Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu has vowed to fight Premier League clubs for the best players in the world and stop them from dominating the transfer market des-pite their new-found riches.

The top of the English game is now awash with even more money following the new £5.136 billion TV rights agreement.

That deal does not kick in until next season, but the knock-on effects are already clear to see.

Manchester City have spent £49 million on Raheem Sterling, Manchester United have parted with around £80 million and are ready to spend big on the likes of Thomas Mueller or Gareth Bale if either player becomes available.

Spanish clubs have traditionally been the biggest spenders in Europe.

Real Madrid paid over £80 million for Cristiano Ronaldo and Bale recently, while Barcelona shelled out £75 million to lure Luis Suarez from Liverpool last summer.

Bartomeu is not scared the Spanish sides will start losing out on the best football stars because of the English Premier League’s new TV deal.

“We are going to fight this,” Bartomeu said in Santa Clara yesterday.

“It’s true that the Premier League right now is the best league competition in the world, not only in a sporting way but in terms of income, too.

“The new television rights contract with the Premier League is something that the rest of the leagues, including La Liga, have to follow.

“But we want to have the best players in our league. Barcelona and Real Madrid, we are the biggest clubs in La Liga but also other clubs like Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla or Athletic Bilbao – they are doing a nice job and I am sure that they are going to try to have big talent too.

“Barcelona’s income this year has increased to more than 600 million euros, which is a record. No other club in the world has as big an income as Barcelona.

“We work hard, we know that the competition is getting closer so we have to get as much income as possible so we can try to have the best players and we want them to be paid at the level they are.”

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