Premier League clubs are renowned for splashing the cash like there's no tomorrow but which of the 28 sides to grace the Premier League since the start of the 2017-18 season has the best net spend?
One look at the Premier League's net spend table – that is a club's outlay on transfers minus its income from sales – is an extremely instructive one with Manchester United, who have not challenged for the league title since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, clear at the top of the tree.
They've spent big on the likes of Jadon Sancho, Harry Maguire, Fred and Aaron Wan-Bissaka without much reward and it's clear that new manager Erik ten Hag will need to be a lot more intelligent in his transfer activity to revive an ailing club.
Across town, Manchester City have spent big but spent well. Most of their big purchases, including Ruben Dias, Riyad Mahrez, Joao Cancelo and Aymeric Laporte, have proved huge successes in east Manchester even if the £100million Jack Grealish has yet to truly sparkle.
London clubs Arsenal and Chelsea have invested heavily in their playing squads, although Chelsea have raked in over £550million from player sales over the last half-decade.
Spurs are surprisingly high as well, although Daniel Levy has frequently been accused of not cashing in on players while their value is at its highest.
While Liverpool have spent big on a handful of players since 2017 – Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and the highly-likely arrival of Darwin Nunez – their £140million sale of Phillipe Coutinho to Barcelona helps their total enormously. The same table in a year's time would make for interesting reading.
Of the 28 clubs that have played Premier League football in the last five years, only three have made money in the transfer market; yo-yo club Norwich, the impressive Brentford and Swansea City who've been forced to sell their best players since relegation in 2018.
There's plenty of interest elsewhere so why not investigate the table yourselves. Courtesy of Transfermarkt, we've ranked the 20 current Premier League clubs by their net spend over the past five years.
1. Manchester United – £479.04m
2. Manchester City – £424.81m
3. Arsenal – £334.73m
4. Chelsea – £240.56m
5. Tottenham – £231.60m
6. Aston Villa – £221.24m
7. Everton – £219.25m
8. Newcastle – £217.32m
9. Liverpool – £199m
10. West Ham – £196.91m
11. Wolves – £193.27m
12. Brighton – £182.34m
13. Fulham – £157.83m
14. Leeds – £135.30m
15. Leicester – £123.81m
16. Sheffield United – £94.58m
17. Crystal Palace – £87.92m
18. Cardiff City – £49.73m
19. Stoke City – £44.60m
20. West Brom – £41.28m
21. Huddersfield – £36.06m
22. Southampton – £24.28m
23. Burnley – £22.72m
24. Watford – £17.25m
25. Bournemouth – £14.11m
26. Norwich City – £44.21m profit
27. Brentford – £51.77m profit
28. Swansea City – £93.54 profit