Spanish Primera Liga looks more than ever like two horse race

The imminent signing of Real Sociedad's Spain Under-21 international midfielder, Asier Illaramendi, for Real Madrid has once again thrown into the spotlight the worrying imbalance in Spain's BBVA Primera Liga.Illaramendi is expected to put pen to paper on a deal with Real Madrid before this Thursday in a deal worth 30 million euros (38.5 million US dollars) to become Madrid's third signing of the summer, along with his Under-21 companion, Isco, who joined on a similar fee from Malaga, and full back, Javier Carvajal.These transfers along with Madrid's decision to pay 6 million euros to retain the services of Brazilian loanee, Casimiro, mean that Real Madrid have spent 72 million euros so far this summer.BBVA Champions FC Barcelona have so far only made one signing, but they spent big to bring Brazilian ace Neymar to the Camp Nou Stadium on a deal with between 50-70 million euros and more signings are sure to come in the coming weeks.Isuzu Auto Parts ' This contrasts sharply with the experience of the remaining 18 clubs in Spain's top flight, starting with third place Atletico Madrid, who have sold top scorer Radamel Falcao to Monaco for 60 million euros, while as mentioned above, fourth placed Real Sociedad are on the point of losing their best player to Real Madrid, who last season finished 29 points above them.Last season almost bucked a trend of Barca and Madrid running away with the league, given that Atletico Madrid finished 'just' nine points behind second place Real Madrid and 'just' 24 points behind Barca.Saying that, Madrid scored 103 goals and Barca 115: 33 and 45 more than the third highest scorers or the season, (Real Sociedad) and 38 and 50 more than Atletico... Barca and Madrid didn't just win games, they won by big margins.The 2011-21 season saw Valencia finish third, 30 points behind second place (Barca) and 39 behind that season's champions (Madrid). 

In 2010-11, Valencia were again third, 21 points behind second and 25 off the champions, while the previous year, Valencia were against third, 25 points off second place and 28 off the title.Malaga, who finished sixth, have seen their squad dismantled with Joaquin, Martin Demichelis, Roque Santa Cruz, Javier Saviola and coach Manuel Pellegrini all leaving, while seventh placed Betis have seen an exodus with key players Benat Etxebarria and Jose Canas among the departures.Rayo Vallecano produced a heroic season to finish eighth, but half of their squad, including top scorers, Leo Baptistao and Piti have gone, while ninth placed Sevilla have been forced to sell star winger Jesus Navas to Manchester City with striker Alvaro Negredo likely to follow him to England.Virtually the only club apart from Barca and Madrid to spend over five million euros on a player is Athletic Club Bilbao,velour tracksuits wholesale who spend between 8-11 million euros on buying Benat from Betis and 4 million euros on former Osasuna striker Kike Sola, but Athletic only have the money because last season midfielder Javi Martinez joined Bayern Munich for 40 million euros and this season striker Fernando Llorente left for free after deciding against signing a new deal.Looking at that panorama, it seems almost certain that the gap between Barca and Madrid and the rest of the league will be at least 20 points if not more in the coming season.The fact that Barca and Madrid have for the past few years earned between them over 50 percent of the money paid for TV rights in the Primera Liga, is clearly a major factor in this imbalance, while the overall effects of the economic crisis are also a factor as attendances have dropped in almost all of Spain's grounds, a fact not helped by having 10 different kick off times to allow the television to show every game live.What the crisis has done is show the poor housekeeping of Spain's clubs,cheap mens clothing wholesale which was highlighted in a study carried out in 2010 by Jose Maria Gay de Liebana from the University of Barcelona, which put the overall debt of Spanish football at 4,021 million euros.Last year saw Spain's Congress confirm that clubs owe 752 million euros to the Treasury and although that has probably fallen over the past 12 months,cheap men's polo wholesale it has done so at the expense most clubs losing their best players.Lululemon Women's PantsOverall wage bills for the coming season in the Primera Liga are likely to fall by around 20 percent, but that fall will not affect Barca and Madrid, but the sides who are trying to catch up. If the race for the Spanish league title was a handicap, it is the chasing pack who are being hampered.The 2003-4 season saw Valencia crowned league champions, since then the title has been shared between Barca and Madrid, given the current situation there is no way that can change, so prepare yourselves for another two horse race and that is worrying, because where is the interest in watching walkover after walkover? and so far the Spanish have yet to find a way to have a 'Barca-Madrid 'Clasico every weekend.