The Bundesliga looks to Spain

Germany has never bet so heavily on Spanish soccer players. High wage demands coupled with little desire to emigrate to a country with a climate and language difficult to adapt to had seen only 14 Spanish players plying their trade in the 50-year history of the Bundesliga before this season - and most of those held dual nationality.

All that changed this summer, when five players followed in the footsteps of Sergio Escudero and José Manuel Jurado, both of Schalke 04 - although the latter is on loan at Spartak Moscow. The last to arrive was Javi Martínez, who made his debut for Bayern Munich last weekend in a 6-1 rout of Stuttgart.

Before the former Athletic man moved to Germany, Dani Carvajal and Joselu, both of Real Madrid Castilla, left for Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim, respectively. Álvaro Domínguez departed Atlético for Borussia Mönchengladbach and Ezequiel, of Betis, went to Freiburg on loan. Juanan, a Palma-born former Castilla cadet, is now in the German first division after his side, Fortuna Düsseldorf, was promoted last year.

The seven represent the highest number of Spanish players ever in the Bundesliga.

The trail was blazed by Oti in 1991. The Realejos youngster was snapped up by Vfl Bochum on a two-year deal but didn't play a single minute for the team, returning to the Canary Islands the following season. The first Spanish player to set foot on a field in the German top flight was Francisco Copado, a Kiel-born striker who debuted for Hamburg in 1993.

But it wasn't until Raúl decamped to Schalke that a Spanish player really captured the Bundesliga's imagination. The former Real goal machine became an ambassador for Spain; beloved of Schalke's fans, he waxed lyrical about the German league and slipped effortlessly into life in the industrial city of Gelsenkirchen. This summer, the Bundesliga splashed almost 60 million on Spanish talent, the lion's share, 40 million euros, by Bayern on Martínez.

Martínez's purchase was a club record for traditionally big-spending Bayern

Domínguez cost eight million, while Carvajal and Joselu went for six million each. The parlous state of the Spanish league, where most teams are barely keeping their heads above water, has favored the Teutons' designs.

La Liga's total summer outlay was 114 million euros, much of that on two players, Alex Song (Barcelona) and Luka Modric (Real Madrid). The Bundesliga parted with a total of 230 million, breaking its own record of 194 million set in 2007.

Martínez's purchase was a club record for Bayern, which leads the way every summer in making the Bundesliga's most extravagant buys. Last year it splashed out 22 million euros on Germany international goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. The previous season Luis Gustavo was the key arrival, joining from Hoffenheim for 17 million euros. In the 2009-10 transfer market is helped itself to Arjen Robben, Mario Gómez, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Danijel Pranjic for a combined sum of 73 million euros.

But Martínez does not yet wear the badge of a global superstar and Bayern's outlay on a single player flew in the face of its own institutional grumbling: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has said that European clubs "pay huge amounts in transfers that lead to the market being more and more inflationary and unreal."

Bayern's idea is very simple: buy one of the Spanish team and win a title"

Another possible reason that the Bundesliga is eyeing Spanish players is the preeminence of Vicente del Bosque's national team, which has won the last three major international tournaments. Other countries now associate Spanish players with success and good ball skills. "Bayern's idea is very simple: buy one of the Spanish national team and in this way win another title

[Dortmund is the current double champion in Germany]. That is the path to follow. He is not from Barcelona or Real Madrid, but we are at least talking about a Spaniard and, even better, a Basque," published Der Spiegel over the signing of Martínez, who is actually from Navarre.

But other German media have warned of the danger of associating nationality with success. "It is normal that German clubs are signing Spaniards because at the moment Spain plays the best football in the world. However, it is not advisable to make generalizations and think that every Spanish player that comes will be a success," opined Süddeutsche Zeitung .