 60s onlycame to light in 99 cause before that, we aint sign any high profile 5hit.

Must be the history that attracts the honeys...

:lol!: Brilliantly put.

cyberman wrote:yo man, i just spent 10k each on hooker after hooker and more keep calling...
Women love me dawg, i wonder whats so appealing about me?....

*whips out another 100k*

Yo, before i started spending ridiculous amounts of money on women circa 99, my biggest catch was a scouse escort called stephanie mc manaman and that bitch was on a free , but since i got all this money, its every womens dream to be with me.
I guess my families history and success in the 50s and 60s onlycame to light in 99 cause before that, we aint sign any high profile 5hit.

Must be the history that attracts the honeys...

Lol its funny how your acting as if macca was nothing of a player.

99? wasnt that the year u switched from city or sunderland wherever ur from to yanited?

There is a reason Kaka didnt go to city but went to madrid, there is a reason why ozil didnt go to inter but went to madrid. Both those clubs offered more money.

Your article is valid on Latin and Spanish speaking players with similar culture and language.

But not every player is like that. Say, Eastern Europeans, people from the Balkans, English, Germans and most Italians. Most of them prefer to stay at home, and bypass all the prestige and BS, although I admit they are already earning tons of money... If they weren't, it might just be different (Chiellini and Rooney, 2 players linked with Madrid as an example).

I think the main factor nowadays is money more than anything.

Sushi Master wrote:Your article is valid on Latin and Spanish speaking players with similar culture and language.

But not every player is like that. Say, Eastern Europeans, people from the Balkans, English, Germans and most Italians. Most of them prefer to stay at home, and bypass all the prestige and BS, although I admit they are already earning tons of money... If they weren't, it might just be different (Chiellini and Rooney, 2 players linked with Madrid as an example).

I think the main factor nowadays is money more than anything.

Venezuela had a good showing in Copa America Did you guys move up in fifa rankings?