The leader of Spain’s La Liga has become a surprise leading candidate to take charge of the Premier League.
According to a report from The Times in the UK, Javier Tebas has emerged as a frontrunner to replace long-time chief executive Richard Scudamore who stepped down in December.
Tebas has been in charge of Spain’s top-flight since 2013 and has helped the league grown into a mammoth in terms of TV rights worldwide, with only the Premier League ahead of La Liga in terms of revenue generated from selling rights to show their games.
With Scudamore stepping down as the PL’s chief executive in December 2018 the league have been searching for a successor for quite some time as his exit was planned.
Susanna Dinnage initially accepted the role then backed out, while reports state that Tim Davie from the BBC also turned down the chance to succeed Scudamore.
Tebas has a reputation as someone who is keen to try new things and he is the person driving overseas games in the Spanish top-flight. La Liga agreed a deal to play regular-season games in the United States of America (the first of which was supposed to be in Miami in January between Barcelona and Girona) but they are yet to take place as talks between FIFA, the Spanish Football Association and the players’ association continue.
Per the report, the main stumbling block with Tebas getting the gig at the Premier League is that his English is limited. That said, if he is given a period of time to step into the role there’s no doubt he could sort out that issue rather easily in 6-12 months.
There are some concerns being mentioned about Tebas’ alleged support of a right-wing political party in Spain, Vox, while his radical ideas to take league games overseas could lead to plenty of uproar in England and Wales as many fans do not want it to happen.