FIFA president Sepp Blatter's hypocrisy was again exposed in his
latest attack on the popularity of the Premiership.
Blatter called Real Madrid's
eye-watering £80million deal for Manchester United star Cristiano
Ronaldo "good for football", but has once again hit out at the
Premier League's spending power.
Madrid have already sanctioned spending of almost £150m this
summer - a figure which will almost certainly rise - with a spree
supported by huge bank loans.
Yet it is the way clubs operate in England that has the Swiss
football chief angry.
"There are big associations, like France, Germany and Spain
where there is a by-law that the owners of the club must be at
least 51 per cent from the club," said Blatter. "They must be
members of the club or partners from the same country.
"This does not exist in the Premier League and it is a problem
we have to address."
Blatter was reacting to Manchester City's massive bid for
Barcelona ace Samuel Eto'o.
Yet, the comments are in contrast to the way Blatter greeted
news that Manchester United had accepted Madrid's world-record bid
for Ronaldo.
At the time, Blatter said: "Cristiano Ronaldo's signing is good
for football. It shows the market of the sport is healthy despite
the world financial crisis.
"This means our product is still good. This is the people's
sport and they need stars. The transfer will cost a lot of money,
but it shows that there is still demand for a football star.
"We should be allowed to be generous about this. This market is
very sensitive because there is a financial crisis, but the
football market is still a good one."