Manchester City had the biggest single-season wage bill in English football history in the pandemic-hit 2019-20 season, of £351.4m, and will likely smash that in 2020-21, not least because of bonuses for a probable Premier League title win, and possible Champions League victory.
Pep Guardiola’s team also remain in contention for both domestic cups, facing Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals next weekend before playing Tottenham in the EFL Cup final on April 25, although bonuses for winning those competitions would be modest.
In the season before Guardiola arrived at The Etihad, City’s wage bill was £197.6m, but leapt 23.4 per cent in his first season and has climbed significantly ever since. By the end of this season wages will be approaching twice the levels of when he arrived, and total £1.545 billion over five years.
When net transfer spending of £579m in the same period is added, City have spent more than £2.1 billion so far on buying players and paying staff during the Spaniard’s reign.
The spending has been rewarded with two Premier League titles in the past four years, plus three League Cup wins, an FA Cup win, plus a possible quadruple this season.
City also have the most expensively assembled squad of footballers in the world, ever, costing €1.036 billion (£900m) in transfer fees according to the latest data from the respected CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland.
Many clubs in England have seen their wage bills fall in the pandemic as players took cuts or deferrals due to the pandemic hiatus. Manchester United’s wage bill fell from £332m in 2018-19 to £284m in 2019-20 for example.
The hierarchy at City decided to pay their stars their normal wages in full throughout last season, for a year-on-year rise of more than 11 per cent to the £351.4m record even as club revenues fell 11 per cent due to Covid disruptions.
City continue to invest in their talent with Kevin De Bruyne signing a new four-year contract worth around £385,000 per week, the highest sum ever paid to a player in England.
Arrowhuy
666
And they say he is better than sir Alex Sir Alex won everything with academy talents And he cannot reach one CL final with 2 billion 😂
jessephao
548
and all the idiots says.... pep is the best coach.... go hang yourself if you know what i mean
Chrislaity
235
I'm still surprise at how much disrespect people still show to this genius. If you think spending money on the right buys is that easy then come and see what 2 bn brought to barca: absolutely nothing atall, without any exaggeration. Without Pell tell me if De Bruyne,Sterling Foden etc will be on this incomparable level. plus, Pepp won everything and assembled arguably the best squad ever in barca from 98% LA masia talents only, something the others before and after couldn't do. I mean who even hates Pepp?? dyu guys realize he has singlehandedly revolutionalised modern football??? well I understand rivals are simply jealous and bemused at how much Pepp is turning the much reputed EPL into a farmer's league for his team. And what did Mourinho do with the billions at united??? what about the terrible Lampard and his luxury flops. its not enough just to have the money, spending it right is underrated guys.And by the way, it's absolutely not his fault that his employers are rich, and he has proven that he just isn't wasting it by the amount of trophies he's won already. putting it into perspective, everyone knows Dias now as the best CD in EPL, what they pretend not yo know is that Maguire was bought for far more. now that's talent discovered and polished. send even Werner to city for just a year and you won't believe he's the same guy atall. Summarily, Pepp Guardiola is the best manager ever.
Kushalsandhal
208
Thats the reason no one respects the club
SIDKAUSH
10
And they say he is better than sir Alex Sir Alex won everything with academy talents And he cannot reach one CL final with 2 billion 😂
leave sir Alex even kloop is better than him given the amount of budget he has
mvaghaniZ
8
And they say he is better than sir Alex Sir Alex won everything with academy talents And he cannot reach one CL final with 2 billion 😂
I'm a Chelsea fan and Sir Alex was a class of his own.