The numbers behind the Premier League’s BIG-spending BIG 6
In the British summer of 2003, Roman Abramovich’s arrival at Chelsea completely transformed the Premier League landscape. In the 2 decades which have passed since, the Blues have scooped up every trophy available to them, seemingly justifying the huge sums of money forked out.
They’re not the only ones though. Let’s take a look back at an era of extravagance with specific focus on the traditional BIG 6 and measure the expenditure against their respective trophy yields.
All figures are via Transfermarkt and quoted in Euros.
Blues are BIG spenders and winners since 2003
Chelsea fans will inevitably look back at the Roman Abramovich era with great joy. Under his watch, they won 5 Premier League titles, 2 Champions League crowns, 2 Europa Leagues, 5 FA Cups, 3 EFL Cups and the Club World Cup.
The Blues have spent the most money out of any of the BIG 6 since 2003, but they’re only third on the net spend (total of transfer fees received from player sales subtracted from the total spend on players purchased) list in that period because of the vast amounts of money they’ve recouped when letting players leave.
Chelsea churn pays off
Now, with the sales of Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovačić, Kalidou Koulibaly, Christian Pulisic, Édouard Mendy and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, their position on the balance sheet is even more favourable. Those 7 have brought in significant funds to offset last season’s splurge on Mykhaylo Mudryk, Enzo Fernández, Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke, Malo Gusto, Andrey Santos, Benoît Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Wesley Fofana, Cesare Casadei, Marc Cucurella, Carney Chukwuemeka, Gabriel Slonina and a hefty loan fee for João Félix.
Just looking at all those names can make one a little dizzy. What’s clear is that Chelsea’s churn of playing personnel served them well under the ownership of Roman Abramovich. The jury is still out on Todd Boehly though.
A decade of expenditure, but not much success for Man Utd
To refine things further, let’s now look at the last decade and how clubs have spent in relation to the trophies they’ve picked up.
What’s immediately clear from these figures is how dominant Man City have been and how they’ve maximised vast resources. Their 15 trophies have arrived at an average net spend of just €67.2m. Contrast that with rivals Man Utd whose trophies since 2013/14 have come at an average net spend of €311.5m. Who are the noisy neighbours now?
Liverpool and Chelsea are operating at similar levels of efficiency in terms of their average net spend every time they lift a trophy.
Meanwhile, Tottenham’s wait goes on, with their last piece of silverware being the 2008 EFL Cup. Spurs fans will be hoping and praying that the intriguing additions of James Maddison and Manor Solomon can turn their fortunes around under new boss Ange Postecoglou.
Net spend per trophy since 2013/2014
Trophies included in calculations: Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Champions League, Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup
Arsenal
Transfer expenditure: €1.37b
Transfer income: €381.8m
Net spend: €992.09m
Trophies won: 4
Net spend per trophy: €248.02m
Chelsea
Transfer expenditure: €2.09b
Transfer income: €1.37b
Net spend: €718.38m
Trophies won: 8
Net spend per trophy: €89.8m
Liverpool
Transfer expenditure: €1.2b
Transfer income: €708.97m
Net spend: €493.56m
Trophies won: 6
Net spend per trophy: €82.26m
Man City
Transfer expenditure: €1.7b
Transfer income: €689.3m
Net spend: €1.008b
Trophies won: 15
Net spend per trophy: €67.2m
Man Utd
Transfer expenditure: €1.66b
Transfer income: €418.5m
Net spend: €1.246b
Trophies won: 4
Net spend per trophy: €311.5m
Tottenham
Transfer expenditure: €1.12b
Transfer income: €594.02m
Net spend: €523.61m
Trophies won: 0
Net spend per trophy: N/A
Premier League 2023/24 context
Arsenal are actually this season’s BIGGEST net spenders with an outlay of €231.6m and just €19.9m received in sales as of Tuesday 25th July. They’ve added Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber to their squad and sold cult favourite Granit Xhaka to Bayer Leverkusen. The Gunners might need to make more sales though.
Chelsea, as you can see, have made a huge and much-needed profit on sales after their shopping spree last season. That’s not to say they haven’t signed anybody though, with attackers Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson arriving as Mauricio Pochettino looks to build a young, vibrant, attack-minded squad. Will they be able to convince Moisés Caicedo to join the party?
Premier League BIG 6 net spend in 2023/24
Arsenal: €211.7m
Tottenham: €124.7m
Liverpool: €112m
Man Utd: €91.2m
Man City: €24.1m
Chelsea: -€141.9m
Newcastle, undoubtedly an emerging force and now back in the Champions League, have also been fairly restrained with a total net spend of €99m this window. Will that change in the coming weeks?
Chelsea and Man City selling the right players at the right time?
As already mentioned, Chelsea have let go of some BIG names this window. That’s a continuation of a theme with Tammy Abraham, Kurt Zouma, Marc Guéhi and Fikayo Tomori all sold in 2021/22. If you talk about selling at the right time, retrospectively speaking, Eden Hazard’s move to Real Madrid is a prime example. Needless to say, things didn’t work out for the Belgian in Spain but Chelsea banked €115m for a player who shone for them for 7 years.
Man City have recouped significant fees for Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Ferran Torres and Oleksandr Zinchenko in the past 2 seasons. They’re all players who contributed to vast success, left on good terms and helped the club turn a significant profit.
What happens if Kylian Mbappé moves to Saudi Arabia?
Outside of the Premier League, news of Al Hilal’s mind-boggling €300m offer for Kylian Mbappé, in which he would reportedly make €700m factoring in image rights and commercial arrangements, shows how much things have changed and point to even more flux. If 24-year-old Mbappé, a man approaching his peak years, swaps Europe for Saudi Arabia, who will follow him.
Throwback to the best transfer windows in history
“Winning the transfer window” is overstated, but we’d be remiss not to bring up a few specific examples, aptly starting with José Mourinho‘s first stint with the Blues:
Chelsea 2004
Abramovich’s cash went to work in the British summer of 2004. Chelsea brought in Petr Čech (€13m), Didier Drogba (€38.5m), Ricardo Carvalho (€30m), Arjen Robben (€18m), Paulo Ferreira (€20m), Tiago (€15m) and Mateja Kežman (€7.5m). The first 5 in particular were cornerstones of an outstanding winning machine, and the first 3 are club legends.
Inter Milan 2009
This window turned out to bear significant fruit, with the Nerazzurri winning a treble under Mourinho the following year.
Inter brought in Diego Milito (€28m), Samuel Eto’o (€20m), Wesley Sneijder (€15m), Thiago Motta (€10.2m), Lúcio (€7m) and Goran Pandev (free). What a haul, and FIVE of those guys started and won the 2010 Champions League final. Not bad business.
Real Madrid 2009
Imagine signing Kaká (€67m), Karim Benzema (€35m) and Cristiano Ronaldo (€94m) at any stage during a club’s history? Now imagine recruiting all 3 in the same transfer window, because that’s exactly what Florentino Perez and Real Madrid did in 2009.
Although Kaká’s time in Madrid was hampered by injury, the elegant Brazilian can still boast about a Ballon d’Or and World Cup winner’s medal on his CV. As for the other 2, they’re bona fide Los Blancos legends. Ronaldo scored 450 goals in 438 matches in the famous white jersey, while Benzema was an integral part of their Champions League dynasty and has more assists than any other player in the club’s history.
Madrid also signed the legendary and stylish Xabi Alonso (€34.5m) in that window, along with Raúl Albiol, Álvaro Arbeloa and Esteban Granero.
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can certainly acquire top quality footballers and pave the way to success. With the right management and tactics in place, of course.
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