Mario Balotelli has played just over 850 minutes for AC Milan this season.

Appearing 20 times—starting eight games in the Coppa Italia and Serie A—he has scored thrice; in the category of surprising (yet not-quite-surprising) stats, the centre-forward has more yellow cards than goals.

On loan from Liverpool, Balotelli was tasked with rapidly adjusting to Italian football once more after a turbulent 2014/15 with Brendan Rodgers’ side. Scoring a goal in his first start, there was hope the 25-year-old would comfortably assimilate back into the Rossoneri, but a sports hernia dented that progression.

Missing four months and 16 matches, many would look at Balotelli‘s statistics, add what they saw at Liverpool last season and conclude he has regressed beyond the point of salvation. That seems—based on the evidence—a premature assumption, but pretending decisions are not made off premature assumptions would be foolish.

Milan and Liverpool are entering the summer still debating where the Italian striker’s future lies. The Reds have changed managers, and Balotelli‘s languid, Dimitar Berbatov-esque style does not mesh well with Jurgen Klopp’s “gegenpressing” philosophy.

In that sense, it follows the former Inter Milan and Manchester City player would prefer to stay at the San Siro. Rory Brigstock-Barron of the Daily Mail reported Milan “want to keep” Balotelli, so some hope exists for the attacker. Where hope lacks, though, is the Italy national side.

Since Antonio Conte took over as Italy manager, Balotelli hasn’t featured. He received his debut and 32 additional caps under Cesare Prandelli’s reign, but since the 2014 FIFA World Cup, “Super Mario” has not been played by Juventus‘ former manager.

Still a bit of a stretch, but I feel if Balotelli could really impress over these final games, he has a shot to make the Euro squad.

— Raffaele (@ItalianoCalcio) 21 April 2016

Possibly Balotelli‘s best performances with the Italy national side came during UEFA Euro 2012. The then-21-year-old scored three goals in six matches, including a brace in the semi-final vs. Germany. Despite losing the final to Spain 4-0, he was earmarked for great success.

Projecting four years later, it would have been unimaginable in 2012—even as late as the 2014 World Cup—for Balotelli to miss Euro 2016, but it appears possible (edging closer to inevitable).

The notion is rather head-scratching. When looking at Italy’s centre-forward options, the AC Milan man, though struggling, is clearly more talented than the rest of his compatriots, but therein lies the problem: How long can Balotelli be given credit for what we think he can do?

His potential and obvious talent allowed him to walk into Prandelli’s side, but Conte is not so forthcoming, and Balotelli has done little to change hearts and minds—even if you consider injuries, suspensions and inconsistent versions of both Milan and Liverpool.

As a pragmatist, Chelsea‘s future head coach should consider taking Balotelli to France. Like everything related to the striker, it would be a gamble, but how many Italian centre-forward options have something special to unlock defences?

Graziano Pelle is not that man. Eder is not that man. Possibly the likes of Simone Zaza or Ciro Immobile are, but to the scale of Balotelli? No. 

Proven on international stages, one of the world’s best penalty takers and capable of dead-ball brilliance, surely Conte cannot leave for Euro 2016 without having Balotelli as a contingency strategy?

As for the player himself, time is rapidly running out.

Twenty-one turns to 25, which turns to 30 in the blink of an eye. Potential talent does not really count anymore; Balotelli must extract the best from himself and prove he warrants a spot in Italy’s 23-man roster—lest he be one that got away.

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*Stats via WhoScored.com; transfer fees via Soccerbase where not noted.

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Atletico Madrid have managed to remain competitive in La Liga and in Europe over the past few years despite a lot of changes to their team, with other clubs keen to sign their best players and youthful prospects for big money.

Throughout the tenure of manager Diego Simeone, there has remained in place a core of experienced heads who have made much of the spine of the team: Diego Godin, Tiago, Juanfran and captain Gabi, along with younger midfielder Koke, who have all contributed to the ongoing success Atleti have enjoyed.

While much of the rest of the team has been renovated and Atletico’s transfer activity now looks geared toward younger signings, Gabi has shown in the past few months he still has lots to give the first XI and can remain a core part of Simeone’s plans despite the new signings and the fact he turns 33 in summer.

Senior stars

Tiago and Gabi have made up the centrepiece of Atletico’s midfield for a number of seasons, but they’re not the only experienced players Simeone has relied upon. Filipe Luis and Juanfran at full-back are both in their 30s, as is Godin in defence and the rejuvenated Fernando Torres up front.

That’s just this season, though: Miranda was 29 when he left for Inter Milan, while last season’s attacking options included late-20s stars Raul Garcia, Mario Mandzukic and Arda Turan. Going further back, the likes of David Villa, Cristian Rodriguez, Emre, Diego Forlan and Simao, among others, all show Simeone’s preference to include senior components in his team alongside a few more talented, high-energy young players.

Only injury has finally broken up the Gabi-Tiago pivot this term, with the Portuguese playmaker suffering a broken leg in winter.

The emergence and importance of Saul thereafter and Koke’s excellent form when central in the last two months means Tiago could well find it extremely difficult to remain involved in the side after this summer.

Gabi: 2014 to 2016

If Tiago’s potential departure—given he is out of contract this summer—is to be accepted, there’s very little likelihood that Simeone won’t keep Gabi in place for at least one more season as a regular starter and captain.

The high-intensity requirements of Atletico’s game in midfield demand that he can keep up physically as well as tactically, and Gabi is rarely found wanting in that regard. This season, he started well, suffered a big drop-off in form and then has been back to his majestic destructive best since the turn of the year.

True, he occasionally seems to have spells in games where he gives the ball away, misses a challenge or has some other momentary lapse, but in fairness, Gabi isn’t an elite midfielder, merely an extremely good one.

He brings value to the team, which they would struggle to find elsewhere: aggression mixed with composure, incisive passes from deep alongside the capacity to surge into the right channel and combine play high upfield, and, of course, his indefatigable ability to win back possession.

If 2014 was his peak, and last season a worrying drop-off in his overall level, this season has shown Gabi still has much to give the club somewhere above a middle-ground of the two previous campaigns.

Renewal

Atletico’s midfield is in a rather fluid phase right now, both with personnel and set-up. It merges easily and impressively from a four-man line to a three-in-the-centre arrangement, with the versatility and intelligence of Saul and Koke a huge bonus for Simeone to be able to include.

The signings of Augusto Fernandez and Matias Kranevitter add depth and deliberation in the centre, but both rotate alongside Gabi, not instead of him.

The young homegrown duo can play offensively or defensively, wide or narrow, high upfield or alongside Gabi himself. They, Koke and Saul will be the fulcrum of Atleti’s changing mindset in games next season, but it’s near-certain that Gabi himself will hold it all together, marauding around the pitch, breaking up play and setting his team on their way once more—very likely toward further challenges for silverware.

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AC Milan’s season took another turn for the worse on Monday as they lost 2-1 away to Verona. It was a terrible result, one which damaged the team’s chances of a top-six finish and European qualification. However, were it not for the performance of Gianluigi Donnarumma, it could have been much worse.

The 17-year-old put on an outstanding display to ensure the Rossoneri were not embarrassed further by their hosts, who are bottom of Serie A and whose relegation was later confirmed by Carpi’s 1-0 win over Empoli.

Milan went ahead through a Jeremy Menez strike on 21 minutes, but they struggled to turn their possession into goals. Verona hit back in the second half with Giampaolo Pazzini equalising from the penalty spot following a handball by Alessio Romagnoli, before Luca Siligardi curled in a last-minute winner from a free-kick.

After the match, head coach Cristian Brocchi acknowledged that the showing was far below acceptable, telling Mediaset (h/t ESPN FC):

Whenever things start to get difficult for us, we struggle to play together and when that happens, it means you are not a team and you deliver some gruesome performances. I need to help the team respond and get out of this spell. You know how I am — I’m responsible. I represent this team and so I assume all the responsibility. We didn’t play well today; we got it all wrong and this defeat hurts us.

As a consequence of the defeat, Milan are now just one point clear of Sassuolo in the race for sixth place and qualification for the Europa League. But, with Donnarumma between the posts, they possess at least one player who can be relied upon.

The youngster has been consistency personified since breaking into the team earlier this season and put in his finest performance yet against Verona. He was called into action early, making a good stop from close range to deny Pazzini on eight minutes. And, as the game wore on, he was almost relentless in his efforts to keep a clean sheet.

That possibility was taken off the table when Milan conceded a penalty on 72 minutes—although Donnarumma guessed correctly and nearly saved that, too—and from then until the end of the match the goalkeeper had to be on his toes simply to keep the score down.

According to Opta Paolo, “Milan faced 28 shots…12 of which were on target—both are negative records for the Rossoneri this term.” These tallies were the products of a disorganised team and a leaky defensive line, but the Rossoneri shot-stopper was in defiant form, reeling off save after save.

He was eventually beaten a second time by Siligardi’s last-gasp free-kick, but by that time he had already shown his class. Indeed, WhoScored.com gave him its man of the match award with a rating of 8.77.

After the match, Verona boss Luigi Delneri spoke about the ‘keeper’s influence on proceedings, when talking to Premium Sport (h/t Football Italia). “We were much more aggressive, but we had more scoring chances and we were up against a great Donnarumma,” he said.

Monday’s outing wasn’t the first time during his debut season that Donnarumma has saved Milan; he put in a similarly resolute display in his team’s 0-0 draw at home to Atalanta last November. According to Squawka.com, he ranks fourth in Serie A in terms of goalkeeping performance per 90 minutes, behind only Inter Milan’s Samir Handanovic, Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon and Roma’s Wojciech Szczesny.

It is this form that has propelled him from novice to genuine contender for Antonio Conte’s Italy squad ahead of this summer’s UEFA European Championships in France. With Genoa’s Mattia Perin out through injury, he may well be called in to act as back-up to Buffon and Salvatore Sirigu, per MilanNews.it (h/t Calciomercato).

An Azzurri call-up would be just rewards for what has been an incredible maiden campaign for the player. While still not entirely comfortable on the ball, his gangly stature is combined with an increasing confidence when coming for aerial balls, and his reflexes are exceptional.

At 17 years of age, Donnarumma could still reasonably be labelled a prospect. But against Verona, he once again confirmed that he is already so much more than that for Milan.

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Juventus clinched the 2015-16 Serie A title on Monday following Napoli‘s 1-0 loss against AS Roma, winning their fifth consecutive Italian title. 

The Old Lady overcame early-season adversity and the departures of several key figures to put together one of the best runs in club history, locking up the title with weeks to spare.

The team confirmed the news of their title on Monday:

The Bianconeri lost star midfielders Arturo Vidal and Andrea Pirlo during the summer, as well as forward Carlos Tevez, and they started their title defence in the worst possible way, winning just one of their first five Serie A contests.

Injuries to Sami Khedira and Claudio Marchisio didn’t help, and just a few weeks into the campaign, it looked as if Juventus’ impressive run of dominance in Serie A would end.

But the emergence of young forward Paulo Dybala, who joined the club from Palermo during the summer, signalled a quick change in fortunes. A key win over rivals Torino, thanks to a last-minute goal from loanee Juan Cuadrado, started Juventus’ rise up the standings.

Here are the highlights of that match:

With Khedira and Marchisio returning to form and Paul Pogba overcoming an early-season slump, Juventus returned to their dominant ways and went on a 15-match win streak that lasted up until a scoreless draw with Bologna in February.

Per ESPN FC’s Mina Rzouki, it marked the second-longest win streak in Serie A history, with only Inter Milan doing better in the 2006-07 campaign.

Manager Massimiliano Allegri never cared one bit about the run, however. Per Goal, he told reporters he only had the title on his mind back in January:

I do not care. I’d like to go for 20 straight wins, but even then maybe we would not win the Scudetto.

The run is proving successful, although I did not expect it happen so quickly. There are still 16 games left, but we are in a good period and now we have to continue like this and improve further.

But Juventus wasn’t the only club winning matches in bunches. Led by the ridiculous scoring form of Gonzalo Higuain, Napoli kept hold of the top spot in the standings for much of the season, setting up the biggest contest of the campaign, one week before Juventus would drop points against Bologna.

The Partenopei travelled to Turin for a potential title-decider and put together a valiant effort, but a wonder goal from Simone Zaza handed the Old Lady the three points and top spot in the standings. Here are the highlights of that match:

Earlier in the contest, star defender Leonardo Bonucci prevented Napoli from taking the lead by making a key interception on Higuain. Per Bleacher Report’s Adam Digby, it may have been just as important as Zaza’s strike:

The win proved to be the turning point of the title race. Napoli’s form deteriorated in the following weeks, and a three-week suspension for Higuain after he criticised an official in a loss against Udinese effectively ended Napoli’s challenge, per Silvia Recchimuzzi of Reuters (for the Daily Mail).

Meanwhile, Juventus continued their superb form, via Vince Van Genechten of Football Italia:

After the dreadful start to the campaign, Juventus’ season was filled with highlights. Dybala quickly filled Tevez’s shoes and established himself as one of the best young forwards in Europe, and centre-back Daniele Rugani came on strong, setting himself up for a true breakout campaign next season.

Along the way, veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also set a new Serie A record, going 973 minutes without conceding a single goal. The record was previously held by Milan’s Sebastiano Rossi.

Juventus honoured the club legend in a peculiar way, releasing a video with some of his top saves that was well over 16 hours long:

While UEFA Champions League success eluded the club, losing a heart-breaker against Bayern Munich in which the Bianconeri came within minutes of shocking the Bundesliga giants at the Allianz Arena, the 2015-16 season was still a success for the Old Lady.

Picking a season MVP is almost impossible, although Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli displayed more consistency in defence than anyone else in the team. Dybala’s creativity often made the difference for the Old Lady, and Buffon continued to defy Father Time, putting together yet another excellent season.

New stars like Dybala, Alex Sandro and Rugani gave the fans a glimpse of the future, while Pogba continued his development and easily ranked among Europe’s best all-round midfielders by the time the title race was over.

Keeping hold of those young talents will be key during the summer transfer window, and if Allegri can do that, Juventus will start the 2016-17 season as the overwhelming favourites to win yet another Scudetto.

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Chelsea are set to make a shock move for Manchester City flop Stevan Jovetic, per Paul Hetherington of the Daily Star.

The Montenegro striker is on loan in Italy with Inter Milan, with the Serie A club reportedly legally committed to signing the player in the summer.

The Milan giants initially agreed to a £2 million loan fee for the 26-year-old in order to keep him at the club for the 2015-16 campaign, with an additional £12.5 million deal signed to take him on board full-time.

However, following his season-long stay at the San Siro, Inter are now no longer interested in keeping the player at the club and are seeking buyers. 

Per Hetherington, incoming Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte is an admirer of the attacking playmaker in spite of his inconsistencies and twice tried to sign him from Fiorentina during his time as Juventus manager.

Following a failed venture into English football with Manchester City, Jovetic—purchased for £23 million in 2013—was sent back to Italy after Inter offered him an escape road.

However, his return to Serie A has gone equally as badly. Per WhoScored.com, the forward has scored just six goals in 23 appearances in the league this season and is well down in the pecking order behind club captain Mauro Icardi. 

Jovetic chose the right time to impress possible suitors on Saturday, as he was given a rare start at the Giuseppe Meazza and scored twice to help his side come from behind to secure a 3-1 win over Udinese.

Inter’s official Twitter account almost sounded surprised to see Jovetic’s name on the scoresheet twice:

Udinese have taken a battering from the Montenegro international this term, as detailed by WhoScored.com:

Conte is reportedly unfazed by Jovetic’s £90,000-per-week contract at City and is prepared to take a chance on the striker despite a paltry return of eight goals in 30 appearances during his time at the Etihad, per Soccerway.

One Inter player who looks unlikely to be joining Stamford Bridge this summer is central defender Jeison Murillo, per Rai Sport (h/t Goal.com’s Joe Wright).

The Colombia international has voiced his intent to remain at Inter, despite speculation surrounding a possible move to the Premier League.

The powerful centre-half shone at last summer’s Copa America and produced an excellent defensive display when faced against Brazil’s Neymar during their group-stage clash.

The 23-year-old has continued that form into this term and is one of Inter boss Roberto Mancini’s key first-team members.

Per Calcio Mercato (h/t Metro’s Max Miller), Italy boss Conte attended Inter’s 2-0 win over Napoli last week in order to cast a watchful eye over his performance firsthand.

However, per Wright, Murillo has denied the rumours linking him with a move away, as he told Rai Sport: “I want to stay at Inter. I am an Inter player and am not thinking about the future right now. 

“Coming to Serie A has really helped me improve, although it was difficult at first to adapt to a very tactical and physical league.”

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is expected to hand Conte a war chest when the Italian takes over as Chelsea manager after Euro 2016, with the club enduring an awful campaign in 2015-16 after achieving a Premier League and League Cup double under Jose Mourinho last season.

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Left foot, right foot, head: It was late November in the southeast of the Spanish capital, and with a wonderfully rounded hat-track that featured a goal with each body part, one of La Liga’s in-form forwards had confirmed himself as the story of the season to that point. 

Personally, he was surging. His team was hot. The goals were pouring in. The Spanish top-flight admittedly has always been a high-scoring league, but still this was surprising, and for one main reason: It wasn’t one of the usual suspects doing it. 

Indeed, this was not Lionel Messi, Neymar or Luis Suarez; not Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema or Gareth Bale. 

No, it was Aritz Aduriz. 

In Athletic Bilbao’s 3-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano, Aduriz with his hat-trick steered Athletic to their seventh win in eight and his goal tally beyond that of anyone in Spain. These were the Basque’s eighth, ninth and 10th goals of the season in the league; his 18th, 19th and 20th in all competitions—more than the then-swashbuckling Neymar and Suarez, more than the then-rampant Benzema. More than anyone. 

“Aduriz lays waste to Vallecas,” proclaimed AS, the game in Spain taking notice of something or someone outside the capital or Catalonia in a way it often doesn’t. Aduriz’s manager, Ernesto Valverde, was enamoured too. 

“He’s a treasure,” said the Athletic boss of Aduriz. “He represents the culmination of the way we play, we have to hope that Barcelona don’t sign him.”

Valverde’s admiration was real, but the Barcelona comment was more of a gag. Then 34 and now 35, Aduriz is beyond the age for a move to the Camp Nou, but what Valverde was playing on was the customary fear many of the country’s clubs have harboured: Have a star player? Barcelona or Real Madrid will take him. Built a strong team? They will gut it. 

This has always been the existence of Spain’s “other” clubs, but now in this context there’s a new threat. One that’s diverse, distant and very different, but just as rich. Maybe even more so. 

The Premier League. 

When England’s top division signed its historic £5.13 billion TV rights deal with Sky and BT Sport last February that will kick in at the beginning of next season (that figure will rise to in excess of £8 billion with the addition of money from overseas rights), the landscape of European football was always going to shift. 

“I am surprised by the size of it,” admitted Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore at the time. “Burnley are now, economically, bigger than Ajax.”

Scudamore was right: Last summer, Burnley spent double in the market what Ajax did, per Transfermarkt, and even ahead of the arrival of the tidal wave of cash, the Premier League’s clubs—all of them, not just the elite—raided the squads of domestic champions and title contenders all over Europe in the most ominous of manners. 

Ominous? Yep, consider this bunch: Newcastle United took Georginio Wijnaldum, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Chancel Mbemba from PSV Eindhoven, Anderlecht and Marseille, respectively. Sunderland snatched Jeremain Lens from Dynamo Kyiv. Aston Villa grabbed Jordan Amavi from Nice and Idrissa Gueye from Lille. West Bromwich Albion landed Jose Salomon Rondon from Zenit Saint Petersburg. 

The list goes on. 

Southampton signed Jordy Clasie from Feyenoord. Swansea City lured Andre Ayew from Marseille. Stoke City grabbed Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter Milan. Crystal Palace took Yohan Cabaye from Paris Saint-Germain. West Ham United bought Dimitri Payet and Angelo Ogbonna from Marseille and Juventus. Leicester City signed Gokhan Inler and Christian Fuchs from Napoli and Schalke. Bournemouth signed Max Gradel from Saint-Etienne. Watford got Jose Manuel Jurado from Spartak Moscow. 

The Premier League’s financial power is obvious. European football now has a landscape in which, according to the Deloitte Football Money League, Everton have more cash than Inter Milan, and in which West Ham—even ahead of what will be a highly beneficial move to London’s Olympic Stadium—are essentially on par with Atletico Madrid. 

“The Premier League could become the NBA of football,” warned La Liga president Javier Tebas earlier this month. “The risk is there.”

It is. Though the positions of Barcelona and Real Madrid aren’t threatened here, those of Spain’s other clubs are. The likes of Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla, Villarreal and Celta Vigo, everyone really. For them, the threat now comes from home and abroad. In the coming months and years, Valverde might find himself replacing “we have to hope that Barcelona don’t sign him,” with “we have to hope that Crystal Palace don’t sign him.”

This is the new reality. 

And a crunch summer looms for La Liga. 

Beyond a suddenly juicy title race, one of the major themes of the current season in La Liga has been the continuation of a certain and encouraging levelling-out process that’s been evident since 2013. Of course, the Primera Division is highly unlikely to ever take on the dynamic of the current Premier League campaign, but the once-colossal gap between them and the rest has narrowed.  

Only fractionally, yes, but enough to be significant. 

Between 2010 and 2013, La Liga essentially became two leagues. At the top, Barcelona and Real Madrid took their excellence to unprecedented levels, but elsewhere, the financial crisis crippled the rest. Their spending slashed, their need to sell heightened, their squads ripped apart, wages going unpaid and clubs going through administration, those outside the Bernabeu and Camp Nou couldn’t compete in any capacity, essentially rendered irrelevant by Barcelona and Madrid. 

Indeed, in 2009-10, the Catalans won the title with 99 points ahead of Madrid on 96. Pep Guardiola labelled the tallies “f—ing barbaric,” and yet they hadn’t stopped going north. In 2011-12, Madrid won the league with 100 points. The next season, Barcelona did the same. 

In the former, third-place Valencia were closer on points to relegation than the title.

“[This league is] rubbish,” said then-Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido in September 2011, per the Guardian‘s Sid Lowe, “the biggest pile of junk in Europe.” 

At the time, Del Nido had a point. But not so much now. 

In 2013-14, Atletico emerged as a third Spanish power in extraordinary fashion to claim the title with 90 points, the lowest tally by a distance since Barcelona won with 87 in 2008-09. Last season, Barcelona—yeah, that Barcelona—were triumphant with “only” 94, while this season’s title will be won with a maximum of 91. 

Evidently, the league is levelling out to a certain extent. Once a 100-point league, now it’s a 90-point affair. Madrid and Barcelona have competition. Atletico have cemented their position as contenders. Valencia have new financial strength. Villarreal are excellent, and so are Sevilla. Athletic Bilbao’s level is remarkable given their strict transfer policy. Celta are overachieving considerably. Eibar and Las Palmas are even more so, and Real Sociedad will come again. Spanish clubs are dominating both tiers in Europe. 

As such, La Liga right now is perhaps the strongest it’s been in years, a number of factors culminating in an improved top-to-bottom (or at least top-to-middle) strength: savvy scouting, excellent youth development, coaching depth, the easing of financial turmoil and, perhaps as a result, the presence of standouts outside Barcelona and Madrid. 

The issue, though, is that these standouts, from now on, will be financially accessible to all those in the Premier League, almost regardless of who and where they are.

Indeed, newly promoted clubs in England will see more cash than many of their established counterparts in Spain. In London, West Ham and Palace will be financial giants in comparison with Sevilla or Villarreal. On the south coast, Southampton and Bournemouth could go shopping almost anywhere in Spain. Leicester’s pulling power will only increase. Watford is now the primary focus of the Pozzo family who also owns Granada. Stoke have already shown they’re now keen on Spanish talent. The surging Tottenham Hotspur are now heavyweights with a manager who knows all about La Liga. 

And then there are the traditional powerhouses: The Manchester giants, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. 

This summer, Spain’s “other” clubs could be raided, severely, and the talent to be found is rich and exciting: Cedric Bakambu, Eric Bailly and Mateo Musacchio at Villarreal; Shkodran Mustafi at Valencia; Kevin Gameiro and Grzegorz Krychowiak at Sevilla; Nolito at Celta Vigo; Inaki Williams and Aymeric Laporte at Athletic; Borja Baston, Sergi Enrich and Keko at Eibar; Lucas Perez at Deportivo La Coruna; Ignacio Camacho at Malaga.

There are plenty of others, too. That’s just scratching the surface.

Thus, La Liga as a whole is closing in on a pivotal summer. Hang on to the stars and limit the damage, and the league will be just fine; suffer heavy losses across the board everywhere except Barcelona and Madrid, and it could be taken back half a decade, several years of progress wiped out. 

“We hope to grow so the Premier League does not become the biggest competition in the world and we can be at the same level economically,” said Tebas recently, per Azi Farni of BBC Sport. “We do not want the Premier League as a leader one step ahead of the rest. We plan to work harder in the TV rights market and in the sponsorship market to get more money.”

In that respect, La Liga has taken steps. This season in Spain has featured the league’s first TV rights deal negotiated collectively, and from the beginning of next season, such a process will be mandated by law. 

The league is also working to make its kick-off times more friendly for an array of international markets such as the United Kingdom and Asia, the idea of taking competitive games overseas has been floated, Tebas continues to champion the merits of third-party ownership for competitive balance, and offices are being opened on several continents. 

These are steps in the right direction, yes, but genuine progress will take time even though it’s time that La Liga might not have. The Premier League’s financial strength is snowballing, its presence all-consuming for those with the responsibility of responding to it. 

“The risk is there,” as Tebas acknowledged. 

That risk, that threat: It’s set to ramp up come the summer, when clubs like Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla, like Villarreal and Celta—the clubs whose success is levelling out La Liga to an extent—will brace themselves, hoping to ride out the potentially heavy raids. 

Of course, these clubs have experienced raids before, but now they will happen on a new scale. It’s not just Barcelona and Real Madrid who stand as the threat; it’s the likes of West Ham, Palace, Swansea, Everton, Bournemouth, Southampton and Watford too—clubs a step below the elite in their own country but who, financially, are light-years ahead of their equivalents across Europe. 

This is the new reality. 

For La Liga, the approaching summer is huge. 

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Football agent Jorge Mendes reportedly wants to add Manchester United‘s Marcus Rashford to his list of clients amid speculation the youngster is hoping to appoint someone to represent him in contract talks with the club. 

According to the Times (h/t Joe Short of the Express), the 18-year-old is set for a new deal at the end of the season and Mendes—who also represents the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, David De Gea and Jose Mourinho—wants to help the youngster as he “believes he is best placed to help Rashford maximise his earning potential at this flourishing stage of his career.”

Meanwhile, according to the Daily Mail‘s Chris Wheeler, Rashford is seeking an agent to represent him as his affairs are currently dealt with by his mother and brothers.

The striker is expected to receive a much-improved deal on his current £1,500 per week pay packet after netting seven goals in 13 senior appearances for the Red Devils this season.

Indeed, his emergence has been one of the few highlights of a largely disappointing campaign for United, and of the youngsters to impress in the first team this season he’s perhaps only behind Anthony Martial in terms of impact.

One recent effort was a sublime strike against West Ham United to send United into the FA Cup semi-final, as shared by BT Sport Football:

Rob Dawson of the Manchester Evening News gave his take on the goal and believes Rashford has the attributes to prove his impact is not just a flash in the pan:

Bleacher Report UK’s Sam Tighe expressed as much after he’d made just two first-team appearances:

Per Sky Sports (h/t MEN‘s Samuel Luckhurst), Rashford has also impressed United legend Sir Alex Ferguson, who was known for bringing through young talent during his tenure at Old Trafford:

The youth graduate does look to have a bright future ahead of him, and the Red Devils will undoubtedly want to tie him down on a long-term contract that reflects his position as a first-team striker.

Given Wayne Rooney‘s poor form the club will likely pursue further attacking reinforcements to aid the England captain, Martial and Rashford, but securing the young striker’s future could be one of the best bits of business they do this summer.

Per Dan Gibbs of the Express, one such target could be Inter Milan‘s Mauro Icardi. The Argentinian may be prepared to listen to offers this summer if Inter do not qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

He told Mediaset Premium (h/t Gibbs): “My future without the Champions [League]? I am here to win with this club, but if there will be some offers, we’ll have to talk with the club. I think about playing.”

His side look likely to miss out as they sit seven points behind third-placed Roma in Serie A with four games remaining, and United could do with a prolific goalscorer who has netted 42 goals and assisted 12 in the last two seasons.

However, the Red Devils are hardly guaranteed a spot in Europe’s elite competition either, as they are in fifth amid a fierce battle with Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and West Ham United.

City or Liverpool could qualify for the competition by winning it or the UEFA Europa League respectively, so there’s a good chance United won’t qualify—in which case they may have to turn elsewhere.

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