When Spain reigned supreme and won the recent Euro 2024 tournament, the very best team won. That may seem axiomatic, the best team winning the final, lifting the trophy, and claiming the treasured moniker of European Champions. But there is more to what I am saying than that. When I assert that the best team won, I am stating more than the results-based obvious. Beyond the results, which will always record the history based on the metrics of a winner and a loser, there is the style of football, the charisma of that style, the quality of individual players, and the combined sophistication of the team, each of which contributed to a brand of football that deserved to win that tournament.
Much of the recent press in my native UK market has been opining about how we got so close, as runners-up for the second successive Euro tournament, a losing record never before seen, incidentally. Conversely, as much as my heart yearned for an English triumph, my head and indeed my love of superb football saw Spain as the rightful campeones. They were inspiring and inspired, something that will have a far reaching effect. From encouraging youngsters to play football to inspiring young female athletes to take the women’s game even higher, this is and was a victory with impact and legacy written all over it. But returning to my earlier point, when it comes to sports or games, I like to think of myself as a fair play person. Whether that’s a competitive football match or a game of chess, a rugby contest or playing golf, I am driven by a love of competition but, moreover, a sense of fair play and an appreciation of sporting prowess. That is where my love for the current Spanish soccer team comes into focus.
To take this a little further, I have been reading, via translations, the appreciation of this Spanish team from various publications and sports network websites across Europe and beyond. It would seem that I am not alone in thinking that, with the recent Spanish victory, and to use a well-worn cliché, football, the sport, and the Euro 2024 was indeed the winner when Spain emerged victorious. Sometimes, and as recent reports seem to support, the sporting world puts aside tribal loyalties and admits that greatest of statements: not only did a team win, but the right, the best, the most beautiful team won.
From La Liga To The Premier League, Spanish Champions And Other Euro 2024 Stars Are Hot Commodities
One glance at the various reports from teams in Spain and beyond shows that the value of Spanish national team players has rocketed since their Euro 2024 success. Whether it is the teenage superstar Lamine Yamal or the talented Robin Le Normand, players that win the European Championships are often rocketed up the charts when it comes to their value and status as transfer targets. Naturally, many of the Spanish players already ply their trade for giants such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, or PSG, but their stock continues to rise. Indeed, this is a phenomenon that is true of many players who were in the so-called shop window of Euro 2024, and not just from the Spanish team who won.
For teams in Spain, and I mean the behemoths such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, keeping their best players is key, but so is buying other players who shone at this recent tournament. With Aston Villa reportedly interested in Spain winner Mikel Merino and Arsenal also looking into buying the Real Sociodad and Spain star, the recent international victory has far-reaching consequences for Spanish club teams and their players too. Take a look at the current Spanish league transfer news and you will appreciate what I am talking about more fully. Players are both being sought after from Spain, and sought after by the leading Spanish teams.
Barcelona And Real Madrid Continue Transfer Market Dominance
It is not surprising to learn that when it comes to big money transfers in the summer of 2024, Real Madrid and Barcelona are in the headlines. The undoubted big two of Spanish football are, once again, looking to strengthen their squad as they prepare to lock horns for La Liga and the 2025-2026 season. Somewhat limited because of an outstanding 40 million Euros owed (due to a partial sale of Barca Vision to a German outfit), they are determined to clear the decks on that score and make waves with new player purchases.
In the other Spanish giant’s world, the desire to keep goalkeeper Lunin is an ongoing saga, as he seems slightly reluctant to sign a new contract extension. Such is the size and reputation of Real Madrid that this is, by many local and national sporting journalists, seen as unusual, perhaps meaning there is more to the story than first meets the eye. Naturally, other teams in Spain are also active in the transfer market, but with an ongoing pursuit of Dani Olmo also hitting the Spanish press headlines, Barcelona are up there with Real Madrid when it comes to both chasing players and indeed being a place so many players wish to play football. With Saudi Arabian clubs also allegedly offering astronomical sums of money, over 100 million dollars for an unnamed Barcelona player, it is clear that this is a club that can always rely on having money to spend.
As I said at the start, the Spanish national team were not only the rightful winners; La Liga is now also benefiting from that reflected glory, as are many players and teams across the European football landscape. I suspect that, as many, many sporting headlines currently attest, this success will lead to many more, and that will be on a domestic football level as much as it was and is on the international stage.
By Alejandro Fernandez
