It may just be a snapshot in time – especially given Arsenal could be out of the Champions League by Wednesday night.
But, alongside England’s four potential European finalists this season, the Premier League could feasibly have around nine or 10 clubs in Europe again next season, depending on permutations.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, asked about the strength of the Premier League on Friday, said: “The number 14 and 16 in the Premier League have so much more funds than the number one in Holland, for example.
“It is not a surprise that English teams go all the way into Europe, especially in the Europa League and Conference League, because they are in a different league when it comes to money compared to other teams.
“The Champions League is more balanced so it’s a big achievement from Arsenal that they are still in the semi-final.
“It tells you how much money there is in this league and how strong this league is, but we all knew this. We didn’t need this season to know that the Premier League is by far the most competitive league in the world.”
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes English success in Europe is closely correlated to budgets.
He said: “Premier League clubs in total generate twice as much money than clubs in La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and probably about five times as much revenue as Ligue 1.
“Therefore it is not a surprise to see ‘middle tier’ clubs from England having vastly higher budgets than clubs against which they’re competing.
“They can turn this into success in European competitions through being able to recruit and retain some of the best talent in Europe that isn’t deemed good enough to play for the truly elite clubs in Europe such as PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.”
