Manchester City has the most valuable playing squad in Europe, ahead of Liverpool and Barcelona, according to a study.
Researchers from the CIES Football Observatory, a research group within the Switzerland-based International Centre for Sports Studies, analyzed the aggregate transfer value of squads from teams in the "Big 5" European leagues.
The estimated value of each of the squads of the top five teams was more than €1 billion ($1.1b).
Four of the top five teams play in the English Premier League, which the researchers said reflected the “financial power” of the competition.
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City led the way, with a playing staff valued at €1.45 billion ($1.63b). Liverpool, who are challenging them for this season’s title, are second with a value of €1.37b ($1.54b).
Barcelona, in third, are the highest non-English team. Their squad value is estimated at €1.22b ($1.37b). Tottenham Hotspur are fourth with €1.04b ($1.18b), with star striker Harry Kane accounting for nearly 20% of the team value. CIES Football Observatory estimate his value at €194.5m ($219.9m).
Manchester United, in fifth, have a squad valued at €1b ($1.13b). Five of the top 10 teams play in the Premier League.
The researchers, Drs Raffaele Poli, Roger Besson and Loïc Ravenel, also examined the transfer fees spent on acquiring their current squads.
While Manchester City has the most valuable squad, they also spent the most of any club in Europe to acquire the players (€964m / $1.08b). Spurs has been the shrewdest of the 10 clubs with this most valuable squads, with a squad valued at 2.86x what they spent.
Four teams in the top 40 had a squad transfer value more than three times greater than what they spent in transfer fees.
The four clubs were Olympic Lyon (joint 14th, transfer value 3.3x transfer spend), Real Sociedad (31st, 3.4x), LOSC Lille (37th, 3.2x) and Real Betis (38th, 3.1x).
“Well-established in the top division league of their country of belonging, these clubs have an equally well-established business model relying on the promotion of talents,” the researchers said.
However, they pointed out the potential profit from player recruitment was likely less important to clubs with more financial muscle.
Manchester City, for example, have a squad valued at one and a half times more than what they spent to assemble it.
“However, this capital gain is only hypothetical insofar a team like Manchester City wants to win trophies rather than releasing its best footballers,” the researchers said.
“In addition, within the current inflationary context, possible replacements are far more expensive than their predecessors.”
The transfer values are based on CIES Football Observatory’s unique algorithm. The econometric approach takes various factors into account, including the “economic level” of the recruiting club and the contract duration and nationality of the player.
Paris Saint-Germain and France forward Kylian Mbappé is currently ranked as the most valuable player in the world by CIES Football Observatory, worth an estimated €223.7 million ($252.7m).
