Do you really think we are all idiots?

Spain is the most sporty nation in Europe. From football (men's, women's, youth teams...), through other team sports (basketball, handball, water polo...) to individual sports (motorsport, tennis, cycling, athletics...). One of the reasons why the Spanish succeed in sports is the system and the rules.

Rules and laws must be respected. The red line exists, even for the biggest fish in the pond. The great Barcelona came to a situation where it cannot buy and bring players they want, but what is prescribed by law.

Spanish football has a "salary cap", that is, a financial limit that a club can set aside for player wages, which is determined based on the financial health of the clubs. So that various managers would not get into a situation where they spend much more than they earn and leave the clubs in chaos, above them is La Liga as the supreme body and its president Javier Tebas, whom many do not like, but who tries to make the rules and system work. He also knows how to help the clubs when it is necessary and effective, but the red lines are not crossed.

That is why Tebas, as the first man of Spanish club football, has been the biggest critic of Arab capital in European football and unequal competition for years. And his favorite target is PSG, on which he turned his attention once again. Rightfully so.

Since 2011, the state of Qatar took over PSG through its national fund and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, 1,937,000,000 euros were spent on the purchase of reinforcements. So, almost two billion. At the same time, in those 12 years, 717,000,000 euros came into the Saints' club coffers from compensation for the sale of players. Not to mention all the contracts that were signed at Parc des Princes and that last season three of their players (Mbappe, Messi and Neymar) were the highest paid in Europe. And it has been one of the biggest payrolls in European football for years. Paris Saint-Germain's payroll accounts for 60 percent of wages in the entire Ligue 1.

This is what most irritates the Spaniards who have become uncompetitive because they stick to the rules. This summer, Spanish clubs spent 453,000,000 euros on player purchases. English Premier League spent over three billion, Italian Serie A over a billion, Saudi Arabia and French Ligue 1 almost a billion. Even the traditionally thrifty Bundesliga spent almost twice as much as the Spaniards (€757,000,000).

And where is that famous Financial Fair Play, respect for rules and laws? How does PSG operate in such a deficit, and continue to spend more and more? Mainly thanks to the artificial pumping of money from Qatar which is shown in the club's books as sponsorship money or healthy income. Qataris practically do business with themselves.

For example, Qatar Airways annually allocates around 70,000,000 euros for the sponsorship of Paris Saint-Germain. Although the previous contract with the mentioned airline was worth between 5,000,000 and 10,000,000 euros per year. There are also other companies from Qatar such as "Qatar Bank", "Visit Qatar", "Aspetara"... Of course, all of them are owned by the state, which in turn owns the club. Last year, PSG had income from all sponsors in the amount of around 300,000,000 euros. Inflated 300,000,000 euros.

And all that was not enough, so the Qataris started selling players among themselves. This summer, there was a big purge at Parc des Princes. Fifteen famous names left, but few of them could guarantee the club some income. Over 200,000,000 euros came into the club from player sales, but most of it from the Middle East because European clubs were unwilling or unable to pay what PSG demanded. Neymar went to Saudi Arabia for 90,000,000 euros, and the most eye-catching thing is the transfers to Qatari clubs. Over 80,000,000 euros were paid to Paris Saint-Germain by the Qatari clubs Al Arabi and Al Ahly for the transfers of Marco Verratti, Julian Draxler and Abdou Diallo. All summer, no one in Europe wanted to buy them, but the Qatari clubs decided that Verratti was worth 45,000,000, Draxler 25,000,000, and the forgotten Diallo 15,000,000 euros. Of course, clubs that have the same owner - the state of Qatar.

That money will come in handy for Paris Saint-Germain to iron out the financial books and de facto comply with some rules of Financial Fair Play. On the other hand, when PSG has to operate according to market conditions and negotiate with the right buyers, then for example they have to sell a player like Lenadro Paredes to Roma for only 2,500,000 euros. Because no one will pay them more... They would get that much for Draxler, a little more, but hardly more than 15,000,000 euros for Verratti.

"Verratti for 40,000,000 euros (it's actually 45,000,000 op.aut.)? Do you really think we are all idiots? We should no longer compare ourselves to clubs owned by states where laws and taxes do not apply," Javier Tebas, the first man of Spanish club football, said yesterday.

And for the umpteenth time he repeated what is obvious, but from which UEFA turns its head, because Nasser Al-Kelaifi is one of the biggest allies of Alexander Ceferin and a great help leading the invasion of an even bigger and richer Arab storm - Saudi Arabia.

"I have nothing against the State of Qatar owning Paris Saint-Germain. I am against the fact that this club is run with constant losses and that state money is pumped into it that has nothing to do with football. Such things affect massive inflation in terms of contracts and salaries, create a domino effect and cause losses in other clubs," said Tebas.

Interestingly, at the head of the European Club Association (ECA), which is supposed to fight against unfair competition, is Nasser Al-Kelaifi. It is also interesting that he is the first man of the Qatari media empire Be-In Sports, which owns the TV rights for the French Ligue 1. Al-Khelaifi can directly pump money into Paris Saint-Germain from Be-In Sports if he decides that, for example, the French Ligue 1 more valuable than it is.

"The fact that Nasser al-Khelaifi holds all three functions should worry us all. It's not fair," said Tebas.

Tebas will try to legally fight against Qatar in European football.

"The transfers of Verratti and others to Qatari clubs should be investigated. Those clubs do not have the capacity to make such transfers, but it is about the contribution of the state to another state club in Europe to solve some economic problems. This is destroying the football market. The European Union needs to react because money from state funds flows into state clubs under the cover of sponsorships. We will not give up and we will ask for a reaction from the European Union," said Tebas.

Finally, one more interesting thing related to disputed transfers. None of the three overpaid players ended up in Qatar's biggest club, Al Sadd. They have been doing serious work there for years and are trying to bring in serious European and South American players, by investing in the profession and younger selection, to create the missing quality. Al Ahly, where Draxler is going, has never been the champion of Qatar, Al Arabi, where Verratti and Diallo are, is not even among the three biggest and most popular clubs currently in Qatar.