The Invasion of Inglaterra

Back when Fernando Torres was lighting up the pitch with Liverpool a funny Nike commercial showed the Kop faithful learning Spanish, eating tapas and embracing all things Spain (check it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8cDvm26VYI). Press fast forward and today the Spaniards are the hottest commodity in the EPL with last season’s PFA best player nominee, Juan Mata attesting to the recent influx of Spanish talent. To add to the hype, Spain’s national team is currently having its golden years and that means scouting on the Iberian Peninsula. However, with their beautiful futbol sala and tiki taka style, how is it that Spanish players are able to heat up a league known for its heavy tackling and long forward plays? Well for starters, Spanish players adapt well because there’s more space to control and dribble the ball in the EPL. Spaniards are taught to play with very little space, so their technically gifted abilities are allowed to flourish. Meanwhile, some EPL fans criticize the Spaniards and the modern game in that many of these players get rewarded for diving while once acceptable tackles are now disciplined. The modern game does favor the Spanish players, but really all nationalities have their divers and just because the EPL is more of a tackle minded league that doesn’t mean the Spaniards are at fault. They sometimes are too technical with the ball leaving the defender with only the option of a last minute tackle to stop the run of play. Still, why is it that these quick pass and go players choose to play in the EPL instead of their homeland? One of the many reasons is economy and bargain really. As of late, Spain as a country has had financial issues. This reflects on the majority of LA Liga clubs’ budgets, which aren’t able to accommodate rising players’ wages nor are they able to invest heavily on lucrative transfers. Apart from the big two (Barcelona and Real Madrid), the rest of the pack rely on selling their talent, so their budgets can stay stable. The recent influx of Spaniards also came, as a result of, players costing very little for such a high level of quality. For example, Swansea’s Michu is the ideal player in that he only cost the club around 2 million pounds while scoring 22 goals in all competitions his first season. The man responsible for this is Swansea’s Danish coach Michael Laudrup, who played with Barcelona in the 90s and coached Mallorca in LA Liga. While back in 2004, the first real major presence of Spaniards came when Rafael Benitez arrived at Anfield from Valencia. He brought super Spanish talents to Liverpool like Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Fernando Morientes, Fernando Torres and countless other gifted playmakers winning the Champions League and FA Cup. Today however, with all this talent some observers believe that this is just a temporary bargain hunt and eventually a new nation will emerge with pure talent at low costs. Already there’s a boom of Belgian talent flooding the English game. Still, the figures show Spanish players are currently second regarding foreign playing time in the EPL with a little over six percent, while the French have the most playing minutes after English players. With over 50 Spanish players currently on the roster sheet of all the EPL clubs, it’s quite a surge since the 92’ inception of the current league format, which only included one Spanish player, Nayim with Tottenham. This season’s new group of Spanish talents like Alvaro Negredo and even the not so well adapted Roberto Soldado are already starting players for their clubs. A player like Negredo is starting to find his footing to shine for Man City, which can only mean the EPL hunt will still continue throughout Spain as English clubs try to find the next mighty matadors of football.