Chelsea have constructed the most expensive squad of players in the entire world, a new report has revealed.
The Blues, with a cost of €1.314 billion, are one of five teams to have broken the €1 billion (£870 million, $1.18 billion) mark, per CIES Football Observatory, with the other four coming from the Premier League. Manchester City sit narrowly behind Chelsea, with Manchester United occupying third in the rankings with a squad cost of €1.071 billion.
Despite overseeing the most expensive transfer window in history this past year, Liverpool only boast the fourth-most expensive squad in the game at €1.065 billion, ahead of Arsenal’s €1.001 billion spend.
Dropping below the €1 billion threshold, yet another English side crops up first. Tottenham Hotspur have racked up a squad cost of €974 million, well clear of Paris Saint-Germain (€873 million) in seventh.
Real Madrid and Newcastle United are both marginally behind, but there is a drop of almost €250 million down to Atlético Madrid in 10th.
The 30 Most Expensively Assembled Squads in the World
Los Blancos boast a total spend of €854 million, close to double that of Barcelona, who sit down in 15th at €463 million.
Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, who added big names like Darwin Núñez and Theo Hernández to a squad which already included Rúben Neves, Malcom and Sergej Milinković-Savić, are the only non-European side in the top 30.
Of the 30 richest squads, no fewer than 17 come from the Premier League. Indeed, only the newly promoted trio of Sunderland, Leeds United and Burnley do not make the cut.
There are three Spanish sides in the top 30 and four from both Germany and Italy, while France and Saudi Arabia each boast one representative.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The 30 Most Expensive Squads in World Soccer—Ranked.
