The Daily Bee (February 19th, 2018): UEFA report shows salary differences

• UEFA report

A recent UEFA report has brought to light a few interesting facts about the top European clubs. It gives an overview over ownership, sponsorship, revenues, spectators, profitability and debt, etc. of all the clubs. However one of the most interesting part of the report is the salary paid by every club in 2016 and it shows the shockingly big differences between clubs and might explain why the gap between the team seems to be getting bigger.

According to the report Borussia Dortmund paid 140€ million in salaries in 2016, 13th most together with Tottenham Hotspur. Atletico is in 15th place with 137€ million and AS Roma in 12th with 156€ million. As expected Bayern Munich is the top Bundesliga club in 8th place with 270€ million, meaning the gap between BVB and them (130€ mil.) is almost as big as BVB’s total salary. The third and only other Bundesliga club in the top 20 is VfL Wolfsburg in 16th with 134€ million.

The top 5 are: 1. FC Barcelona (372€ mil.) - 2. Manchester United (321€ mil.) - 3. Real Madrid (307€ mil.) - 4. Chelsea FC (298€ mil.) - 5. Manchester City (294€ mil.)

A list for this season would probably change things around a bit considering how clubs like PSG and Manchester City have gone on spending sprees recently.

• Questionable transfer rumors

In today’s edition of “English tabloids making up stuff” we have two very special new rumors, one of them being a Pulisic-Batshuayi swap and the other one about Weigl to City.

Let’s start at the beginning: As we all know Michy Batshuayi has looked phenomenal since joining the black and yellows and BVB will probably look to convert his loan into a permanent move this summer. This definitely won’t be cheap, Dortmund will have to break their transfer record to sign him. These circumstances are good enough for the Daily Mail to speculate about a potential swap-deal involving Christian Pulisic.

Meanwhile the Mirror is claiming Manchester City is currently scouting Julian Weigl because of Pep’s wish to add another midfielder to the squad. According to the report BVB would be willing to start negotiating if an offer of 40£ million (~45€ million).

To be honest both of those rumors don’t make any sort of sense. Dortmund have absolutely no pressure to sell those two considering their contracts, Pulisic until 2020 and Weigl until 2021. BVB have sold their players in the past but mostly because they had no real leverage because the players either had a release clause (Götze), left on a free transfer (Lewandowski), were in the last year of their contract (Hummels, Gündogan, Mkhitaryan) or were an off-field distraction (Dembélé, Aubameyang). Neither Pulisic, nor Weigl are in any of these situations and I doubt they would go on strike like Dembélé. In addition Pulisic is probably worth more than Batshuayi and Weigl for 45€ million in the current market is just laughable.

Daily Buzz: Would you swap Pulisic for Bats?