Chelsea v Man City: Who has the bigger net spend over the last 10 years?
Stefan Bienkowski
- 24 Sept 2021 12:16 BST
- 4 min read
Chelsea face Manchester City on Saturday in what many believe will be the first tussle for this season’s Premier League title.
After Pep Guardiola’s side sealed the English title last season and Thomas Tuchel’s team claimed the Champions League in return, many believe these clubs possess two of the most impressive squads in all of European football.
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Chelsea face Manchester City on Saturday in what many believe will be the first tussle for this season’s Premier League title.
After Pep Guardiola’s side sealed the English title last season and Thomas Tuchel’s team claimed the Champions League in return, many believe these clubs possess two of the most impressive squads in all of European football.
However, whether or not that’s true, they certainly do have two of the most expensively assembled teams in the history of the sport. But which club has spent more money over the course of the last 10 years?
How much have each club spent?
When it comes to spending money on transfers, Manchester City and Chelsea have undoubtedly led the way over the course of the last 10 years.
Having welcomed no less than 267 players to the club in that time, Man City have spent a total of £1.48 billion. Which is more than any other club in the world.
Chelsea have spent an almost identical sum in that time, with their total standing tall at £1.42 billion. However, unlike Man City, the Stamford Bridge side have used that money to bring in 346 players to the club - far more than their Premier League rivals.
How much have each club made?
Some much needed context to this topic is how much money each club have made from the transfer in that period, because there’s really no point in debating transfer budgets without considering how much each club is making from sales.
In this regard, Chelsea have been far busier than Man City in the transfer market and made a huge amount of money from selling players.
Over the course of the past 10 seasons, the Stamford Bridge side have raised no less than £983.62 million from player sales - which is more than any other club in the world in that period of time.
In comparison, Man City have only made £488.46 million from player sales. And while that is certainly nothing to gawk at, it’s still less than half of Chelsea’s return.
What is each club’s net spend?
As such, we can now confidently say how much each club have spent over and above the money they’ve raised from sales - i.e their net spend.
In this regard it’s clear that Man City have spent far more than their London rivals, due to the fact that they haven't made as much money from selling players.
In absolute terms, Man City’s net spend over the last 10 years standing at a remarkable £989 million - which is the highest across the sport in that period.
In comparison, Chelsea’s net spend in that same period was just £435.23 million, which is far less than Man City’s and only the seventh highest among all other clubs in the sport over the last 10 years.
