With the transfer window closed, we’re comparing Premier League net spend to major trophies won for all 20 current top-flight clubs.
There’s a constant argument between rival sets of fans over who has spent the most and received the worst return for their investment.
Some argue that successful clubs only won trophies by splashing ridiculous sums of money.
Others will laugh at rivals for having a massive net spend with nothing to show for it.
As it stands, Liverpool are 7/5 favourites with football betting sites to win the Premier League again, but rival fans will argue their £415 million spend this summer means they are buying success.
So we at SportsCasting decided to settle the debate once and for all, and find out which clubs have the worst ratio of net spend to trophies won over the past decade.
Premier League Net Spend Per Major Trophy
For this investigation, we have compared the total net spend for all 20 current Premier League clubs over the last 10 years with the number of major trophies won.
While we acknowledge that there is some debate over what constitutes a ‘major’ trophy, we are only counting the following:
- Premier League
- Champions League
- Europa League
- Conference League
- Club World Cup
- FA Cup
- EFL Cup
We then divided each club’s 10-year net spend by the number of major trophies won to give a ‘cost per trophy’ figure.
For 11 of the current 20 Premier League sides, their net spend has not returned a major trophy during the past decade.
 Net Spend Per Trophy Table
Tottenham Top Premier League Net Spend Per Trophy Table
At the top of the net spend per trophy table are Tottenham.
Last season, Spurs finally ended their 17-year trophy drought, beating Manchester United to the Europa League title.
Despite the victory, Tottenham sacked manager Ange Postecoglou, replacing him with Thomas Frank.
But with a net spend of £765 million over the past ten years, Spurs’ return for their investment is the worst in the Premier League.
They have spent £264 million more than the next-worst offenders, Newcastle United, who won the League Cup to end their own long wait for silverware.
And had either not managed to win a trophy last season, they would be by far the highest spenders without a trophy in the last decade.
Manchester City And Liverpool Spending Offers Best Value
At the other end of the scale, the last ten years of English football have been dominated by Liverpool and Manchester City.
As a result of their 14 major trophies in that time, Manchester City’s net spend of £898 million only equates to £64 million per trophy, the lowest of any side.
With a net spend of £569 million, Liverpool’s eight trophies equates to a net spend of £71 million per trophy.
Both clubs may have spent big, but that spending has brought indisputable success.
Manchester United Net Spend Tops £1 Billion
Although not the highest net spend per trophy, Manchester United are the only Premier League club with a net spend over £1 billion this past decade.
The Red Devils have won four major trophies in that time, with two EFL Cups, the FA Cup and the Europa League.
But for a club of their size and stature, that is a very modest return for such a gargantuan net spend.
United have repeatedly spent huge on big-money signings that failed to deliver.
They have then often been sold for a major loss, or, in the case of £90 million midfielder Paul Pogba, allowed to leave for free.
Nottingham Forest Have The Highest Spend Without A Trophy
But while Manchester United have spent the most in the last ten years, they have at least won something.
No club in the Premier League has spent more without a major trophy than Nottingham Forest.
The Midlands outfit has a net spend over the past decade of £318 million, the highest of any top flight side without a major trophy in that time.
Forest fans will argue, however, that returning the club to the Premier League and re-establishing themselves as a top-half club has been far more valuable than winning a one-off trophy from the Championship would have been.
