Football is officially gone mad.( Thanks City and PSG)
City and PSG have their parts but it's competition at the top. 10-15 years ago you didn't have as many super rich clubs as you have now. It's economics more than two or three teams that are to blame. RM has a track record for signing record fee players and as far as I remember, we signed Ibrahimovic for a pretty decent sum giving Eto'o away. There is more TV demand (until last year that is, live tv demand is shrinking since last year), more money in the market and at the same time billionaire clubs that are causing the inflation in transfer fees and yearly salaries.
I don't like the billionaire clubs but to blame only them would be unfair, since the immense influx of money, transfer fees and player salaries were always rising.
There is a limited amount of talent on the market, the CL is as important or even more so as the domestic league. Signing a player (no matter which category TIER 1 or 2) means another team can't sign him. It's an incredible war for talent.