The Premier League Can Answer Europe's Threat With a Classic 2013-14 Season

This has been a difficult summer for the Premier League.

It likes to see itself as the greatest league in the world, but during this transfer window some of Europe’s best players showed that was not necessarily enough to secure their services.

It was assumed Edinson Cavani would swap southern Italy for Stamford Bridge or Etihad Stadium, but he was lured to the Paris Saint-Germain project and a large pile of Qatari cash.

Maybe Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao would bring his guaranteed goalscoring prowess to the Premier League instead with both Chelsea and Manchester City again showing strong interest.

The Colombian striker, however, preferred to give the Champions League a pass and instead elected to go and play in front of Monaco’s paltry crowds of around 5,000 in France. But what Monaco lack in crowds and atmosphere at the Stade Louis II, they make up for in their ability to pay enormous wages.

Falcao’s move was the naked triumph of money over ambition.

It is not just France offering new competition to the Premier League.

The Bundesliga is on a resurgence. This was abundantly clear when Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund made it an all-German Champions League final at Wembley in May, and this summer Barcelona’s Thiago Alcantara chose to move to Bayern Munich over Manchester United.

Of course, this had much to do with being reunited with his former boss Pep Guardiola, who himself had earlier in the year made the decision to manage in Bavaria rather than London or Manchester.

To compound this trend, arguably the Premier League’s best player and the reigning Footballer of the Year Gareth Bale reportedly does not want to remain in England. Bale wants to swap White Hart Lane for the white shirt of Real Madrid this summer.

His choice is to stay and play in the Europa League in front of 36,000, or move and play in front of crowds of 80,000 in the Champions League alongside Ronaldo. Can you blame him? That really isn’t much of a dilemma.

Does this all mean that the Premier League is in decline? Is it a cause for concern that some leading players are seeking to ply their trade elsewhere? It is too early for the EPL to panic, but a classic season would certainly help to confront the increasing threat from Europe.

This season has the potential to be the most open and competitive campaign in the Premier League’s history. It would be assumed that, after winning the previous season’s title by 11 points, Manchester United would be strong favourites to win it again this season.

There is, of course, a new man sitting in the manager’s dugout this season, and how David Moyes asserts himself and adjusts to managing Manchester United will dictate much of this season.

The retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson has energised the rest of the league, sensing a new vulnerability and giving them greater hope of dislodging United. The United hierarchy has to help Moyes by providing him with several significant new signings in the next three weeks.

If they don’t add to their squad, United will be dragged back to the pack and this will be an even more intriguing season.

Waiting to take advantage are their neighbours Manchester City, who astutely did their transfer business early in the summer by bringing in some real talent in Jesus Navas, Fernandinho, Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo.

City will also be under the new management of Manuel Pellegrini, and both he and these new players will all need time to adjust to the faster pace of the Premier League.

The title has resided in Manchester for the last three seasons, but next May it could return to London. Its most likely destination is Chelsea with Jose Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge. The self-proclaimed “Special One” is likely to create another special team with Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar now at his disposal.

Should Arsenal finally spend some of their money then they could also mount a challenge. And at this stage, with Gareth Bale still on their payroll, don’t write off Tottenham either, who have bought well in Roberto Soldado and Paulinho.

The strength of the Premier League is that its winner can come from any of three teams: Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. But there also remains a remote chance that either Tottenham and Arsenal could also crash the party.

Compare this to the rest of Europe.

For all of La Liga's undoubted glamour and galacticos, the winner will once again come from Real Madrid or Barcelona. 

In France, Paris Saint-Germain won the Ligue 1 title by 12 points last season, and they will obviously be even stronger this season.

In Germany, the gap between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund was an embarrassing 25 points last season, and since then Bayern have lured Mario Gotze from Dortmund.

Can that gap really be bridged this season? Probably not.

The Premier League can still offer more competition and suspense than many of these other leading European leagues. And while many of Europe’s star attractions decided to go elsewhere this summer, the EPL remains the most exciting and enthralling league in world football.

Another classic season this year is needed to cement that status.