The greed of the Big Six could tear the Premier League apart - and Europe's super club are rubbing their hands

When the Premier League clubs meet in London on Wednesday to finalise the sharing arrangement of the next international broadcasting deals, there will noticeably be that bit more familiarity among representatives of the ‘Big Six’. That is because, according to top-level sources, they already have regular lunches every couple of months.

They already see themselves as someway distinctive to the rest of the Premier League, as apart, just as the bigger clubs did with the other three divisions when the competition originally broke away from the Football League in 1992.

You could then say that the proposal to distribute 35% of the international broadcasting rights was the natural next step, the logical progression, the somewhat depressingly inevitable gradually greater concentration of money towards a smaller group… but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is the logical decision to take, even for those Big Six.

There is certainly a lot of irony here. The Premier League has precisely become so attractive to international broadcasters because of its vitality and the competitiveness that the current financial arrangements have allowed, and it is now as if those big clubs want to dilute that vitality and competitiveness - for that very international broadcasting money.

The potential danger to the overall product and future deals is obvious, especially when the home TV market now looks saturated but there is so much room for growth in international rights.

There are many who think this has all been a long game from the big clubs anyway, especially when owners like the Glazers know how ludicrously valuable Manchester United’s individual broadcasting rights could be if they were able to sell matches on the internet.

Before getting anywhere near that far, though, there are also many who work for and with the other European super clubs who simply can’t believe their Premier League counterparts are doing this. It actually plays into their hands.

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All of the big Italian and Spanish clubs are hugely envious of the English TV rights money, the sort of cash they could only get their hands on in the event of a European Super League. The feeling on the continent is that a split in the Premier League would either facilitate the latter, or just weaken the English competition as a product, opening up the broadcasting market in a different way.

That alone should say a lot, but there are other possible consequences to consider, other potential negatives to what is really naked greed.

The Big Six may, for example, be able to bank on the idea that their competitiveness among themselves is enough to bring in viewers, as recent seasons have proved, but there is the danger of some of the vitality being removed there too.

Would Crystal Palace be able to help Liverpool’s team-building in the way they’ve done by buying Christian Benteke without that money? Would Leicester City be able to do the same with Manchester City and Kelechi Iheanacho?

Also, would the extra money really be enough to prise the primary stars from Real Madrid and Barcelona in the way that they really want to counter-balance the possible effect on competitiveness?

It remains to be seen, but such a decision on Wednesday would see a currently successful balance would disrupted, a popular recipe ruined. The game that ate itself, to revive a phrase used so regularly when the Premier League first broke away? Who knows. What we do know right now, though, is that the other top European clubs would greatly welcome this.