The top three spending clubs in the world over the past six years have been revealed and unsurprisingly, they’re all in the Premier League.
The football observatory at the Centre international d’étude du sport (CIES) in Switzerland have compiled a list of the biggest spenders in the past six years from 2010 to 2016. Leading the pack are Manchester City, who have spent a whopping €1,024 million in that period.
Man City are far ahead of their two closest rivals Chelsea and Manchester United. The Blues come in second with a gross expenditure of €871 million on players, while United are not too far behind, having spent €841 million over the past six years.
The two Manchester clubs are much closer in terms of the maximum amount spent in one year during this period. City had spent €266 million in 2015, while Manchester United spent €255 million in 2014.
Chelsea have had a more even breakdown of expenditure though, having spent their maximum of €166 million in 2011. They are behind clubs like Barcelona, Juventus, Real Madrid and Monaco when it comes to most money that a club has spent on players in one year since 2010.
Manchester United have splurged on a number of new players over the past few seasons, especially since the retirement of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. They broke the world record transfer fee this summer, signing Paul Pogba from Juventus for a reported €105 million.
Last season they had signed French striker Anthony Martial for €50 million, while the summer before that their most expensive transfer was that of Argentine midfielder Angel di Maria for €75 million. The other big signings that summer, which was the most expensive in United history, included the likes of Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera and Marcos Rojo.
Chelsea, on the other hand, have not spent more than €40 million on a player since shelling out €58 million for Spaniard Fernando Torres in 2010. Their most expensive player since then has been Belgian winger Eden Hazard, who arrived from Lille in 2012 for a reported €40 million.
The Blues’ ‘spread even’ policy has been reflected in their business this summer as well. The three major signings have been Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi, French midfielder N’golo Kante and the deadline day deal for former defender David Luiz. All three cost between €35 to €39 million.
[All figures courtesy of transfermarkt.com]
