It is one of the parameters to understand the philosophy of the clubs: when you spend on player cards to have the squad currently available. The other big cornerstone is – obviously – the wage bill. In reality, the “firepower” of a team can be calculated on the annual expenditure by adding the annual amortization of the player card and the gross wage bill. And based on that, declare who spends more to achieve certain results.
But even the expense of setting up the team is evidence of non-trivial steps.
You won’t be surprised if the team that spent the most is Chelsea. The figure is perhaps surprising, especially when compared to the others. Well over a billion euros. 1 billion and 263 million euros (including bonuses), to be precise. For the squad available to Maresca.
You will certainly not be surprised if I tell you that, according to the Cies that conducted this study, not only is the podium all English (the two Manchesters, obviously) but the first 5 positions and that even 7 teams out of the first 10 are from the Premier. The “intruders” are Paris Saint Germain, Real Madrid and Juventus.
And this is already a slightly bigger surprise. Let’s proceed in order.
The podium includes the construction of teams over a billion euros. So not only Chelsea but also United (second in the ranking with 1038) and City (third with 1017) have spared no expense. The curious thing is that without bonuses (not all of them are guaranteed), only Chelsea has exceeded a billion and City would be second in the ranking (948) overtaking United (901). But still these three in the lead.
England, despite having experienced a contracting market, is objectively the country that spends the most, without a doubt. Not just in its big three. But in general. And if City matches its investments to results on the field, the same cannot be said for Chelsea and United who have been chasing not only victories but simply placings for too long. Arsenal and Tottenham complete the TOP5: if we wanted to make a ranking of the cities that invest the most, London would clearly take the lead over Manchester. They are the only two cities represented at the top of this ranking. 2 billion and 800 million for London, 2 billion and 55 million for Manchester…
Then as mentioned PSG (772), Liverpool (735), Real Madrid (720), Newcastle (683) and Juventus (626).
It is interesting to see how Juve is in tenth place. It is certainly not in tenth place for revenue, in the world, although it is still the Italian team that manages to invoice the most, but it is in tenth place for spending on transfers. Objectively this year there has been a great acceleration, from this point of view and at the same time the amount of wages has also been lowered. And this is also a sign. In the meantime of recovery of Italian football which remains in the rankings. And then because evidently there is the desire, certified, to restart a cycle by laying important foundations.
And the Italian ranking reflects this type of approach a bit. Because Juve is clearly first, with almost double the money spent (on transfers) compared to the other big teams in our league. In fact, the others are all under the 400 mark. Starting with Napoli (second with 394 million euros spent), followed by Milan (375) and then Inter (329). Completing the top positions in the ranking, but under the 300 mark, are Roma (261), Atalanta (258) and Fiorentina (171). Here too, with a small variation if we don’t consider the bonus: Atalanta overtakes Roma (as if to say that Roma strongly ties the price of the players they buy to individual or team performances).
Even the fact that Napoli was second in the standings could perhaps have been foreseen, especially given the economic effort this summer. There has been a change of pace, a reversal of the trend compared to the past. And obviously it weighs on spending. As does the fact that for example Inter has recently made many free transfer deals and therefore the expenses for its players are lower than those of the other big teams. This is why the wage bill is also used to measure the firepower of a team.
Other curiosities from the ranking: the first club that does not belong to the BIG5 is obviously an Arab club: Al Hilal, thirteenth in the ranking with 485 million spent, practically more than all the Italian teams except Juve. In total, 19 countries are represented in the top 100 and think about it, not only are there all 20 Premier League teams, but also 4 from the Championship. When you say dominant championship…