The most valuable football squad in the world is worth in excess of £1.4billion, according to research released by a crew of football brainiacs.
In a strong indicator of the Premier League‘s vast wealth, six of the top 10 teams hail from England in figures compiled by the CIES Football Observatory.
Cristiano Ronaldo will be relieved to at least see his Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr creep into the top 100, coming 97th with a value of £104m, but the big bucks are still in Europe.
Eggheads at the respected CIES research body compiled the estimated total transfer values for clubs around the world and assembled the top 100.
And Real Madrid take the gong for the highest squad value, with Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe contributing to a whopping £1.45bn.
In a victory for LaLiga, they make Manchester City look like cheapskates on making City look cheapskates on £1.23bn – more than £200million less.
And Manchester United have significant catching up to do from an eighth-best £828m.
That’s not much more than the £617m they’ve dumped into the transfer market during Erik ten Hag‘s tenure.
Chelsea (£1.16bn), Arsenal (£1.03bn), and Barcelona (£941m) – despite their financial issues – round off the top five.
However, Chelsea’s figures are somewhat skewed by having a total of 54 players counted after trigger-happy recruitment under Todd Boehly and BlueCo. In the top 100 clubs, only Boca Juniors have more with 62.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool will have something to say about being excluded from the top five. They’re forced to settle for sixth with a squad value of £920m.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah, and Alisson all in the final years of their contracts, that figure is lower than it would ideally be for the Reds.
Paris Saint-Germain (£911m) are seventh ahead of United, while Tottenham (£742m) and Bayer Leverkusen (£722m) sneak into the top 10.
That’s right – Leverkusen have the most valuable squad in Germany, dripping with coveted talents such as Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong.
Heavyweights Bayern Munich have their tails between their legs down in 12th with a squad value of £670 – sorry Harry Kane – which means Brighton outdo them on £676 in a major win for their scouts. That said, Bayern’s value per player is marginally higher.
Jurgen Klopp also has a nice starting point in his new role as ‘head of global soccer’ for the Red Bull group.
Germany’s RB Leipzig are in a strong 18th position on £535m, just short of Juventus, while Red Bull Salzburg of Austria are 64th with £176m.
The highest ranking non-European side is Brazilian club Palmeiras, where Real Madrid’s wonderkid Endrick rose through the ranks, but they can only manage 62nd on £177m.
Aston Villa sit 16th with a squad value of £600m, knocking on the door of Inter, AC Milan, and Atletico Madrid.
Newcastle (£455m) and West Ham (£444m) are also punching high in the rankings, placing 22nd and 24th respectively.
Everton’s well-documented financial collapse does not stop them from making the top 50, sandwiched between Girona and Shakhtar Donetsk on £224m.
Leeds United (£189m) have the honour of being the one of two second-tier teams to make the top 100 squad values globally.
The Whites place 58th in the world, pipping the very team that broke their hearts in the Championship play-off final, Southampton, though they’ll probably settle for being a division above and one place lower in this table.
Burnley also place 77th despite a disastrous Premier League campaign last season, having a squad value of £133m.
Source; https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13942601/Worlds-valuable-squad-Premier-League-Man-United-Real_Madrid.html
