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City may be ahead but the Premier League remains competitive

Are Manchester City going to dominate the Premier League in the way that Liverpool hoped to last year?  I think it remains competitive at the top and football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems to hold a similar view.

He told The Athletic: “If you take a look at the data in relation to the Premier League, City are certainly competitive, but Manchester United have spent more on the transfer market over the last five to six years and Chelsea’s wage bill is up there, so there are three clubs that are spending money at the top."

“And then, of course, we’ve had Liverpool dipping their toes into the water in the last two to three years on the back of making a lot of money from player sales, so there are four players in the market.”

According to figures supplied by Maguire, the man behind the Price of Football book [2nd edition now out with Agenda] and podcasts, Manchester United have generated £1 billion more in revenue than any other club over the past 10 years. From 2015 to 2019 alone, they made 20.2 per cent more than City.

It helps to put money into a club rather than take it out, of course, but spending alone cannot explain City’s current position.

“There’s not a significant gap between Manchester United, City, Chelsea, and Liverpool,” Maguire continues. “We’ve got a very competitive league financially and that flows through into a relatively competitive league on the pitch as well.”

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