Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has insisted that he is not worried about the status of the division after the departures of Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez.
Both players have left England in big-money transfers to Real Madrid and Barcelona, but Scudamore believes that seeing the previous two winners of the Footballer of the Year award leave has not necessarily damaged the reputation of England's top flight.
The 55-year-old told Sky Sports News: "It doesn't really worry me because we are still attracting other stars. Yes, over the past two seasons, the Footballer of the Year has been picked off but with Real Madrid and Barcelona, that has always been the case.
"We've never had the likes of Luis Figo or Zinedine Zidane here, but it's not stopped us attracting some of the best talent in the world and not stopped us having more competitive clubs than any other league in the world, and that's the most attractive part of the Premier League."
The 23rd Premier League campaign begins on Saturday.
Darren Plant
