Spanish centre back questions current distribution of television revenue.
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique believes English football needs to rethink how it shares its TV revenue according to Goal.com.
The Spanish defender played at Old Trafford with Manchester United as a youngster before returning to his homeland to turn out for Barcelona.
Pique has expressed his belief that elite clubs in England are punished under the current mechanism for sharing the revenue generated from TV rights.
There are no English clubs left in the Champions League quarter finals for the first time since 1996 and Pique believes that is something which will occur again if the English game does not implement some changes.
“Maybe English football needs to rethink about themselves,” said the Spain international.
“They have gone from having three teams in the semis to now, none in the quarters.
“The Premier League gets punished in relation to La Liga as the television money is more evenly distributed in England, but does that explain the difference with Madrid and Barcelona? Not totally perhaps. People say the league is more equal than La Liga but nonetheless United are 12 points clear of second place.”
Currently the teams in the Premier League share the TV revenue equally unlike in Spain where Real Madrid and Barcelona enjoy a much greater share of the wealth.
Pique argues that it has not led to a less competitive league, pointing to Manchester United’s twelve point lead at the top of the Premier League this season.
But the centre-back does not believe that is the only explanation for the demise of English clubs this season.
Pique suggests that there may be a need to review coaching methods in the game but also does not rule out this season proving to be merely a blip in the success of Premier League sides.