Comparing every Premier League squad’s cost to its league position: Chelsea & Man Utd biggest underachievers… | OneFootball

Manchester United and Chelsea are the Premier League’s biggest underachievers when you compare how much their squads cost to their position so far in the 2023-24 season.

Erik ten Hag’s squad was built for just short of £1billion, making it the most expensively assembled in world football.

The Dutch coach has had a major headache this season, with a number of their most expensive signings either injured or unavailable, but even in those circumstances they’d have been expected to be doing better, given their outlay. The Red Devils have endured their worst-ever start to a Premier League season, having lost four of seven matches, leaving them sitting 10th in the table.

Chelsea’s squad is the second most expensively assembled and not far behind. Mauricio Pochettino has struggled to turn their form around, leading them to a solitary win over Luton, which sees them 15th, just a couple of points above the relegation zone.

However, their underlying statistics haven’t been as bad as their results and they have a chance to move up to 11th, one point behind Manchester United, if they win their game in hand on Monday evening against Fulham.

At the other end of the scale, Brighton continue to punch well above their weight to remain in contention for a Champions League place. Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls suffered a humbling 6-1 defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend, but their results have otherwise been excellent – particularly for a squad that cost less than Bournemouth’s, Everton’s and Wolves’.

Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Brentford are among the other sides doing better than ought to be expected relative to the resources at their disposal, while Bournemouth and Everton would hope to be doing better given their transfer outlay – paltry as it might be compared to the European giants.

Nottingham Forest, sitting 11th, are performing to par – while Newcastle and West Ham also aren’t far off.

Newly-promoted sides Luton, Sheffield United and Burnley are also more or less where they might expect to be at the bottom end of the table. Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City are also about whereabouts they ought to be up in the top four spots, given their transfer totals – although Spurs are certainly overachieving to remain unbeaten, sitting just one point behind Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions.

Here’s how the comparison stacks up in full. All squad cost figures come via CIES Football Observatory.

Brighton League Position: 6th Squad cost: 16th Total squad cost:  £194million Difference: +10

Crystal Palace League Position: 9th Squad cost: 14th Total squad cost:  £236million Difference: +5

Aston Villa League Position: 5th Squad cost: 9th Total squad cost: £419million Difference: +4

Brentford League Position: 13th Squad cost: 17th Total squad cost: £188million Difference: +4

Tottenham League Position: 2nd Squad cost: 5th Total squad cost: £715million Difference: +3

Fulham League Position: 12th Squad cost: 15th Total squad cost: £211million Difference: +3

Luton League Position: 17th Squad cost: 20th Total squad cost: £50million (estimated – via The Mirror) Difference: +3

Manchester City League Position: 1st Squad cost: 3rd Total squad cost: £899million Difference: +2

Liverpool League Position: 4th Squad cost: 6th Total squad cost:  £664million Difference: +2

Arsenal League Position: 3rd Squad cost: 4th Total squad cost: £721million Difference: +1

West Ham United League Position: 7th Squad cost: 8th Total squad cost: £435million Difference: +1

Nottingham Forest League Position: 11th Squad cost: 11th Total squad cost:  £314million Difference: =

Newcastle United League Position: 8th Squad cost: 7th Total squad cost: £570million Difference: -1

Burnley League Position: 19th Squad cost: 18th Total squad cost: £180million Difference: -1

Sheffield United League Position: 20th Squad cost: 19th Total squad cost: £128million Difference: -1

Wolves League Position: 14th Squad cost: 12th Total squad cost: £313million Difference: -2

Bournemouth League Position: 18th Squad cost: 13th Total squad cost: £296million Difference: -5

Everton League Position: 16th Squad cost: 10th Total squad cost: £360million Difference: -6

Manchester United League Position: 10th Squad cost: 1st Total squad cost:  £992million Difference: -9

Chelsea League Position: 15th Squad cost: 2nd Total squad cost: £978million Difference: -13