Barcelona Transfer News: Gerardo Martino Wrong to Criticize Real Madrid Spending

If you're wondering how Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino feels about his primary La Liga rival's pursuit of Tottenham striker Gareth Bale, he's not too happy about it. 

According to Pete Jenson of The Indpendent, Martino has called the club's lavish bid for the Welshman a "lack of respect for the world we live in."

Real Madrid are reportedly preparing a record-setting £85 million bid for Tottenham striker Gareth Bale, per Sonia Randev of the Mirror. 

On one hand, it's easy to see why Martino has an issue with the spending. Jenson reports that Spanish professional football has a combined debt of £3.52 billion. That's a massive number for any of the teams to be signing someone to as much money as Bale's hefty reported price tag. 

However, it's hard to ignore the hint of hypocrisy in Martino's statement. 

After all, he is the manager for the club that just spent nearly £50 million in transfer fees on 21-year-old striker Neymar. Barca certainly contributes to the huge league-wide debt, too. According to Jenson, Barcelona's personal debt is estimated to be around £404.7 million. 

It was Spanish giant Barcelona that started the La Liga arms race this summer by aggressively pursuing Neymar. Barca paid his huge transfer fee despite owning the most prolific scorer in all of football in Lionel Messi and a roster that has already won three of the last four La Liga championships. 

Considering the massive debt faced by Spanish football, the same argument could be made that Barcelona was being irresponsible. 

The truth is neither team is really the cause of the debt. Spanish economist Jose Maria Gay de Liebana weighed in on the situation via Jenson, saying that "Madrid’s debt is approaching €600m. I don’t believe any footballer is worth €100m, not even Lionel Messi," but he doesn't necessarily think that the bigger clubs are at the heart of the issue. 

He goes on to point out that clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid aren't the issue:

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“The problem is not the debt of the big club because they generate enough money a year to finance them,” added Gay. “The real problem is that the small clubs owe money too.”

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With Barcelona and Real Madrid representing the two unquestioned super powers in Spain there's very little doubt that the two clubs are going to continue to generate massive revenues. It's a fact that Martino knows and Madrid knows as well. 

Considering the massive amounts of money spent between both clubs and the existing talent already on the roster, these two clubs are much more alike than Martino would like to admit. 

That's why Martino would be better off worrying about keeping his clubs status as the top team in Spain than worrying about his opponents' financials.