The Top Five Biggest Spending Clubs Of The Premier League Era

David Tully

3 years ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester City News

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, spurs, West Ham, wolves

Spending money on players doesn’t necessarily guarantee success but it is not a surprise that some of the highest spending clubs in the Premier League era are also among the most successful.

Squad building through expensive purchases has been part and parcel of the English game for the last 30 years due to the revenue from TV rights, sponsorship and season tickets.

Of course, inflation means those teams who have spent the most in the last decade will be nearer the top so it must be pointed out that there were other clubs who were spending big back in the early days of the Premier League, even if the numbers seem small by today’s standards.

Press the next page as we go through the five biggest spending clubs in Premier League history.

5) Arsenal – £833m

The Gunners have begun to spend sizeably more in recent seasons, breaking their transfer record to sign Nicolas Pepe from Lille for £72m in 2019. They have also shelled out significant sums on the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette in the past few years.

However, the reason they are not higher on this list is that, under Arsene Wenger in particular, they used to spend their transfer kitty on younger players who they could then develop into big stars.

4) Liverpool – £1.079bn

The Reds have spent sizeable amounts of cash in order to regain their position at the top of English football. A lot of mistakes were made, especially in the eras of Graeme Souness and Gerard Houllier.

However, since the arrival of owners FSG, their recruitment has improved markedly, with scouting and analytical data helping them to pick the right signings.

3) Manchester United – £1.2bn

Since becoming the dominant force in England, United have always had the financial power to spend big and get the players they have wanted. Sir Alex Ferguson was particularly adept at signing talented players, such as Jaap Stam, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, since his retirement, the Red Devils have proceeded to make a mess of things in the transfer market. They’ve continued to spend big but the list of their biggest buys: Paul Pogba (£94.5m), Harry Maguire (£78.3m), Romelu Lukaku (£76.2m) and Angel Di Maria (£67.5m), shows you there have been more failures than successes.

2) Chelsea – £1.6bn

The Roman Abramovich era led to the Blues spending sizeable amounts in order to bring success to Stamford Bridge. The money spent has led to five Premier League titles and one Champions League but it could be argued that they should have won a lot more with the backing of their billionaire owner.

Abramovich continues to finance the club to this day, demonstrated by the signing of Kai Havertz for £72m from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer.

1) Manchester City – £1.61bn

Unsurprisingly, it is the Citizens who sit top of this list. The arrival of Sheikh Mansour in 2008 led to a huge amount of investment in players over the corresponding 12 years.

City have spent big on the likes of Kevin De Bruyne (£68m), Riyad Mahrez (£59m), Joao Cancelo (£58m) and Rodri (£62m) but that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the signings that have been brought in since Mansour’s takeover of the club.