UEFA’s introduction of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations during the last decade were designed to “improve the overall financial health of European club football.”

Uefa said that “the aim of financial fair play is not to make all clubs equal in size and wealth, but to encourage clubs to build for success rather than continually seeking a quick fix.”

Events of the past few years, and especially in the current transfer window, show this is something they have been unable to achieve, with Barcelona perhaps the most obvious recent example.