Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed that he is preparing a proposal for a new European league in the wake of the previous failed Super League plan.
Tottenham, as well as the five other ‘big six’ clubs, were among the 12 teams who signed up for the breakaway competition.
However, all six Premier League clubs were forced to withdraw from the tournament following a wave of fan protests, with Tottenham subsequently issuing an apology to the fans for signing up to the league without consulting the supporters.
The idea of the Super League now appears dead with only three of the initial 12 clubs – Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, still interested in making the idea a reality.
However, De Laurentiis has now proposed another pan-Europen league based on merit rather than the earlier proposal, which guaranteed 12 teams a place in the competition irrespective of their performances in their domestic leagues.
The Napoli owner told The Daily Mail: “The system doesn’t work anymore.
“The Champions and Europa League don’t generate sufficient income for the clubs to justify participating in it.
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“To be competitive, you need more top-class players. That means you have to spend more money — and the prize money from the European competitions doesn’t account for that.
“That is why the clubs need to speak to each other to come up with a more modern and lucrative tournament for everyone in it.”
De Laurentiis insisted on the importance of changing the current European football structure in order to make the game financially sustainable and to improve the quality of the product.
He added: “We need to reduce the number of games by reducing the size of the top divisions across Europe.
“Also, we create a European league with a democratic system of entry, based on what teams achieve in their domestic competitions.
“I have examined a project ready to bring €10billion (£8.5billion) to the European game, but we need willingness and total independence.
“If we don’t change the rules of the game and make it a better spectacle, young people will abandon us and football will no longer be the central part of our lives.”
Spurs Web Opinion
It is understandable why Italian, Spanish and French clubs are desperate to completely revamp the system given the state of their finances.
However, I see no reason for English clubs to jump on the bandwagon as the Premier League continues to be a very strong product and its growth does not show any signs of slowing down.
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