Football Q&A: ask Ed Aarons your questions as the Premier League returns – live

After a lengthy international break dominated by the Manchester City verdict, the Premier League is back on Saturday. Football writer Ed Aarons is online now answering your questions

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chymist asks: When will the myth that the Premier League is ‘the best league in the world’ be finally put to rest?

*Ed says: There were only five Premier League players shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or this year and that is an indication that most of the biggest stars in world football still play overseas. While English clubs have been dominating European competitions over the past few years with Arsenal, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace all reaching finals last year, I think the attraction of playing for the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and these days Paris Saint-Germain outweighs the benefits of playing in the Premier League for many of the very best. *

But there is no doubting that the overall level is far higher in England than anywhere else given the financial might of the Premier League that allows clubs to bring in and develop better players. You just have to look at results at the start of this season to see that anyone can beat almost anyone at the moment and that makes it a much better competition.

*Ed says: Hello everyone and it’s an interesting place to start… It’s hard to argue against the premise that City’s success since 2018 was not built on the period for which they have been found guilty of so many charges, because it obviously had an enormous impact on their ability to sign new players given the increased revenue that generated. Would they have been able to sign Erling Haaland in 2022 from Borussia Dortmund without it, for example? *

*But the question of whether they could face more charges in future due to what some have called the “snowball effect” would of course depend on whether there is any evidence of any new breaches of the financial regulations in that period. And there is a strong possibility that the Premier League could revisit some of those figures given that City have been found guilty of so many charges between 2009 and 2018 *

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