The 20 most expensively-assembled squads in Europe

Matt Stead
Sergio-Ramos-red-card-Real-Madrid-Man-City
Sergio Ramos is sent off

Some people don’t like net spend so we have put together a list of the 20 most expensively-assembled football squads in world football. The totals are from transfermarkt so there may be some currency conversion variations, but they won’t be far off…

 

20) Leicester City (£229.99m)
They have been third in the Premier League for months now and this shows the scale of their over-achievement. One note of caution is that this total does not include relatively expensive loan rangers Islam Slimani, Rachid Ghezzal and Filip Benkovic.

 

19) Inter Milan (£237.41m)
A surprising lack of recent big-money signings in this Inter squad, despite their campaign to take all of the waifs and strays from the Premier League.

 

18) Valencia (£243m)
The fourth most expensively-assembled squad in Spain is down in seventh in the actual La Liga table. For the record, £80m less was spent to construct third-place Sevilla.

 

17) Borussia Dortmund (£251.04m)
Wow. To be even close to a Bundesliga title race is astonishing. They have done remarkable transfer business.

 

16) AC Milan (£253.96m)
So, so, so much money wasted to be the seventh-best team in Italy. And there are expensive flops like Andre Silva sent out on loan and not included in this total.

 

15) Napoli (£276.73m)
So, so, so much money wasted to be the sixth-best team in Italy – over £30m on Hirving Lozano alone.

 

14) Monaco (£278.91m)
One of only two clubs on this list whose squad value is thought to be lower than their purchase price. Wissam Ben Yedder was a sound investment but how much would you get for Aleksandr Golovin now?

 

13) Bayern Munich (£320.85m)
A big leap to one of the big boys. But for all that money, they are yet to win a Champions League for Robert Lewandowski. Another title is almost in the bag, mind.

 

12) Everton (£334.58m)
Yes, that’s right – the current Everton squad cost more to assemble than Bayern Munich’s. That’s what you happens when you keep changing managers and everyone wants to spend money. And we are yet to see what Carlo Ancelotti wants to do…

 

11) Tottenham (£357.89m)
They would have been so much further down this list last season before they finally spent really quite a lot of money on Tanguy Ndombele et al. They have swung from rabid over-achievement to mild under-achievement in one season.

 

10) Chelsea (£360.81m)
With expensive mistakes Tiemoue Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater out on loan and not included in this total, Chelsea look like a team pulling off a slight over-achievement. And yet there’s no shortage of money in that squad, with three £50m-plus players on board.

 

9) Atletico Madrid (£403.11m)
Their net spend is always low – they know how to sell – but the truth is that Joao Felix, Thomas Lemar and Diego Costa are among a bevy of very expensive signings that mean they really should be permanent fixtures in the Champions League.

 

8) Arsenal (£412.02m)
Oh dear. This has not gone well at all. Quite how such a supposedly parsimonious club has spent so much money is unclear, until you remember that their top five record signings are still at the club.

 

7) Liverpool (£497.93m)
They are not quite the paupers suggested by the net spend table but walking away with the Premier League title is still a massive over-achievement for a squad built for less than £500m. There are very, very few duds here.

 

6) Juventus (£505.53m)
That the Serie A table is frozen with Juventus just one point clear of Lazio (£105m) should be a source of embarrassment to the champions, who bet all of the money on Ronaldo winning them the Champions League.

 

5) Barcelona (£592.49m)
Bring back Philippe Coutinho and Barcelona would be third on this list. But this squad is still gold-plated with Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie De Jong and Luis Suarez setting them back about £350m in total.

 

4) Manchester United (£635.34m)
Ouch. Manchester United join Monaco as the only clubs on this list adjudged to have lost value on their signings, having spent a massive amount of money on a squad (seven players cost over £40m each) that has risen only to fifth in the Premier League.

 

3) Real Madrid (£664.2m)
A helluva lot of money has been spent on now-unwanted players, with Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez among those clogging up the squad. For that kind of outlay, one title win in seven seasons is devastating.

 

2) PSG (£741.51m)
That kind of money buys you Ligue Un – over and over again – but it doesn’t buy you the Champions League. Neymar is overrated and Kylian Mbappe wants out before he ends up on this list.

 

1) Manchester City (£851m)
They never break transfer records but their current squad boasts the ridiculous total of 11 players who cost over £40m. It’s time to win the Champions League, Pep.

 

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