Man City have the most expensive starting XI in Europe at £560m, while rivals United placed third at £413m behind PSG… with the French giants the only non-Premier League side to break the top six.
- Manchester City have the most expensive starting XI in Europe
- PSG and Manchester United complete the top three but are over £100m behind
- Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal complete a Premier League dominated top six
- Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are the only features outside the top 10
- The figures are from a CIES survey based on starting XIs throughout the 2022-23 season
Manchester City lead the way among Europe’s big leagues in having the most expensive assembly of the starting XI across the campaign so far.
The Premier League champions have a starting XI valued at around £560m in a CIES survey based on fixtures made up to October 26, with the top six dominated by the team from England.
Given their relative financial muscle, City have tended to avoid paying headline-grabbing fees on key stars, with the exception of Jack Grealish’s £100m move from Aston Villa last year.
Manchester City top the list of most expensive club ownership despite finding a deal in the summer in the £50m transfer of Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund
Neymar and Kylian Mbappe are £361million worth of Paris Saint-Germain’s starting XI
Antony arrived at Manchester United for a whopping £86million in the summer
Instead Pep Guardiola’s outfit has always bought many of their first team stars at a price between £50m and £60m such as Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Riyad Mahrez, Joao Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri and summer arrival Erling Haaland
However they are ahead of any of their European rivals when it comes to the starting XI price point, with Paris Saint-Germain close behind them with a squad that costs £121m cheaper at £439m – although much of that is of the world records £198m paid for Neymar and the second biggest money paid £163m for Kylian Mbappe.
Local rivals Manchester United completed the top three at £413m, bumped by the £200million spent on transfers during the summer as part of Erik Ten Hag’s revolution on new first team stars with Antony at £86million, Casemiro got around £70m from Real Madrid while Lisandro Martinez arrived as a centre-back from Ajax at £51m.
Gabriel Jesus is one of the big names coming into Arsenal’s starting XI in the summer
Liverpool are the top seed in fourth, having spent £85m on Darwin Nunez to boost their attack
Raheem Sterling has come into the Chelsea team this season after arriving from Manchester City
PSG is the only team from outside the Premier League to make it into the top six, with Liverpool (£352m), Chelsea (£338m) and Arsenal (£329m) also completing the top of the list.
According to the survey, the figures are representative of the total of all starting XIs in the current season.
The rest of Europe’s biggest spenders make up the top 10, including Real Madrid (£318m), Barcelona (£287m), Juventus (£258m) and Bayern Munich (£253m).
Many expect Newcastle United (£221m) to squeeze in the new cash flow they found following the Saudi backing last year, and already they have started from a high position in the table.
Midfielder Bruno Guimaraes has made a huge impression on Newcastle United’s starting XI
This is despite Eddie Howe having spent wisely in his two transfer windows as manager, with Bruno Guimaraes arriving for around £38m last January in their first title rise which would have influenced their first team selection.
Alex Isak of course arrived from Real Sociedad for a cool £63m in the summer but has only started three games due to a groin injury which will likely have a major impact on Newcastle’s 11th overall transfer.
Despite being known as one of the Premier League’s so-called ‘Big Six’, Tottenham Hotspur (£198m) is only ranked 13th behind Atletico Madrid, underlining how well Antonio Conte’s team has competed with the Premier League’s biggest teams to break into. The league champions despite their tactical approach to the transfer market.
Tottenham’s low ranking on the list can be highlighted by the quality work done to bring star striker Harry Kane through the club’s academy system
The north London club though benefited from star striker Harry Kane coming through the academy while fellow key man Son Heung-min signed for the club for just £22m in 2015 before transfer fees escalated.
When adjusted for the most expensive fee, City still top the list at £625m this season following their 3-1 win over Brighton earlier in October.
Man Utd climbed above PSG to second while Chelsea leapfrogged Liverpool who completed the top five.
CIES figures include transfers where additional charges are also factored in regardless of any down payments made.
