The most expensive Man Utd squad in the world
According to data released by the CIES Football Observatory on September 13, Man Utd spent $1.235 billion to build the current squad. Of which, there is nearly 500 million USD since coach Erik Ten Hag took over the team in June 2022.
The Dutch coach recruited Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia in his first summer at Old Trafford, for a total cost of more than 150 million USD. He also bought Antony for $106 million, turning the Brazilian winger into the third most expensive player in Man Utd history, after Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku. This summer, Man Utd also invested $90 million in Ramus Hojlund, $75 million in Mason Mount and $60 million in Andre Onana. CIES figures include surcharges.
Chelsea ranked second with a squad of 1.217 billion USD. They spent most of this money under Todd Boehly, the new owner who replaced Roman Abramovich in May 2022. Last month, Chelsea spent 144 million USD to buy Moises Caicedo, breaking the record of 131 million USD they set in January with the Enzo Fernandez deal.
Man City ranked third with a squad of 1.119 billion USD. Nearly a quarter of this amount was used to buy four players in the 2023 summer transfer window, including Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes, Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic. Compared to Man Utd and Chelsea, Man City achieves better investment efficiency. Last season, the home team at Etihad Stadium won the third consecutive Premier League, and also completed the treble goal.
PSG is the only non-Premier League team in the Top 5. The French team ranked fourth with a squad of 1.073 billion USD. PSG also spends the most on attack, with $600 million on strikers. Meanwhile, Liverpool invested the most in goalkeepers, with 79 million USD. Man Utd and Real Madrid spend the most on defenders and midfielders, with 412 million USD and 481 million USD respectively.
In terms of total investment, Arsenal ranked fifth with 897 million USD, just above Tottenham's 890 million USD. Liverpool ranked seventh with 825 million USD, and Real Madrid ranked eighth with 759 million USD. The Spanish team and PSG are two rare non-Premier League clubs in the Top 10. The remaining two positions in the Top 10 belong to Newcastle with 708 million USD and West Ham with 542 million USD.
Serie A contributes 15 teams to the Top 100, while La Liga contributes 12 teams. Ligue 1 and Bundesliga both have 11 teams. Juventus is the team that spends the most in Serie A, with 508 million USD, ranked right above Napoli with 421 million USD. AC Milan and Inter followed with $356 million and $275 million. Meanwhile, in La Liga, Atletico Madrid ranked second behind Real Madrid with a squad of 415 million USD. Barca ranked third with 402 million USD.
Saudi Pro League is the non-European tournament that contributes the most to the Top 100, with four faces. Al Hilal ranked 18th with a total investment of 411 million USD. This summer, they signed Neymar from PSG, Malcom from Zenit, Aleksandar Mitrovic from Fulham and Ruben Neves from Wolves.
