Manchester City leads the way among Europe’s major leagues in terms of the most expensively assembled starting XI this season.
According to a CIES study based on fixtures played up to October 26, the Premier League champions have averaged a starting XI costing around £560 million in a top-six dominated by English clubs.
Except for Jack Grealish’s £100 million move from Aston Villa last year, City has tended to avoid paying headline-grabbing fees on major stars given their relative financial clout.
Instead, Pep Guardiola’s team has consistently spent between £50m and £60m on first-team players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Riyad Mahrez, Joao Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, and summer signing Erling Haaland.
When it comes to fielding a costly starting XI, they are far ahead of any of their European rivals, with Paris Saint-Germain closest to them with a team costing around £121m less at £439m – though much of that is made up of the world record £198m paid for Neymar and the second largest fee ever paid of £163m for Kylian Mbappe.
Manchester United complete the top three at £413 million, boosted by the £200 million spent on transfers during the summer as part of Erik ten Hag’s revolution on new first-team stars including Antony at £86 million, Casemiro from Real Madrid at around £70 million, and Lisandro Martinez from Ajax at £51 million.
PSG is the only club from outside the Premier League to make the top six, with Liverpool (£352 million), Chelsea (£338 million), and Arsenal (£329 million) rounding out the top three.
According to the study, the figures are an average of all the starting XIs featured in the current season.
The top ten also includes Real Madrid (£318 million), Barcelona (£287 million), Juventus (£258 million), and Bayern Munich (£253 million).
Many expect Newcastle United (£221m) to show off their newfound financial muscle following their Saudi-backed takeover last year, and they are already climbing the table.