From a financial perspective, the place to be these days isn’t the Champions League, it’s the English top flight.

Prize money for reaching the group stages of Europe’s top club competition is now a guaranteed £13m. Starting this season, last spot in the Premiership nets you a cool £29m.  The top clubs, of course, get way more than that and Champions League income to boot. 

It’s no wonder players are eager to ditch regular Champions League participants like Shakhtar Donetsk, Fenerbahçe or Lyon to play for sides who haven’t a hope of challenging for the English title or even making the top four.  These players are coming for a pay day, and who can blame them?  I certainly don’t.  Footballers don’t have long careers – take what you can get!  And it’s not just players – look how much Tottenham offered to entice Ramos from Sevilla.  You can guess who the world’s highest paid international manager is, too.  

The recent exploits of England’s big four in the Champions League have led many to talk about a new English domination of Europe.  We’re not there yet (four quarter-finalists is a great start, but let’s wait for the final and see what happens in the next few years).  But when that all-English final does eventually happen, the question should really be ‘why has it taken this long?’

It seems to me that Premier League clubs have wasted an awful lot of money in the past.  In fact I’d go as far as to say that per pound spent, it must be one of the worst leagues around.  There’s nothing wrong with spending massive amounts on a player if it gets you somebody of the quality of Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres or Michael Essien – world class players who can change games.  The issue is further down the league, where big money is being spent – but not on big talents. 

The January transfer window saw the likes of Gary Cahill and Marlon King change hands for £5m each.  Don’t even get me started on Darren Bent for £16.5m last summer.  Foreign clubs are often only too keen to sell when they see the ridiculous sums on offer from English clubs (Fulham’s £4m bid for rarely-used Werder Bremen utility man Leon Andreasen springs to mind).   

I’d venture that England’s top four (rather than top one, two or eight – just to be clear) are better than a top four any other league could put forward.  But I’d equally wager that some foreign teams operating on a tenth of the budget are better than the likes of Middlesbrough or Sunderland. 

English clubs’ UEFA Cup record in recent years would suggest this is the case.  Sure, Boro made the final in 2006 but apart from Roma it’s not as if they beat sides of superior financial means.  Even Sevilla, who walloped them 4-0 in the final, probably had a smaller wage bill at the time.  Of course it's a cup competition, so anything can happen in any given year, but when the early elimination of English sides occurs every year it makes you wonder.   

Upon appointing a technical director to sort out his club’s transfers this summer, West Ham boss Alan Curbishley effectively admitted to squandering the best part of £40m on dud signings since taking over at Upton Park 15 months ago.  Sporting directors may be the answer, they may not.  There are both good and bad examples to look to.  It hasn’t traditionally worked very well in English football, but then these are hardly times when the Premier League is in a position to stress its ‘Englishness’.

Perhaps nowadays it’s impossible for managers to take care of on field matters as well as handling transfers and contract negotiations.  Even at the top, you have to admit that the likes of Rafa Benítez have generally bought poorly in England, with a couple of notable exceptions, while for every Ronaldo or Rooney Ferguson has picked you can counter with a Forlan or Veron.  These clubs may have been even stronger with a specialist in charge of player recruitment. 

Wenger is Wenger, but anyway it’s really not the top clubs who need to worry here:  For United or Chelsea it’s about getting the absolute best of world talent, regardless of the price.  If it gets you trophies, it's worth it.  It’s those sides lower down the league who are just throwing huge piles of cash at dubious or past-their-prime players, with very little consideration of their actions, who need to watch out.  Newcastle, a squad brimming with overpaid under-performers, are probably the biggest culprits at the moment: should they go down those ill-thought purchases could prove extremely costly. 

For the league as a whole, think about it like this: imagine how much more dominant English football could be if it spent its cash as wisely as many clubs on the continent (and yes, we all know there are some equally wasteful clubs abroad).  It’s scary to think what English football's true capabilities could be, but in a game where financial clout and success on the pitch are closely tied England currently punches below its weight.  Unless habits change, English football fans need to hope and pray all that money keeps on flooding in.

Chris Williams, Goal.com