The question of who has the bragging rights for the best league in European and therefore world football is gathering momentum. The rise to stardom of Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro - and now the transfer-hungry media's eager anticipation of his fall (or was it a dive?) - has led to two polarised camps fighting an aggressive and messy war inside the forums and blogs of the World Wide Web.

One side is firmly behind the sunny climes of the Spanish League and its spiritual leader, the ‘Buck-toothed One’, while the other is leading the growing chorus of fans, players, managers and pundits who believe the shift of power to the English Premier League is almost complete and see Manchester’s ‘Two Rons’ (Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo) as potent status symbols of our supremacy …with a little help from the likes of Paul Scholes, John Terry, Thierry Henry and Scouser G, of course.

So an interesting (if still hypothetical at the time of writing) question for those lovers of Spanish footy is whether their best teams, their top four last season (Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Osasuna) for instance, finish above our top four in the Premiership on a regular basis? I think most people would say probably not.

In my opinion Barcelona and Real Madrid draw and lose too many games, far more than their English counterparts over the last four or five seasons, and would not finish above United or Chelsea. Arsenal and Liverpool would also possibly be too strong for them over a full English season. As for Valencia and the others, they would do well to get through the winter in mid-table.

If the venue for our hypothetical league were to be reversed, I think the English have the players to adapt very quickly to the better conditions and take their football to an even higher level. I think they would still prove my point by being the better overall teams. All-weather teams if you like.

So everything looks rosy from my point of view in our English football gardens. With the level of investment the Premiership enjoys now I can see our top four teams developing sides in the near future that are way too powerful for the rest of Europe…except:

Enter Monsieur Michel Platini, our new Area Manager. As Paul Doyle reported in The Guardian on January 26: “He (Platini) has also expressed his support for FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s idea that clubs should field at least six players qualified to play for the country they’re based in, meaning that Arsenal, for example, would have to start each match with at least six Englishmen.”

Chelsea and Liverpool could also seriously fall foul of this one. Manchester United can just about muster six Englishmen who can kick a ball (19 English in their original 2006/07 squad, including Ben Foster and Danny Simpson out on loan). Chelsea may still get the backing of Roman Abramovich and buy their way out of problems but that is by no means certain as they finally seem ready to consider a sustainable business plan. Liverpool have gone Spanish and Portuguese under Rafael Benitez and are in danger of going down Arsene Wenger’s exciting if now potentially misguided path.

Of course, it may yet prove not to be a problem because, as we know, money does tend to talk, even in the ‘Holier than thou’ corridors of UEFA and FIFA and those in the world with a few quid spare are falling over each other to invest in what is seen as the leading product in world soccer. Let’s enjoy the next couple of years while it lasts and, if Platini and Blatter do get their way, keep a careful eye on the Italians and Platini’s own countrymen.

The Italians will be hell-bent on restoring some national pride to their club football in the coming seasons while the French league, I’m afraid, is becoming more’ interesting’ with every passing year – and still boasts a lot of Frenchmen!

Should Premiership teams be forced to field a set number of English players? Let Sportingo have your views.