Manchester City and Liverpool have been treating us in the 2018/19 season to one of the most exhilarating title races in recent years, and declaring defiantly the eventual destination of the Premier League at this point of the season would be foolhardy.
With the direction of Reds manager Jurgen Klopp, the belief for Liverpool fans to claim their first title of the EPL-era, and their first English League triumph in close to three decades, is agonisingly real, though incumbent champions City - under the stewardship of the peerless Pep Guardiola - are determined not to let the honour be wrestled out of their hands, with the battle threatening to get ugly.
One accusation levelled at Man City, and greatly enjoyed by a substantial portion of Liverpool fans, is that their success - they’ve claimed three titles in the past seven seasons - is based purely on the gallons of oil money that have drenched the club since 2008, when they were taken over by Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group.
Though Man City have certainly spent their way to success, the charge isn’t an isolated one.
Six teams have held the Premier League title; 13-time champions Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Leicester City.
If Liverpool do finally join that elite group, they would have outspent every other side that compiled for the first time a squad that emerged as English champions.
Below is the breakdown of how much each title-winning club had to spend on the squad that would bring home each of their first Premier League triumphs.
Each player’s individual transfer fee (recorded via transferleague and transfermarkt) has been adjusted for inflation (3% per year), first up until the year of that specific success, and then to bring up a cumulative 2019 total to put each side on par with the 2018/19 Liverpool squad’s current value.
Have a look at the results below.
