Supporters of the Premiership’s top clubs – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – will blindly tell anyone who will listen that the English Premier League is the strongest in Europe.

This despite the failure of any of England’s bigger clubs to progress to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League this season. Liverpool failed to make it past the group stages, but they have had their own demons this season.

Fulham’s Europa League fairytale may or may not come to an end before a trophy but, come on – does anyone take the competition seriously?

Commentators and unemployed former players (“pundits” they’re called), have pointed to the crucial injury problems among the Premiership elite, the quality of some of their players on the fringes of the first teams, and the self-inflicted wounds which have left some with a lone first-team striker.

But, it’s all about the money.

If you analyse spending and accept that Spain’s La Liga clubs dished out two-and-a-half times more in fees than their English counterparts, then you’ll realise Premier League sides performed as well as could be expected. Even German clubs spent 14% more than the English.

Ok, the Spanish figures are skewed by Ramon Calderon’s second coming at Real Madrid. But, equally importantly, the English numbers include Manchester City’s spending spree, bankrolled by its rich Gulf owners.

The Daily Mail quotes sportingintelligence.com figures which show that net transfer spending by League clubs is at the lowest in a decade. You need only look at the spectacular decimation of London’s financial sector to see that the glory days are over for now.

The top five clubs in Europe, by net transfer spending this season (players bought minus those sold): Real Madrid (£226million), Manchester City (£128.4million), Barcelona (£98.45million), Inter Milan (£83.24million) and Lyon (£70.17million).

No surprises. Any club, even Real, would underperform with Manuel Pellegrini at the helm (this column predicted it at the start of the season). Manchester City have all but forced their way into Europe. If they miss out on a Champions League place, it will be by a point or two (and partly due to managers this season who simply aren’t good enough).

So, excluding the underperformers, you have Barcelona, Inter and Lyon left: three of the four Champions League semi-finalists. I’m willing to bet Bayern Munich are probably in sixth or seventh position in terms of spending.

English clubs need to spend more to succeed. With the exception of Cit-eh, that doesn’t seem the way the story will unfold over the next six months.

Manchester United are the subject of a vicious takeover bid, and their current owners simply can’t stump up £100million for transfers. Even Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich is no longer spending as freely as he was five years ago. Liverpool have even less money than United (if that’s even possible), and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger will no doubt continue in his miserly fashion.

The English elite are losing the competitive edge among Europe’s giants, and it’s not obvious how they’re going to force themselves into contention again.