Of astronomic transfer sums

The first French football league starts its season on the coming weekend. The business paper Les Echos takes the occasion to criticise the high transfer sums paid for players: "Since the beginning of the crisis our Western societies have shown a regrettable tolerance toward the fantastic sums being paid out for top players. The controversial pay packages paid to business managers are a pittance in comparison. It would be surprising if the football world managed to avoid ... being raked over the coals for these sums much longer. People will counter that such sums are the price that must be paid for people's dreams, and for that no price is too high. Except if they clash with the economic reality. And the reality of which France is envious is made up of Spanish and English clubs which have never spent so much, although they're more in debt than ever. ... If it can find no other model, French football should keep to its own field. This is a drama for the pride of our old sporting nation, but it would be far worse to add an economic catastrophe to a sporting defeat."

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