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CIES logo
September 10 – Liverpool have overtaken Chelsea by assembling the most expensive squad in world football, with the CIES Football Observatory putting the transfer cost of their current group at €1.226 billion.
The latest CIES ranking measures what clubs paid, including potential add-ons, to sign the players currently in their first-team squads, rather than relying on a market valuation.
After welcoming €125million signing Bradley Barcola late in the transfer window, Liverpool have climbed three places in the space of a year, moving ahead of Manchester City (€1.209bn) and Tottenham (€1.178bn). Chelsea drop to fourth on €1.166bn, followed by Manchester United (€1.157bn) and Arsenal (€1.089bn).
The broader table is even more English than the headline.
Premier League clubs occupy all of the top six positions and eight of the top ten, with Newcastle ninth at €865 million and Aston Villa tenth at €637 million. Real Madrid, seventh on €1.021 billion, are the first club from outside England, with Paris Saint-Germain eighth at €915 million.
Further down the list, Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest’s inclusions mean 12 Premier League clubs feature inside the top 21.
There has been plenty of movement too. Aston Villa have climbed eight places from this time last year, while Brighton are up seven. Chelsea, meanwhile, have fallen three places despite spending another €348 million during 2026 – largely thanks to their big-money sales like Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella.
Thanks to that, Chelsea actually posted a €192 million positive transfer balance this year, with their sales more than covering another expensive recruitment drive that the football world has become accustomed to from the blue side of West London.
PSG went a step further, registering the biggest positive balance in the table at €207 million after selling Bradley Barcola, Gonçalo Ramos and Ibrahim Mbaye, amongst others.
At the other end, Manchester City have spent €651 million in 2026 alone, comfortably more than any other club – though are pipped by Liverpool in this ranking due to the sheer volume of sales this summer. They waved goodbye to Omar Marmoush, Savinho, Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders, Nico Gonzalez and James Trafford for a massive recoup of that spending.
Tottenham, meanwhile, have splashed €518 million without much going the other way, whilst Villa spent €400 million, Chelsea €348 million and Newcastle €335 million.
It’s also worth noting Barcelona’s position way down the table – a credit to its fantastically consistent academy which pushes out elite youngsters, including the world’s most valuable player Lamine Yamal, at a rate of knots.
Where else could the biggest non-European challengers hail from than Saudi? Al-Hilal are the biggest spending challenge from outside Europe’s elite, committing €308 million this year and recording the largest negative transfer balance at €287 million.
For all the cash flying around the Premier League, Brighton are the biggest outlier. Despite putting together a current squad which cost €562 million, CIES says they are the only Premier League club with a positive net transfer balance across the last ten windows, sitting €33 million in credit.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at harry.ewing@insideworldfootball.com