According to a UEFA review, Manchester United’s 2022-23 lineup was the most costly ever constructed in Europe.
According to the “European Club Finance and Investment Landscape” study, United spent well over 1.42 billion euros ($1.52 billion) on the team that played that season, exceeding Real Madrid’s previous record of 1.33 billion euros in 2020.
At the end of the 2022-23 season, Erik ten Hag’s roster featured high-profile signings Antony, Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho, and Casemiro. Manchester City, United’s opponents, finished second with a team worth 1.286 billion euros that season.
The report, released on Wednesday, added that Real Madrid (841 million euros), Manchester City (836 million euros), Barcelona (815 million euros) and Paris St Germain (807 million euros) had the highest revenues in 2022.
The Premier League had nine teams in the top-20 earning clubs, with an average revenue of 323 million euros.
Spain’s LaLiga was second with revenues of 3.3 billion euros, with Germany’s Bundesliga (3.2 billion euros), Italy’s Serie A (2.4 billion euros) and France’s Ligue 1 (2 billion euros) rounding out the top five.
“In 2022, the revenue of England’s 20 top-tier clubs was almost as high as the combined revenue of all 642 clubs in the bottom 50 countries,” the report said.
English clubs also made up 764 million euros of the combined 3.2 billion euros of pre-tax losses recorded by clubs in 2022.
UEFA said the figures for pre-tax losses were positive “amid slowing wage inflation and renewed buoyancy in the transfer market”.
