Chelsea have been in a flurry of action in the transfer market this season, with huge investment causing their total payroll to soar. According to the British Mirror, the Blues' total player payroll this season is a whopping 217 million pounds (HK$2.1 billion), topping the 20 teams in the English Premier League (EPL), followed by Manchester United with 213 million pounds and EPL champions Manchester City with 186 million pounds in third place.
In last season's summer window and this year's January window, Chelsea splashed £600 million (about HK$5.8 billion) to bring in new recruits, and the team's lineup became huge as a result, and the salary expenditure rose to £217 million accordingly, a year-on-year increase of 6%. However, such investment did not bring ideal results, the team is only ranked 12th in the Premier League after three coaches.
In comparison, Brentford's total expenditure on player salaries this season is only £33.54 million (about HK$327 million), which is the lowest among all the teams, but the team is ranked as high as 9th in the league table. With one more game played, Binford's score is even 13 points higher than Chelsea's, which undoubtedly exposes Chelsea's extremely low input-output ratio.
As for Manchester United, after deducting Crowe's salary, its payroll expenditure was 213 million pounds, 10% less than last season, but still much higher than the city's arch-rival Manchester City. And City's labor expenditure is not particularly large, but achieved the Premier League three consecutive titles, which can be said to be very cost-effective.
Premier League runners-up Arsenal's total payroll spend of £110m is tied with Tottenham for 5th place, even ahead of Liverpool (£165m), who have suffered a serious drop in results this season.
Here's a list of the top (top 10) Premier League clubs in terms of total payroll spend this season:
1. Chelsea Pound217 million (approximately HK$2.1 billion)
2. Manchester United ₤213 million (about HK$2.07 billion)
3. Manchester City Pound186 million (about HK$1.8 billion)
4. Liverpool ₤165 million (about HK$1.61 billion)
5. Arsenal Pound110 million (about HK$1.07 billion)
5. Tottenham Hotspur Pound110 million (about HK$1.07 billion)
7. Aston Villa Pound91.67 million (about HK$890 million)
8. Westham Pound84.5 million (about HK$820 million)
9. Newcastle Pound81.56 million (about HK$794.3 million)
