Don't believe the hype, the Premier League is NOT the best in the world... Luis Suarez, James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Co all know it

• With James Rodriguez and Luis Suarez moving to La Liga, can the Premier League be considered the best in the world?
• The 'peak' of a player's game is now regarded as performing at Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich
• Bale and Modric moved from Spurs, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano and Suarez left Liverpool and Ronaldo departed Manchester United
• Television companies feed us hype, but we know deep down the Premier League is no longer the pinnacle of the game
• Matt Prior's level of media scrutiny is trivial, but much more relevant is to ask why he was playing Test cricket with a torn quad?
• The London Olympics has generated a £14.2bn trade boost over two years

By Patrick Collins

Published: 16:30 EST, 26 July 2014 | Updated: 07:20 EST, 27 July 2014

When James Rodriguez signed his contract with Real Madrid, scarcely an eyebrow was raised. Of course, £60million is a massive transfer fee, especially when the attendant  salary exceeds £5m a year.

But the young Colombian said he was desperate to play for Real and we instinctively believed him. They are champions of Europe, they have a team which reads like a litany of sorcerers and they are, well, they are Real Madrid. Who wouldn’t want to play for such a club?

VIDEO Scroll down to watch great footage of James Rodriguez and Robert Lewandowski

Major coup: James Rodriguez, the top scorer at the World Cup, moved to Real Madrid earlier in the week

Summer loss: Luis Suarez, the Premier League's Player of the Year, left Liverpool for Barcelona

Hype: The Premier League has long been heralded as the best league in the world, but are we told a lie?

James Rodriguez saves pitch invader from heavy-handed security

Rodriguez is prodigiously gifted but so are most of his new colleagues. And so he walked into a dressing  room containing Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric and he hoped to catch  the manager’s eye. He is likely to make the starting  line-up but his place  cannot be guaranteed.

When he has served his well-merited suspension, Luis Suarez will experience a  similar process at Barcelona.

This is the club which, under Pep Guardiola, took its football from the gods and now its standard-bearers include Lionel Messi, Neymar Jnr, Javier Mascherano and Andres Iniesta.

Suarez has never seemed short of self-belief but even his ego may be daunted by such company. Like Rodriguez, he has no concrete assurance of first-team football.

Bayern Munich, whose players formed the framework of  Germany’s World Cup-winning team, are less obviously dazzling than the Spanish clubs but this enduringly impressive side has added the coveted striker Robert Lewandowski to a squad whose strength extends from the world’s finest goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, through Bastian Schweinsteiger and on to Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Mario Gotze.

So Real, Barcelona and Bayern are the finest teams in world and European football and such are their standards that only the  very best are invited to join  the magic circle. Hence the recruitment of Rodriguez, Suarez and Lewandowski.

All three men want to play at the peak of the game. And when they turned their eyes to that peak, not a single  English football club was in sight.

Naturally, finance is a factor since such players and, more  pertinently, their agents are never knowingly under-paid. But if it were merely a matter of money, then who could bring more to the table than Sheik Mansour at Manchester City, Roman Abramovich at Chelsea or the improbable Glazers at Old Trafford?

No, there are other, less tangible, considerations, and the pursuit of excellence stands high among them.

There comes a point where even extreme affluence is taken for granted, where status and  satisfaction are the motivating  factors. And currently, such aspirations cannot be fulfilled at English clubs. Consider the career path of some of those names.

Bale and Modric moved from Spurs, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano and Suarez left Liverpool and Ronaldo departed Manchester United.

Rich: If the game was about bringing money to the table, who could bring more than Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City (left) or Roman Abramovich at Chelsea (right), but other factors define a league's excellence

Star: Ronaldo is paraded in 2009 in front of a packed Berbabeu after his move from Manchester United

Silverware galore: Real are Europe's most successful team, winning their tenth European Cup last season

The peak: The likes of Messi and Neymar are likely to be rooted in La Liga for the majority of their career

Each man made the requisite noises of gratitude and regret  but they did not delay their departures. For they now play on stages which deserve their talents and our loss is Europe’s gain.

In three weeks the Premier League season will recommence; some would suggest it never really ceased, others, more impressionable, will be counting down the days.

Irksome irrelevances like Test cricket and international track and field will be brusquely cast aside, while the delights of Stoke and Crystal Palace will be ardently embraced.

Already, the hucksters of Sky Sports are babbling breezy promises of ‘the most eagerly-awaited Premier League season in years’, with ‘must-see shows’ in ‘stunning new studios’.

And we prepare for month upon frenzied month of Super Sundays, Magic Mondays and bland platitudes uttered by dull men in sharp suits.

Much of the football will be exciting, some will be enthralling, but all will be presented as the real thing, the genuine article, ‘the best league in the world’. And we know the claim to be a nonsense.

Robert Lewandowski scores an incredible goal vs Monchengladbach

Only one option: Real and Barcelona are the finest in world and European football, joined by Bayern Munich, who recently signed Robert Lewandowski (above), a striker who wants to play at the peak of the game

Competing: The Premier League had seven Champions League finalists between 2005 and 2012

We have known it for years but our convictions have been  reinforced by the performance of the national team just a few weeks ago in Brazil. We may love the sport, for its faults as well as its many virtues. But we are tired of being lied to, year after year.

For what we shall be watching, from late summer through to early spring, is something which falls several steps short of excellence.

The finest expression of a glorious game is not to be found in these islands. Outstanding players like Suarez, Bale and Ronaldo know the truth of that statement. And so, deep down, do we.

Galactico: Bale was made the world's most expensive player in 2013 when he moved to La Liga

David Beckham returns to Real Madrid and meets Gareth Bale

Reunited: Luka Modric (left) and Gareth Bale (right) moved to La Liga despite interest elsewhere

 

Prior and his pals need a reality check

As one more chance evaded the gloves of Matt Prior last week, a former England cricketer stared down in bewilderment.

‘What’s he doing out there when he’s clearly not fit?’, he asked. Prior himself conceded the point after the Lord’s Test.

He said he had torn his right quad before the first Test of the series, that his right hand had been ‘beaten to a pulp’ and that he needed an operation on his Achilles.

‘I’m not doing justice to myself and, more importantly, the team’, he concluded. None of which answered the old cricketer’s question.

Grounded: Prior puts down a regulation chance off India danger man Virat Kohli

At this point, his most raucous defender said some rather foolish things. Mark Robinson, manager of Prior’s county of Sussex, first endorsed the admission of unfitness: ‘He didn’t go in with the best health,’ he said. ‘But Matt is a warrior, he is a tough guy and for him to say enough is enough, then he must be hurting’.

He then decided to blame the messengers. ‘The media have hunted him mercilessly. Everybody scrutinises every move he makes. It almost makes it impossible for him to do his job.’

Now, the dreaded ‘media’ may have all manner of faults but the idea that Prior has been mercilessly hunted is simply tosh. In truth, there are footballers out there who crave Prior’s trivial level of media scrutiny.

Much more relevant are the fitness questions raised by the player and his hapless advocate. Why was he playing Test cricket with a torn right quad? Why did it take him so long to discover that he was not doing justice to himself or the team?

Glum: England wicketkeeper Matt Prior on the balcony at Lord's last week

And when was it deemed acceptable for an England wicket-keeper to start a match, knowing that he is not in ‘the best health’.

Matt Prior has given England distinguished service. Hopefully, he has still more to offer. And Mark Robinson, his devoted admirer, knows precisely what must be done: ‘He can take stock of himself, do what he needs to do on his Achilles and get himself ready to properly put his name in the ring,’ he declared.

Which is surely what he should have done before the series started

 

PS

Iago Aspas, once of Liverpool and now on loan to Sevilla, is a bosom chum of the serial biter Luis Suarez. And he is outraged by FIFA’s decision to suspend Suarez from all football activities for four months, along with a nine-match international ban, following his celebrated assault during the World Cup.

‘They are treating Luis like a murderer and not like a footballer,’ he protests. ‘There are murderers who pay less [for what they have done].’

In defence: Spanish forward Aspas (left) is unveiled after going on loan to Sevilla from Liverpool

Ousted: Suarez was given a four-month suspension from all football related activities

Unlike Senor Aspas, I have little knowledge of Spanish penal policy. But I have discovered that 242 homicides were recorded in Spain last year.

And of those convicted, not one was sentenced to stay home and keep fit, while continuing to earn £200,000 every week.

 

PPS

Overwhelming enthusiasm, titanic competition and the glowing satisfaction of a glorious festival; this sporting nation has seen nothing to compare with the Olympics of 2012.

We assumed they would come at a price but we were convinced that price was worth paying. Now we learn, from a Government report, that the Games have generated a £14.2bn boost in trade and investment over the past two years.

This staggering figure is some £3bn ahead of target, in half the projected time. New contracts have been won, overseas investment by foreign firms has soared, tourism is up by six per cent, one million people have visited Olympic Park and more people than ever before are playing sport. Britain believed in her Olympics and the Games of 2012 are rewarding that faith.

Blossomed: Britain believed in the Olympic Games in 2012, and their faith is being rewarded

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