English Premier League giants Manchester United have recorded a negative net-spend of £1.19bn in transfers across the past decade, more than any other club in world football according to research institute, CIES Football Observatory.
Of the five highest negative net-spenders since 2014, four of them are Premier League clubs, with French champions Paris St-Germain not among the English top flight. The top ten consists of one Spanish club, that being Barcelona and one Italian club, seven-time European champions AC Milan. 2022-23 Europa Conference League winners West Ham United round off the top ten.
Man Utd are adjudged to have spent a total of around £1.67bn on new signings over the past ten years, but brought in only £481m in return. However, Chelsea exceeds the Red Devils on the spending front, having forked out around £2.25bn for new players under the command of former owner Roman Abramovich and current owner Todd Boehly. The Blues though, have generated £1.37bn in sales which amounts to an overall negative net-spend of £885.5m.
Paris St-Germain’s current negative net-spend currently stands at approximately £865.8m, just below Chelsea, the Parisians having paid a world-record transfer fee to sign striker Kylian Mbappe from AS Monaco back in 2017. Arsenal have recorded the fourth highest negative net-spend, losing £746.9m for a return of just three FA Cup triumphs, whilst reigning European champions Manchester City are said to have accumulated a £733.8m net-loss on transfers in a ten-year period which has seen them win the Premier League title five times and lift a total of 13 major trophies.
Fixed transfer fees, fee-paying loans and all add-ons, regardless of whether they have been paid or not are included as part of the study, which further underlines the financial dominance of English clubs in the transfer market.
