, the remarkable excesses of the Prem over the past 10 seasons have been laid bare. Of the top 10 net spenders, seven are Prem sides - with Arsenal , whose capture of Declan Rice from West Ham has taken their net outlay to £747m in fourth, Manchester City (£733m) fifth, Newcastle (£575m) sixth, Spurs (£522m) eighth and West Ham (£451) 10th. 12 Declan Rice became Arsenal's record signing this summer for £115m Credit: Getty 12 Mykhailo Mudryk is yet to make an impact at Chelsea after his £97m move to Stamford Bridge Credit: Getty The Prem sides - Liverpool , in 12th with a net spend of £426m are actually behind Aston Villa) are only rivalled by third-placed PSG (£870m), Barcelona (£568m) and AC Milan (£467m). It stands in stark contrast with Portuguese giants Benfica, who have MADE £655m from their transfer dealings, or Ajax, £372m to the good. United don't seem to have got much for that £1.2bn, mind you. Five managers, 54 players - in addition to the pay-outs for sacked bosses - have all added up to the Europa league, one FA Cup and){kind=link}
MANCHESTER UNITED are the ONLY club in the global game to have spent more than £1BILLION net over the past decade.
Since the appointment of Louis van Gaal in the summer of 2014, United’s net outlay, taking sales into account, stands at a staggering £1.2bn, with £524million of that having been splashed out SINCE the Covid pandemic of 2020.
The arrivals of Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount and Andre Onana this summer for a total of £164m has only extended United’s stratospheric spending policy over the past decade.
But Chelsea’s astonishing three transfer windows since the arrival of Todd Boehly, with a net spend of £558m in 2023 ALONE and £880m over the period, means the Blues are now second in the global list.
According to statisticians at the Swiss-based International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), the remarkable excesses of the Prem over the past 10 seasons have been laid bare.