Now, today, I wanted to get a post up on the top 15 best football matches since 2000, and I was already well through the process of making said post when a “Bombazo” dropped. It was about La Liga and the registration of Gavi. Let me explain.
I’ve been reading a book recently, and it explained that when you meet people in your life, acquaintances, friends, etc, they may seem nice at first. They spend time with you, you do things with them, and you become good friends. However, during this time, there are moments where you can either ditch your friend for more popular or rich people, or keep going, and same with your friend. It’s called showing your true colours.
Although this is an entirely different concept than what La Liga and Javier Tebas are doing, I believe the term “Showing your true colours” still applies. Before the last 36 hours, I knew Javier Tebas was anti-Barca, suffocating La Liga, and making every wrong move possible for the development of Spanish Football, but this “Gavi Saga” has thrown everything into an entirely new light.
Last week, a few months after Barcelona extended Gavi’s contract at the club, Barcelona decided to get it registered with La Liga. No one at the time could comprehend the hubbub that would ensue from Barcelona just trying to complete a simple contract extension and give a player a new shirt number.
La Liga refused to accept the extension and also stated that “Barcelona need to shave 200 million euros off the wage bill. Let’s see when they start doing that.”. On the beginning of deadline day, a court in the city of Barcelona ordered La Liga to accept the extension. This is when La Liga’s true colours were shown.
Instead of doing it without a fuss, they, the LEAGUE, appealed against the registration of an 18-year-old who already has been playing for Barça regularly for the last 1.5 seasons. If successful, Gavi’s extension will be voided and his release clause go down to 50 m euros with 5 months left in the deal.
This is unheard of for a league. Appeals for court decisions usually only come from players or teams, and when they come from leagues, it’s usually about sanctions on the teams or league itself, not registration.
La Liga were apparently “furious” that its league leader was able to register one of its most promising players for the first team. In a league that’s supposed to be neutral, this is pretty telling.
Then came the bombazo. La Liga was actively changing their rules yesterday to help them in the court case. They were making up rules that didn’t exist at the time of the court decision to help them.
This isn’t the first time La Liga have shown their non-neutrality. In early 2022, Javier Tebas publicly said that Real Madrid would sign Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland in the summer. Although he’s supposed to have super insider information that would make this take credible, neither ended up going to the capital, with Haaland signing for Man City and Mbappé extending his PSG deal.
Also, talking about transfer rumours is a big no-no for a league president, and even club staff members, so Tebas saying this is seriously crossing the line.
Tebas has openly said that he is a Madridista, but “it doesn’t affect my neutrality”. That makes no sense. If you’re a fan of one of the league’s teams, you are not neutral. It’s been obvious that he’s actively been trying to make La Liga a one-team league. The biggest transfer in La Liga in January was for 8 million Euros. Meanwhile, Bournemouth, a relegation fighter in the Premier League made 3 transfer for more than that, 2 being nearly triple that. In fact, the Premier League made 33 transfers in total for more than La Liga’s top transfer.
Javier Tebas is suffocating La Liga, and we need to do something about it. Make petitions, get #TebasOut trending online, and put up banners on your house if you live in Spain. I’m Jim James, until next time.