Associated Press
Fans arrive ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates stadium in London, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Data shows that big spending is not always the key to success at the highest level of English football.

London’s top clubs have made major signings this January transfer window: Tottenham Hotspur signed Mathys Tel on loan and Antonin Kinsky for a combined £12.5 million, while Romain Esse joined Crystal Palace for £14.5 million.

City News analysed 13 clubs that remained in the Premier League from 2021/22 to 2023/24, including five from London, focusing on how wage bills and transfer spending influenced their on-pitch performance.

Although the overall trend of the graph shows that money spent leads to great success, stats for three London clubs – Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea – all show that this is not always the case.

Manchester City amassed the most points per year between 2021 and 2024, winning the title in all three of those seasons. However, they only had the third highest average payroll across this period. In fact, Chelsea spent £2 million more per year on wages than City but finished 31 points behind the champions.

Despite being outspent by £70m and £50m by Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal still averaged more points over this period.

Arsenal and Chelsea were two of the three highest lossmakers in the Premier League over the three years, but their performance on-pitch varied wildly. The Gunners competed for the title in two of the three seasons, while Chelsea struggled to break into the top four. The data suggests that money spent needs to be wisely used in order to win football matches.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire emphasised the importance of  buying the right player in football.

“You realise there’s probably 12 different types of centre half and it could be that your club needs a Type seven,” said Maguire. “Well then, they should go and recruit a Type seven rather than somebody that’s playing for a big club who they automatically think will adapt.”

“I think the clubs have got a lot to learn, and some of them are very much stuck in a sort of an analogue approach in a digital world, when it comes to recruitment.”

Unsurprisingly, after three consecutive league titles, Manchester City generated the most revenue—nearly £100 million more than the next highest club. Contrastingly, Arsenal won the second most points, and yet only brought in the sixth highest income.

There are many other factors than performance that can lead to higher revenues, including ticket sales, shirt sales and global fanbases. Despite Manchester United and Chelsea dominating these statistics, they have not been able to show similar results on the pitch.

Maguire emphasised the need for tactical spending.

“There is that sweet spot between spending well and spending big, if you hit it then you will punch above your weight.”