Alongside their struggles to find an inspirational head coach, the Red Devils have also found value for money in the player recruitment market hard to come by. UEFA’s report has revealed that United have the highest net spend on transfers in world football over the course of the last five years.
That highlights the level of underachievement at Old Trafford between 2021 and 2025, with transfer deals costing United €794m (£696m/$937m). Chelsea (£656m/$883m) sit second on that list, with Arsenal (£587m/$790m) third.
The report points out that: “The high level of spending compared with non-English clubs is evident, with the Premier League hosting seven of the top ten most expensive playing squads by transfer fee assembled at the end of the 2025 financial year.
“Chelsea FC’s playing squad at the end of the club’s 2025 financial year was officially the most expensive ever assembled, with a combined transfer cost of €1,746million, up €90million on the record set by the club last year.”
The commercial revenue generated by teams in England also dwarfs that of European and global rivals. The top team in the Premier League earned around nine times more than the middle club in the division, while in Spain that difference was 36 times as much.
The club licensing benchmarking document added: “The ability of competition organisers and governing bodies to reduce financial imbalance through solidarity payments and prize money distribution should therefore be viewed in this context.”
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin claims the findings of the report are “encouraging” as they prove that European football is well on the road to recovery after taking some serious hits during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: “After a decade that included one of the toughest periods our sport and our society have faced, European football has come through in a strong position. Club revenues have grown steadily across the board, and top-division income is expected to pass €30billion in the 2025 financial year.”