Manchester United should be embarrassed by the ‘return’ on their huge investment but three sides have been particularly effective in the transfer market.
The following is a rundown of how much money each Premier League club spent on transfers to assemble their squads in relation to how many points they have won this season, with thanks to transfermarkt for the numbers.
Nottingham Forest – £5.06m per point
It was only ever going to be them. Nottingham Forest have not always been paragons of transfer efficiency since their promotion but 29 signings in their first season back in the Premier League became 17 in 2023/24 and then just 12 in 2024/25 as a more streamlined approach took them into Champions League contention.
Fulham – £5.65m per point
Marco Silva continues to go about his business as impressively as he does quietly. Fulham have shed Aleksandar Mitrovic and Joao Palhinha for ridiculous fees in successive summers and only improved.
Bournemouth – £6.12m per point
Another side whose inclusion towards the top of this ranking should not surprise, Bournemouth have embraced their role in the transfer food chain and absolutely nailed the recruitment side of things on the pitch and in the dugout.
Brentford – £6.95m per point
Thomas Frank will always be linked with Premier League vacancies but there is something about his work at and relationship with Brentford which does not seem particularly replicable. They continue to punch well above their weight.
Crystal Palace – £7.1m per point
While the best Football League talents do not come cheap, in relative terms Palace are saving a fortune by scouring the Championship. They remain really quite consistently frugal in comparison to most other sides from the middle down, Eddie Nketiah indulgence aside.
Everton – £7.62m per point
Sean Mark Dyche. David William Moyes.
Aston Villa – £8.19m per point
There is a slight ticking time bomb in terms of the wage-to-turnover ratio but Villa do not tend to go too ludicrous in terms of transfer fees: only eight of the current squad was signed for £20m or more.
Ipswich – £8.31m per point
More than £135m has been spent this season alone to try and survive in the Premier League or thrive in the Championship.
Brighton – £9.39m per point
No Premier League club spent more money this season. Should Fabian Hurzeler have them higher than mid-table?
Liverpool – £9.86m per point
It is obviously fairly skewed by Liverpool still having five of their six most expensive signings ever – poor Naby Keita – but the most recent of those to join was Dominik Szoboszlai in July 2023, and Darwin Nunez in June 2022 before that. It should not dilute their brilliance, even if supporters are frustrated.
Newcastle – £12.25m per point
And that is without having made a permanent first-team signing in the last three transfer windows. They really need a summer arrival at the level of Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak to keep the project moving forward.
Arsenal – £12.3m per point
Elite clubs should want to find themselves around the middle of this ranking as their deals inherently cost too much to place higher and anywhere lower suggests something has gone rather wrong. But that is quite a telling gap to Liverpool.
West Ham – £13.35m per point
It turns out West Ham are actually doing quite well. Perhaps the shedding of Said Benrahma, Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd has added a sheen of competence to these particular numbers.
Leicester – £14.78m per point
Again, it feels a little misleading to pretend Leicester’s transfer business has been anything other than dreadful over the past couple of years. Those below them here should be ashamed of themselves.
Wolves – £16.76m per point
That most certainly includes Wolves, who were perhaps kidded by 16 months of Gary O’Neil expectation management into thinking this squad is not capable of more than sitting precariously above the three promoted clubs.
Chelsea – £18.92m per point
Honestly, it instinctively feels like they should be much, much lower. Maybe loaning out about £300m worth of players isn’t a bad thing after all (it is).
READ: Chelsea and Villa PSR summer buys with double-quick January exits scream modern football
Southampton – £19.72m per point
It requires some effort to spend not all that much while still seeing barely any return on that investment. These lower reaches should be home only to ultra-rich clubs who perennially insist on failing in spite of themselves and their in-built advantages. But Southampton have been just that bad.
Manchester City – £22.35m per point
The chequebook manager has assembled a squad at absurd, charge-baiting expense but Manchester City have made persistent transfer mistakes in recent years and correcting them in one go can be awfully costly.
Tottenham – £22.97m per point
Ange Postecoglou has been tasked with changing the culture at Tottenham and that costs money (mate). Things do not look at all great now but a) their injury crisis is slowly subsiding and b) the focus on youth recruitment will give the manager’s replacement’s replacement’s replacement’s replacement a stupidly talented group to work with in a few years.
Manchester United – £23.89m per point
If the presence of Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Bournemouth at the top of this ranking indicated its worth as a solid measure of transfer efficiency, Manchester United being rooted to the bottom reinforces it. Few institutions in human history have spent so much to achieve so little.
