Man Utd top league of transfer losses with negative spend of more than £1bn in last decade – Capital Radio Malawi
9 February, 2025

Man Utd top league of transfer losses with negative spend of more than £1bn in last decade

Some of the expensive players which United bought

Manchester United have spent a record £1.19bn more on transfers over the past decade than they have recouped through player sales, according to a new study.

Since 2014 United have spent about £1.67bn on new players, and brought in about £481m, says Swiss-based research institute, CIES Football Observatory.

Chelsea are second with a negative net spend of £883m, followed by French side Paris St-Germain with £863m.

Arsenal (£745m) and Manchester City (£732m) complete the top five.

A total of 13 Premier League clubs are in the top 20.

The figures used in the study include fixed transfer fees, fee-paying loans and any add-ons regardless of whether they have actually been paid.

Notable United transfers include the then Premier League record capture of Paul Pogba for £89.5m in 2016, Romelu Lukaku for £75m in 2017 and Harry Maguire for £80m in 2019 – a world record fee for a defender.

Of that trio only Maguire remains at the club, with Lukaku joining Inter Milan for £74m in 2019 – their biggest sale of the past 10 years – and Pogba leaving on a free transfer last summer after his contract expired.

Chelsea have spent the most money on players, about £2.25bn, but have recouped £1.37bn.

The Blues have a negative balance of about £476m for 2023 – the biggest in the world – reflecting the heavy investment made by new owner Todd Boehly since taking over the club last year.

They broke the British transfer record when they signed Benfica’s Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez for £107m in January, before bringing in Brighton’s Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo in August for a fee that could rise to £115m.

In total all clubs have spent about £10.6bn on transfers in 2023 alone, smashing the previous record of £8.5bn in 2019 by about 25%.

About The Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *