Are the good times over for the Premier League?

Premier League clubs may have spent almost £450m during the transfer window, but it seems that the English league is losing its lustre. The big money deals this summer have been taking place on the continent, in Spain in particular - where Real Madrid's Galacticos II project and Barcelona's response have grabbed the headlines.

For probably the first time since it was set up it feels as though there will be fewer big names gracing Premier League grounds this season than last. There have only really been two major departures - Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi Alonso - but the new names coming in are hardly big box office draws. The likes of Alberto Aquilani, Gabriel Obertan, Thomas Vermaelen and Johnny Heitinga are unlikely to cause a discernable increase in shirt sales at Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton.

Accountants Deloitte say that Premier League spending was down 10 per cent on 2008 and tellingly there was a sharp drop in the number of players coming to the Premier League from abroad. "The level of acquisitions from overseas clubs was around 40 per cent down compared to each of the transfer windows in summer 2007 and 2008," it reports. Net spending was just £80m.

Transfer 'churn' within the Premier League has far less glamour than the recruitment of new talent from foreign leagues. Even though big-spending Manchester City (responsible for 27 per cent of all spending) have brought in Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, none of the new additions are an unknown quantity. The one player they did bring in from abroad was ageing Barcelona full-back Sylvinio - who played for Arsenal 10 years ago.

At Manchester United, former Newcastle striker Michael Owen has been handed the iconic number seven shirt, even though he is likely to spend much of the season on the bench. Chelsea have offloaded 18 players this summer and bought just three. Their star buy was £18m Russian full back Yuri Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow, the sort of player who would not have attracted much attention in previous summers.

Arsenal, as ever, are hoping their latest crop of talented youngsters will come good this season after Arsene Wenger declined to get his hands dirty in the transfer market, while Liverpool seem to have regressed since last season.

Of the players that could have filled the Ronaldo-shaped hole in the Premier League some - Franck Ribery, Alexandre Pato, Marouane Chamakh - did not move clubs this summer. But worryingly those that did move - Kaka, Karim Benzema, Zlatan Ibrahimovic - chose Spain along with Ronaldo and Alonso.

Although it is only Barcelona and Real Madrid who have been splashing the cash the seeds may have been sown. Lesser teams like Espanyol and Athletico Madrid will now become more attractive by association. That is the process that helped establish the Premier League and helped make teams like Derby County and Crystal Palace viable destinations for established international stars in the last dozen years.

The English league superceded Italy's Serie A as football's biggest domestic stage, but La Liga now has the glamour, trophies and names to challenge the Premier League - and Spanish tax law offers overseas players the financial incentives they want.

The next generation of Didier Drogbas and Andrei Arshavins will grow up watching La Liga as well as the Premier League. ·