Manchester United star Juan Mata has made a bold statement to the media about his financial status. The Spaniard has admitted that he is not a fan of the business aspect of football.
Speaking on Spanish news show Salvados he said, “I don’t enjoy the business side of football. I love the game. I love training and competing. I’d happily take a pay cut if there was less business involvement in the sport.”
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The Premier League has the ability to attract some of the world’s top talent because of its financial power. Apart from Real Madrid, Barcelona and to some extent Atletico Madrid, the other Spanish clubs cannot dream of offering the wages that clubs in the EPL dish out.
Mata claims the money he earns in England is almost too good to be true. "Football is very well remunerated at this level. It’s like we live in a bubble. With respect to the rest of society, we earn a ridiculous amount. It’s unfathomable. With respect to the world of football, I earn a normal wage” he said.
“But compared to 99.9% of Spain and the rest of the world, I earn an obscene amount. The barometer we use for measuring our salaries is comparing them to those of our team-mates and what other players are earning elsewhere” added the midfielder.
Premier league clubs are able to afford these high salary caps because of the huge media coverage English football receives. The EPL is the most watched league in the world and that sort of status comes with its ridiculously lucrative benefits.
From next season, every club in the Premier League is reportedly set to receive at least a £100 million in TV money thanks to the new deals that have been signed between the Premier League and the TV broadcasters. Italian and Spanish football unfortunately, cannot boast such contracts.
Mata was very frank in his opinion about wages and the kind of life a footballer lives.”I live in one[a bubble]. Real life is the one my friends live. They’ve had to look for work, sign on to the dole and emigrate. That’s normal life now. My life as a footballer is not normal.”
The 27-year-old lives a very comfortable life but at the same time, he is disturbed by the comfort of fame saying, “It scares me sometimes to think about just how protected I am. The smallest problem and someone will come and fix it for me. That’s one of the aspects in which we don’t live a normal life.”
