LONDON, Feb 15 — Manchester United’s squad for the 2022-23 season was the most expensive ever assembled in Europe, according to a report released by governing body Uefa.
The “European Club Finance and Investment Landscape” report said United spent just over €1.42 billion (RM7.3 billion) on the squad which played that season, surpassing the previous mark of €1.33 billion spent by Real Madrid’s in 2020.
Erik ten Hag’s squad at the end of the 2022-23 season included big-money transfers Antony, Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho and Casemiro. United’s rivals Manchester City were second for that season with a squad value of €1.286 billion.
The report, released on Wednesday, added that Real Madrid (€841 million), Manchester City (€836 million), Barcelona (€815 million) and Paris St Germain (€807 million) had the highest revenues in 2022.
The Premier League had nine teams in the top-20 earning clubs, with an average revenue of €323 million.
Spain’s La Liga was second with revenues of €3.3 billion, with Germany’s Bundesliga (€3.2 billion), Italy’s Serie A (€2.4 billion) and France’s Ligue 1 (€2 billion) rounding out the top five.
“In 2022, the revenue of England’s 20 top-tier clubs was almost as high as the combined revenue of all 642 clubs in the bottom 50 countries,” the report said.
English clubs also made up €764 million of the combined €3.2 billion of pre-tax losses recorded by clubs in 2022.
Uefa said the figures for pre-tax losses were positive “amid slowing wage inflation and renewed buoyancy in the transfer market”. — Reuters
