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, although they have turned things around somewhat in recent weeks to move up to sixth in the table.

Chelsea’s squad is the second most expensively assembled and whilst there are encouraging signs from their recent performances against Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City, they find themselves in 10th place.

At the other end of the scale, Brighton continue to punch well above their weight to remain in contention for a Champions League place. Their form hasn’t been stellar of late, but being in the top half is an excellent return for a squad that was built for less than £200million.

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

Newcastle United, sitting 7th, are performing to par – alongside Wolves and Bournemouth, while Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Sheffield United, Tottenham and West Ham are all more-or-less where they might expect to be.

We’ve put Everton where they currently stand in the official table – 17th, following their 10-point penalty – but in terms of points accrued they’re not a million miles off the midtable position that their spending ought to relate to.

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

Aston Villa League Position: 3rd Squad cost: 9th Total squad cost: £419million Difference: +6

Brentford League Position: 11th Squad cost: 17th Total squad cost: £188million Difference: +6

Liverpool League Position: 1st Squad cost: 6th Total squad cost:  £664million Difference: +5

Arsenal League Position: 2nd Squad cost: 4th Total squad cost: £721million Difference: +2

Luton League Position: 18th Squad cost: 20th Total squad cost: £50million (estimated – via The Mirror) Difference: +2

Fulham League Position: 14th Squad cost: 15th Total squad cost: £211million Difference: +1

Tottenham League Position: 5th Squad cost: 5th Total squad cost: £715million Difference: =

Newcastle United League Position: 7th Squad cost: 7th Total squad cost: £570million Difference: =

Wolves League Position: 12th Squad cost: 12th Total squad cost: £313million Difference: =

Bournemouth League Position: 13th Squad cost: 13th Total squad cost: £296million Difference: =

Manchester City League Position: 4th Squad cost: 3rd Total squad cost: £899million Difference: -1

West Ham United League Position: 9th Squad cost: 8th Total squad cost: £435million Difference: -1

Crystal Palace League Position: 15th Squad cost: 14th Total squad cost:  £236million 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

Manchester United League Position: 6th Squad cost: 1st Total squad cost:  £992million Difference: -5

Nottingham Forest League Position: 16th Squad cost: 11th Total squad cost:  £314million Difference: -5

Everton League Position: 17th [would be 10th if not for points deduction] Squad cost: 10th Total squad cost: £360million Difference: -7

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Chelsea League Position: 10th Squad cost: 2nd Total squad cost: £978million Difference: -8