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Does money buy success? For those who don’t believe, think again.
The owners of the most expensive teams in world football will know when Chelsea play Manchester City in the Uefa Champions League final this Saturday.
Achieving the highest honor in European club football would be the ultimate reward for the billionaires who have made hundreds of investments in building their own gangs and football businesses.
Roman Abramovich, a Russian-Israeli tycoon who bought Chelsea in 2003, is looking forward to a repeat of 2012, the club’s first and only victory in the competition.
Meanwhile, the City, under the control of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the billionaire deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, will have the club’s first Champions League silver hope for four years after winning its third Premier League title. The two owners have spent around £ 1.6 billion on the combined network of players they have been selling since they took over the management.
Saturday’s game marks only the third Champions League final between the two English clubs.
Compared to the first two English-language finals (2008 and 2019) by more than a decade, it has only taken two years since the last two teams in the league to reach the top of the European competition.
Deloitte’s Football Money League FT review shows that among the top 15 teams in Europe, English clubs have averaged more entries than continental opponents in nine of their last 16 seasons. And Premier League dominance is on the rise. The English clubs have surpassed the rivals of European rivals in the last seven seasons in six, boosting the league’s global attractiveness and billions of pounds in radio revenue.
“English clubs, especially those with good owners who are willing to hire investments on the pitch, have the potential advantage over other European clubs,” said Kieran Maguire, a football finance and accounting professor at the University of Liverpool. “The Premier League’s broadcast deal gives a huge advantage to the rest of the Uefa nations competing for European trophies.”
During the pandemic It has eliminated about 8.1 million euros In the last two seasons the revenue numbers of the best clubs across Europe, limiting a lot in the transfer market, have not linked City and Chelsea.
Chelsea have spent more than £ 220 million this season strengthening their team, according to data from Transfermarkt.com, the same number of combined Barcelona and Juventus, which is third and fourth in the standings.
Manchester City have invested £ 150 million in new players, € 68 million for Portuguese Benfica defender Rúben Dias and € 23 million for midfielder Ferran Torres, who has scored four goals in six Champions League games.
Chelsea were the only club to spend more than € 100 million on the players they sold, while City were € 97 million while embarrassed. By contrast, German side Borussia Mönchengladbach, who also played in the Champions League this season, spent £ 12 million on new signings with no income from outgoing players, 13 times less than clubs in the north of England.
But expensive signings aren’t the only reason for field performances. Investments in training academies have helped Chelsea and City have younger players on average than many rivals. City’s Phil Foden, a 20-year-old academy graduate, has played in 12 games so far, scored three goals and is already worth $ 72 million, according to Transfermarkt. Chelsea’s Mason Mount, despite being two years older, has scored two goals in 10 games and is worth £ 67.5 million.
Collectively, these valuable young players have had an impact on the club’s performance and have kept them young. At 27, City and Chelsea are younger than Real Madrid, PSG and Juventus in Italy. In terms of revenue among the top 10 clubs in Europe, Barcelona had the lowest average age – their first team was 24 years old.
The Champions League finalists also have the best team value at a market value of around £ 30 million per player. By contrast, PSG, where Kylian Mbappé plays for £ 144 million, has half the average, less than any English club that has played in this year’s competition.
On paper, City is the strongest team. Uefa finished third for the Manchester club and Chelsea 12th across Europe. Internally, City regained the Premier League title to Liverpool and retained the League Cup trophy. Chelsea lost in the FA Cup final, another home trophy, and finished fourth in the league.
Chelsea’s results have risen since London club hired Thomas Tuchel, the former PSG manager, who lost the final against Bayern Munich in Germany in 2020 to replace Frank Lampard in January, when the club was in ninth place. Tuchel’s job is to stop City Superintendent Pep Guardiola from becoming the fourth coach to win the Champions League three times.
Recent evidence suggests that Chelsea are capable of upsetting him as they have twice beaten City in their home competitions in the last two months.
“We know anything can happen in a final. Luck is a huge part and the mental approach to it – who can handle the pressure and small details ” Tuchel said this week. “Man City is the benchmark. They’re champions again and we’re the guys who want to hunt down and narrow the gap.”
Additional report by Chris Campbell
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