With a new £5.1billion TV deal in place and Leicester winning a fairytale season last summer, the Premier League's place as the richest and most exciting football league in the world seemed assured.
But - as the signings of two of global football's most famous faces this week shows - England's top league faces a new challenger in the Far East.
There was a time when the only competition for players, managers and TV viewers came from the top leagues in Italy, Spain and Germany.
But booming wealth in China, coupled with president Xi Jinping's love of the beautiful game, means money is being pumped into the country's Super League like never before.