Ranking every Premier League club by how much their 2023-24 squad cost | OneFootball

Not only do the Red Devils boast English football’s highest wage bill, but they’ve also spent more than any other club in transfer fees in building their current squad.

The club’s struggles – having lost three of their opening five fixtures for the first time in the Premier League era – brings into sharp focus how wisely they’ve spent all that money.

Chelsea, who aren’t far behind with a squad cost totalling £978million, have also suffered a slow start to the season after their dismal 2022-23 campaign, offer another argument that it’s not what you spend, it’s how you spend it.

Reigning champions Manchester City are unsurprisingly near the top, sitting third, having built Pep Guardiola’s squad at a cost of approximately £900million in transfer fees. The all-conquering club have demonstrated that it’s difficult to be stopped if you invest heavily and do it wisely.

There isn’t much between North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham, with Liverpool completing the traditional ‘big six’ in the top six spots.

Newly-minted Newcastle United have closed the gap, though, and it’ll be interesting to see whether the Saudi Public Investment Fund-backed club start to overtake the more established powerhouses in the coming years.

Further down the table, there’s yet more evidence of Brighton and Brentford doing miraculously well to punch above their weight, given they only have the 16th and 17th most expensive squads respectively.

And then it ought to be no surprise to see the newly promoted clubs occupying the bottom three spots, with Manchester United’s squad costing approximately 20 times more than Luton’s.

Note: all figures are via CIES Football Observatory (currency converted from Euros to Pounds) omitting Luton’s due to them being the only Premier League club not to feature in world football’s 100 most expensively assembled squads.

But the Hatters’ record signing is Ryan Giles at just £5million and it’s estimated that their squad comes in at approximately £50million.

1. Manchester United – £992million 2. Chelsea – £978million 3. Manchester City – £899million 4. Arsenal – £721million 5. Tottenham – £715million 6. Liverpool – £664million 7. Newcastle United – £570million 8. West Ham United – £435million 9. Aston Villa – £419million 10. Everton – £360million 11. Nottingham Forest – £314million 12. Wolves – £313million 13. Bournemouth – £296million 14. Crystal Palace – £236million 15. Fulham – £211million 16. Brighton – £194million 17. Brentford – £188million 18. Burnley – £180million 19. Sheffield United – £128million 20. Luton – N/A (est. £50million – per The Mirror)