MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 26: Manchester United player Bruno Fernandes celebrates with team mates … [+] after scoring in the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on August 26, 2023. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesDespite their huge spending over the last three transfer windows, Chelsea’s squad didn’t cost the most.
That honor goes to Premier League rivals Manchester United, who have the most expensively-assembled team on the planet.
According to a report by CIES Football Observatory this week, Manchester United’s squad cost $1,234 million to build. That figure is based on transfer fees spent to buy the players who are in teams’ squads as of 11th September 2023 and includes any add-ons that the transfer fees may have.
Unsurprisingly, that transfer spending is focused at the top end of the pitch, with Manchester United spending $441 million on forwards. However, the $411 million spent on defenders, including large fees for Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez, is the most of any club.
United are one of four soccer clubs whose squads cost more than one billion dollars to assemble.
The others are Chelsea, Manchester City and Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain, whose $598 million spent on forwards is the most of any club.
The cost of assembling a squad is very different from team value, and it is possible to bring in free signings on huge wages to create a strong squad without spending too much on transfers.
Many Saudi Arabian clubs have taken this strategy, with Cristiano Ronaldo among those who have joined Saudi Pro League clubs on a free.
Saudi side Al-Hilal, who signed Neymar for a huge fee this summer, have spent the most on transfers outside of Europe’s traditional “big-five” leagues, and have the 18th most expensively-assembled squad overall.
Forbes’ most valuable soccer team in 2023, Real Madrid, have only spent the eighth most on transfers.
The Spanish giants, who spent big on English midfielder Jude Bellingham this summer, have the most expensive midfield, but their transfer spending as a whole is behind Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
In fact, only two of Forbes’ six most valuable teams, Manchester United and Manchester City, are among the six teams that have spent the most on transfers. The third most valuable team in the world,
Barcelona, whose squad cost $403 million to build, spent less on its squad than Everton, RB Leipzig or Al-Hilal.
This shows that team value and transfer spending, at least in the short term, are not that closely connected, but also shows the massive spending power of the Premier League.
Eleven of the twenty teams that have spent the most on transfer fees when building their squad are from the Premier League, including West Ham United, Everton and Nottingham Forest, whereas just eight Premier League sides make Forbes’ top twenty most valuable teams.
It also shows the success of Barcelona’s academy in producing elite players like Gavi and Ansu Fati. CIES valued Gavi as the eighth most valuable player in the world this summer.
Manchester United are the only side to be in the top three most valuable teams in the world and have one of the top three most expensively-assembled squads.
There has been plenty of criticism in the past of their owners not putting in enough money, but the CIES report shows that the club has spent more than anyone else to build its current squad.
The question now is whether Manchester United’s spending has been efficient or wasteful. A look at the impact of some of the club’s most expensive signings such as Harry Maguire, Antony and Jadon Sancho suggests it could be the latter.