No analysis; just numbers. Make your own judgement.
Ever wondered how much it costs for the starting XI of the top 4? Their subs bench and their reserves? How much your team needs to spend to win a league title? How far away Arsenal really are? How much have Chelsea spent?
I have taken the figures from transferleague.co.uk of what I think is the best XI of each team; 7 subs and 4 reserves.
I haven’t included some players like Essien, Bebe, Gervinho as they really are either not part of the club or on the way out. I have however included players like Rooney and Lescott. I will make the final changes when the transfer window is shut.
| Man U | Man City | Chelsea | Arsenal | |||||||
| De Gea | £19 | Hart | £2 | Cech | £7 | Szczesny | £0 | |||
| Rafael | £3 | Zabaleta | £7 | Ivanovic | £9 | Sagna | £6 | |||
| Ferdinand | £28 | Nastasic | £12 | Terry | £0 | Mertesacker | £10 | |||
| Vidic | £7 | Kompany | £7 | Luiz | £26 | Koscielny | £10 | |||
| Evra | £6 | Clichy | £7 | Cole | £20 | Gibbs | £0 | |||
| Carrick | £19 | Toure | £24 | Ramiers | £18 | Arteta | £10 | |||
| Cleverly | £0 | Fernandhio | £30 | Lampard | £11 | Wilshere | £0 | |||
| Young | £17 | Navas | £23 | Hazard | £32 | Santi | £20 | |||
| Valencia | £16 | Jovetic | £26 | Oscar | £25 | Walcott | £9 | |||
| Rooney | £27 | Silva | £25 | Mata | £23 | Giroud | £13 | |||
| RVP | £22 | Aguero | £38 | Torres | £50 | Podolski | £11 | |||
| £162 | £199 | £221 | £89 | |||||||
| Subs | Subs | Subs | Subs | |||||||
| Lindegaard | £4 | Pantilimon | £3 | Schwarzer | £0 | Fabianski | £2 | |||
| Smalling | £10 | Kolarov | £17 | Cesar | £7 | Monreal | £8 | |||
| Jones | £17 | Lescott | £22 | Obi Mikel | £16 | Vermaelen | £10 | |||
| Anderson | £20 | Milner | £26 | Schurrle | £18 | Ramsey | £5 | |||
| Kagawa | £12 | Nasri | £22 | Moses | £9 | Rosicky | £7 | |||
| Welbeck | £0 | Negredo | £21 | Lukaku | £20 | Ox | £12 | |||
| Hernandez | £7 | Dzeko | £27 | Ba | £8 | Gnabry | £0 | |||
| £69 | £138 | £78 | £44 | |||||||
| Reserves | Reserves | Reserves | Reserves | |||||||
| Nani | £17 | Rodwell | £17 | Ginkel | £8 | Jenkinson | £0 | |||
| Evans | £0 | Garcia | £16 | De Bruyne | £7 | Diaby | £2 | |||
| Zaha | £15 | Barry | £12 | Cahil | £7 | Miquel | £0 | |||
| Giggs | £0 | Savic | £6 | Bertrand | £0 | Sanogo | £0 | |||
| £32 | £51 | £22 | £2 | |||||||
| United | £263 | City | £388 | Chelsea | £321 | Arsenal | £135 | |||
Cheapest XI in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 formation
(Getty)
Man U: Lindegaard, Rafael, Evans, Vidic, Evra, Cleverly, Kagawa, Giggs, Zaha Welbeck and Hernandez.
Cost: £ 54 million.
(4 youth team players in Evans, Giggs, Welbeck and Cleverly) – I have not taken Buttner as he was not included in the above list.
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Richards, Clichy, Barry, Rodwell, Garcia, Kolarov, Nasri, Navas, Negredo.
Cost: £ 134 million.
(players not on the list but could have been included: Razzak or Sinclair)
Chelsea: Shwarzer, Cesar, Terry, Ivanovic, Bertrand, Moses, Lampard, Ginkel, Ramires, De Bruyne, Ba.
Cost: £ 85 million
Arsenal: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Sagna, Miquel, Gibbs, Wilshere, Diaby, Ramsey, Gnarby, Sanogo, Rosicky.
Cost: £ 20 million
(Sagna has played at CB previously)
Most Expensive XI
(Getty)
Man U: De Gea, Evra, Ferdinand, Jones, Valencia (RB), Anderson, Carrick, Nani, Young, Rooney, RvP
Cost: £ 208 million
Man City: Pantilimon, Lescott, Kolarov, Nastasic, Zabaletta, Fernandhio, Toure, Aguero, Dzeko, Jovetic, Milner
Cost: £ 232 million
Chelsea: Cech, Cole, Ivanovic, Cahil, Luiz, Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Schrulle, Toress Lukaku
Cost: £ 230 million
Arsenal: Fabianski, Vermaelen (LB), Mertascker, Kos, Sagna, Arteta, Santi, Ox, Podolski, Giroud, Walcott
Cost: £ 113 million
Goalkeepers and Back 4 (Strongest)
(Getty)
Man U: De Gea, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Rafael – Cost £ 63 million
City: Hart, Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Clichy – Cost £ 35 million
Chelsea: Cech, Cole, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz – Cost £ 62 million
Arsenal: Szczesny, Gibbs, Sagna, Kos, Mertasacker – Cost £ 26 million
Midfield – 5 players (Strongest)
(Getty)
Man U: Carrick, Cleverly, Rooney, Young, Valencia – Cost £ 79 million
City: Toure, Fernandhio, Silva, Jovetic, Navas – Cost £ 128 million
Chelsea: Ramires, Lampard, Oscar, Mata, Hazard – Cost £ 109 million
Arsenal: Arteta, Wilshere, Santi, Walcott, Podolski – Cost £ 50 million
Striker – 1 player
(Getty)
Man U – RvP – Cost £ 22 million
City – Aguero – Cost £ 38 million
Chelsea – Toress/Lukaku/Ba – Average – Cost £ 26 million
Arsenal – Giroud – £ 13 million
TOKNOWTHEGAME.COM 
Fascinating stuff. Arsenal’s squad looks even cheaper because pleayers like Szcezsny & Wilshere have zero values. How come you didn’t pick up values from transfermarkt.com ?
There wasn’t much difference. In the end even if the figures are different by 10% it doesn’t change the overall picture.
Biggest issue is that clubs dont have to declare how much they actually paid these days. A good point is Anderson at Man U. The cost on various website is around £ 20 million or €25 million yet I remember reading on Porto’s website as €32 million.
They only released the ammount since the supporters were really angry about the sale. Also Swiss Ramble has it at € 32 million as well (http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2010/12/portos-buy-low-sell-high-strategy.html)
And then if you get into currency conversation; its another headache to solve….