10 most expensive squads in football - 2017

€222 million.

The figure that opened a Pandora's box this summer - it sparked a domino effect, with largely inflated transfer fees becoming the norm, thanks to Paris St-Germain purchasing Neymar Jr. from Barcelona.

The spending this summer reached unprecedented levels, as plenty of top clubs in Europe's Top 5 leagues splashed the cash in a summer of excess.

All statistics courtesy Football Observatory, CIES.

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Total League expenditure:

#1 Premier League

Unsurprisingly, the Premier League is top of the pile when it comes to the spending stakes, but a sum of €5.7 billion to assemble all the squads is simply eye-watering. It works out to an average of €287 million per team, which is higher than what Borussia Dortmund spend to assemble their squad - the 16th most expensive team in the world.

#2 Serie A

The influx of Chinese owners in Serie A has had an effect, with AC Milan' spending playing a large part in the Italian league spending €2.4 billion, an increase of 26% of last year.

#3 La Liga

Despite the presence of Real Madrid and Barcelona, La Liga are rarely big spenders due to their excellent production lines in the academies of most of their clubs. Spain's top flight spent €2.2 billion to assemble their squads, with an increase in the average worth of teams by 9%.

#4 Bundesliga

The Bundesliga spent €1.9 billion to assemble their squads, with the average worth of their 18 teams being €107 million per team.

#5 Ligue 1

Thanks to Paris St-Germain, Ligue 1's average worth per team went up by a stunning 78%, although their total expenditure is the same as the Bundesliga - €1.9 billion - but with 20 teams in the league, the average worth is €93 million per team.

#10 Tottenham Hotspur

The best things in life are free

Having been praised for their parsimony and the promotion of youth in the past few seasons, it is a bit surprising to see Tottenham Hotspur make this list, although Daniel Levy will be at pains to point out that Spurs have raised plenty through sales as well, thus enhancing their ability to assemble the most expensive squad ever in their history.

The North London club have spent a total of €361 million to have all the names on their books, with the worth of the squad increasing by €87 million compared to last season.

The most expensive player in the Lilywhites' squad is naturally Davinson Sanchez, who was their record transfer, coming in from Ajax this summer for €40 million:

Here are their 5 most expensive players in the current squad:

#1 Davinson Sanchez - €40 million

#2 Moussa Sissoko - €35 million

#3 Heung-Min Son - €30 million

#4 Erik Lamela - €30 million

#5 Serge Aurier - €25 million

#9 Arsenal

Arsene Wenger has assembled the most expensive Arsenal squad ever

Arsene Wenger has 'spent some f***ing money', but the result has only been 3 FA Cups in 4 years, with the Gunners well off the pace when it comes to the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. There was plenty of criticism of the quality at the Frenchman's disposal after their 4-0 loss to Liverpool, but the fact remains that Arsenal have an expensively assembled squad.

The Gunners have spent a total of €416 million to acquire all the names on their books, with the worth of the squad increasing by €35 million compared to last season.

Arsenal did break their transfer record this summer, bringing in Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon, but there were a fair number of departures as well, with the result that the Gunners ended this transfer window with a positive net spend, one of the few clubs to do so.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Arsenal's current squad:

#1 Alexandre Lacazette - €53 million

#2 Mesut Ozil - €47 million

#3 Granit Xhaka - €45 million

#4 Alexis Sanchez - €42.5 million

#5 Shkodran Mustafi - €41 million

#8 Liverpool

Liverpool FC Training Session and Press Conference

The Reds have made plenty of noise with their 'eventful' start to the season, after Jurgen Klopp was backed in the transfer market by FSG. the group that owns Liverpool. The Reds have spent a massive €437 million to assemble their squad, which perhaps has the best quality since they came close to winning the league in the 2013/14 season.

One of the quirks of the Red's recent transfer business is that their two most expensive signings ever, aren't even playing for them - Naby Keita, all €70 million of him, is at Leipzig, while Christian Benteke is down in the doldrums at Crystal Palace.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Liverpool's current squad:

#1 Mohammed Salah - €42 million

#2 Sadio Mane - €41.2 million

#3 Roberto Firmino - €41 million

#4 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - €38 million

#5 Adam Lallana - €31 million

#7 Juventus

Italy Training Session And Press Conference

Despite all of AC Milan's spending this summer, Juventus have the most expensively assembled squad in all of Serie A this season. With good reason too - the Bianconeri have yet to relinquish their stranglehold on the domestic league, and do not look capable of faltering this season.

With Beppe Marotta at the helm, Juventus broke the all-time Serie A transfer record last summer, bringing in Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli for an eye-watering €90 million, although stunningly, their second most expensive transfer in their history happened 16 years ago, when Gigi Buffon left Parma for Turin.

Overall, Juventus have spent €470 million to assemble their squad - this is despite their excellent record with free signings of late.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Juve's current squad:

#1 Gonzalo Higuain - €90 million

#2 Gianluigi Buffon - €52.88 million

#3 Federico Bernardeschi - €40 million

#4 Paulo Dybala - €40 million

#5 Miralem Pjanic - €32 million

#6 Real Madrid

Zinenide Zidane Announced As New Real Madrid Manager

The only club to have dropped a place in squad value since last season in the top 10, Real Madrid have shown great restraint in the transfer market, something that ought to be giving Florentino Perez nightmares. However, Madrid have spent cleverly, buying up the most promising Spanish talents coming through, to ensure that they have one of the best squads in terms of quality, if not transfer value.

Madrid have spent close to half a billion (€497) to assemble their squad, most of which comes from the fee paid for Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata's departure has dropped the value of the squad considerably, with Madrid's squad now €138 million cheaper to assemble than last season.

Curiously enough, Madrid's 7th most expensive player in their history is Vinicius Jr. - and not even present in this Madrid's squad list.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Real Madrid's squad:

#1 Gareth Bale - €101 million

#2 Cristiano Ronaldo - €94 million

#3 Karim Benzema - €35 million

#4 Mateo Kovacic - €31 million

#5 Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Isco, Theo Hernandez - €30 million

#5 FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona Opens First US Office

For a club that once prided itself on La Masia, Barcelona's identity has changed considerably ever since Joan Laporta's reign ended and Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu took over. Barcelona now have the most expensively assembled squad in La Liga - giving a new meaning to the phrase mes que un club.

Despite the fact that Ousmane Dembele's €50 million add-on fee hasn't been considered, and the departure of Neymar, Barcelona have still seen an increase of €143 million this year to have a squad that took €628 million to assemble.

It would stand to reason then, that adding that to the power of the €0 million Lionel Messi, Barcelona ought to be favourites to win La Liga. Whether that reflects on the pitch, is another thing entirely...

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Barcelona's current squad:

#1 Ousmane Dembele - €105 million

#2 Luis Suarez - €81.72 million

#3 Paulinho - €40 million

#4 Andre Gomes - €35 million

#5 Arda Turan - €34 million

#4 Chelsea

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For all of Antonio Conte's very vocal, and very public displeasure with Chelsea's board this summer, the value of Blues' squad has gone up by €163 million, to now become the 4th most expensively assembled squad in football. Roman Abramovic's money is no longer in play, but the Blues have still parted with €644 million for their entire lineup.

Plenty of Chelsea's squad are on loan, which is hardly a surprise, although the fans were left a bit bemused by the departures this summer, notably that of Nemanja Matic. Another non-performer in Chelsea's squad is Diego Costa of course, who is still contracted with the club.

The Blues still are not the most expensively assembled squad in England, which ought to make losing out on the Premier League a bit more of a forgiving scenario.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Chelsea's current squad:

#1 Alvaro Morata - €62 million

#2 Tiemoue Bakayoko - €40 million

#3 Michy Batshuayi - €39 million

#4 Diego Costa - €38 million

#5 Danny Drinkwater - €37.9 million

#3 Manchester United

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It's hardly a surprise to see Manchester United high up in the list of the most expensive squads in football - the Red Devils are arguably the only club to generate their own massive financial sums, and it reflects in their transfer outlay.

Jose Mourinho is hardly the most parsimonious of managers, and despite being mildly perturbed at losing out on a couple of his targets, the Portuguese manager will nonetheless have been pleased to know that the transfer worth of his squad has increased by €66 million, with all of his charges costing a massive €784 million.

With Matic, Lukaku and Lindelof being some of the major incoming transfers this summer, United balanced the books by getting rid of a lot of deadwood in reserves.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Manchester United's current squad:

#1 Paul Pogba - €105 million

#2 Romelu Lukaku - €84.7 million

#3 Anthony Martial - €60 million

#4 Juan Mata - €44.73 million

#5 Nemanja Matic - €44.7 million

#2 Paris St-Germain

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FFP and PSG were two major acronyms of the summer transfer window, with Javier Tebas, President of La Liga crying himself hoarse when the Parisians paid Neymar's massive release clause of €222 million, the costliest footballer ever.

All of that outlay by the Qatari-backed club, and they still do not have the most expensively assembled squad in football. Despite that, Paris St-Germain's squad took a massive €850 million to assemble, which includes a rise of €395 million.

PSG have risen up the table of the most expensive squads, and with UEFA circling with aims to bar the Ligue 1 side for blatantly getting aside FFP rules, they will hope that this assembly of stars can pull off a UEFA Champions League win.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Paris St-Germain's squad:

#1 Neymar - €222 million

#2 Edinson Cavani - €64.5 million

#3 Angel di Maria - €63 million

#4 Thiago Silva, Javier Pastore - €42 million

#5 Lucas Moura - €40 million

*Kylian Mbappe - €180 million, loan

#1 Manchester City

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Pep Guardiola has struggled in English football till date. Last season, the manager's star had fallen in the eyes of English pundits, but the Spaniard's defenders noted that Guardiola did not have a squad suited to his style of play, nor were they able to execute his plans to perfection.

Well, the former Barcelona and Bayern boss has had one blockbuster transfer window and the pressure is massive - anything less than the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League could place the Spanish manager's job in peril.

With an increase of €242 million this summer, Manchester City are the most expensive squad in all of football, with a massive €853 million needed to assemble the Citizens.

Here are the 5 most expensive players in Manchester City's squad:

#1 Kevin de Bruyne - €74 million

#2 Raheem Sterling - €62.5 million

#3 Benjamin Mendy - €57.5 million

#4 John Stones - €55.6 million

#5 Kyle Walker - €50 million