La Liga can have their US deal... because they can only dream of the riches that the Prem enjoys

IT is a good job this Dele Alli celebration malarkey has gone down a treat … otherwise we might be talking about the debacle that is Tottenham’s stadium delay and their inertness in the transfer market. IT will have to be seen to be believed – and the details right now are sketchy, to say the least – but La Liga executives are planning competitive games in the States.

So what? Ah, this means the Premier League’s infamous 39th match idea – or more likely a variation of it in which a round of the standard 38 fixtures would be played abroad – will be resurrected. No, it will not. Not a chance. La Liga’s hook-up with an organisation named Relevent Sports – promoters of the pre-season kickabouts known as the International Champions Cup – smacks of desperation.

Despite the superiority of their elite teams, La Liga casts envious eyes at the earning power and commercial pull of the Premier League.

This is an attempt to steal a march, knowing that the American appetite for friendly games is on its way to being sated.

It happened here when initial enthusiasm towards NFL exhibition games waned and full houses only returned when regular season matches were staged.

There are three being staged at Wembley in October and all are expected to be sell-outs.

The NFL model – and Major League Baseball is also happy to stage competitive fixtures overseas, as is the NBA – is one touted by advocates of staging a competitive fixture abroad, probably in the States.

But there is WHETHER Major League Soccer likes it or not, there is always a caveat when saluting individual achievements in a competition that has seen, with respect, Bradley Wright-Phillips top the goalscoring charts in two of the last four full seasons.

But no matter how limited the opposition, Wayne Rooney’s retrieval and match-winning assist, deep into added time against Orlando City last weekend, was one of the most one fundamental difference between the NFL and the Premier League.

Put simply, matches essentially mean more in the Premier League.

Cleveland Browns, of the AFC North, played 16 matches last season and lost all 16. They will line up in the AFC North when the next season kicks off in three weeks’ time.

The one helpful ramifica- tion of their catastrophic campaign was to get first pick of college talent, recruiting Oklahoma University’s Heismann Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield.

A poor season in the Premier League can see you relegated and, in some cases, have dire consequences for remarkable moments of the year. He followed it up with a couple of goals in a 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers. His tiring body might not have been up to the Premier League, but at DC United, Wayne (right) is giving more proof that he is one of the world’s natural-born footballers.

And no one in Washington could call that fake news. the club. You lose your best players, for a start.

That is why the fixture programme has to remain scrupulously fair, that is why playing each team home and away is a fundamental principle that cannot be compromised, even if the Spanish appear ready to do so.

Another argument against the concept is that the Premier League is already doing very well financially, thank you.

A survey last week showed that in 2016-17, 11 clubs would have made a pre-tax profit without taking ticket revenue into account.

Yet we all know Premier League club owners, probably worried by the prospect of a drop in domestic TV cash, will not cease in their drive for more income.

No, the threat to the integrity of a competition from which three clubs are demoted every season is the stand-out argument against this sort of expansion.

If the established elite are keen on the idea, maybe they should lobby UEFA.

The Champions League format has been a movable feast – maybe there could be scope for early-competition fixtures to be taken abroad.

But it should be off-limits for the Premier League.

Whatever your take on its quality, its finances, its effect on English footballers, it is the envy of all other domestic football competitions.

And it will remain so without following this Spanish lead.

EYEBROWS were raised at the news that Martin Glenn’s (below) salary as chief executive of the FA is £699,000. A lot, granted, but he has a lot to deal with, certainly as much as £2million-a-year Gordon Taylor. WHATEVER the reasons for Bobby Madley’s (right) decision to quit, one thing is for certain… English football can ill-afford to lose referees of his calibre.

FUNNIEST football news of the week came when FIFA confirmed they had received a complaint suggesting Inter Milan had been tapping up a player. The player? Luka Modric (right). The complainant? Real Madrid. Yep, the same Real Madrid who have never, ever tapped up a player, never, ever, turned the head of a footballer from another club. If you ever struggle for a definition of irony, remember this.

THE CO VICTO Diego Costa Atletico Madr celebrate vict Real Madrid Super C