ESPN Article about the changing balance of power in Europe

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Germans had genuine respect for the Arsenal of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Marc Overmars, but as soon as Lukas Podolski moved there, some people began to doubt how good they can be. While he is a talented player, the Arsenal of old would never have looked at him, and his arrival is seen as a sign they are no longer a true superpower.

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Despite Paris Saint-Germain's rapid rise to riches in the wake of a 2011 Qatari takeover, Blumenfeld said the league itself remains virtually unchanged: "Ligue 1 is renowned for its lack of fan passion. Football is just not such a big part of French culture. Those who call themselves die-hard fans are few in number and are mostly lower-class members of society. Women and families certainly don't fill our stadiums."

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Blumenfeld derives a modicum of pleasure from the fact that the rise in the Premier League's profile has overlapped with the decline of the English national team. "Their league has become a platform for the best foreign talent in the world to play on English soil," he said, suggesting its growth has stunted homegrown youth development. "We think fondly of British footballers here -- we see them as physical players who drink heavily and die young."

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