A UEFA report on football clubs’ finances released on Thursday, shows that the Manchester United squad in the previous financial year has been recorded as the most expensive ever.
Despite finishing third in the Premier League and securing the Carabao Cup under manager Erik ten Hag’s leadership in his debut season, the squad amassed a total cost of €1.422 billion ($1.543 billion), as stated by UEFA.
Notable signings contributing to this record-breaking expenditure include Antony (€95 million), Harry Maguire (€93 million), Jadon Sancho (€85 million), and Casemiro (€82 million).
UEFA’s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report read: “Manchester United FC’s squad at the end of the club’s 2023 financial year (i.e. before the summer 2023 transfer window) is officially the most expensive ever assembled, with a combined transfer cost of €1,422m. They have surpassed the Real Madrid squad of 2020, which cost €1,332m.”
The data encompassed all of Europe’s major clubs, excluding Chelsea, Everton, and Leicester City, as their financial information for 2023 had not been disclosed.
Consequently, the expenditure of approximately €993 million by Chelsea from the summer of that year until August 2023 was not factored into the analysis.
In terms of squad costs, Chelsea’s 2022 roster ranked third-highest, trailing behind the 2023 squads of Manchester United and Manchester City, who clinched the treble.
Additionally, the report highlighted a concerning trend involving over 300 clubs affiliated with ownership groups comprising multiple teams, largely influenced by American investors.
This development poses a potential threat to the integrity of European football matches.
UEFA detailed the growing popularity of “multi-club ownership”—with investors, if not always the fans — in its annual analysis of the European football economy, which it predicts will be worth about €26bn in revenue for clubs in 2023.
Multi-club groups led to an “increased risk of seeing two clubs with the same owner or investor facing each other in the same competition, creating potential integrity risks at the European level,” UEFA director of research Andrea Traverso acknowledged in the 118-page report.
The report was published while two teams among 13 in the Abu Dhabi-backed City Football Group network—City and Girona — are second, respectively, in the Premier League and LaLiga standings and in shape to qualify for next season’s Champions League.