There’s a new most valuable Premier League club, and it’s not Manchester United.
Manchester City was rated the most valuable Premier League club for the 2017-18 season in a recent study conducted by University of Liverpool’s Centre for Sports Business Group, as reported by BBC.
The Citizens were valued at $3.11 billion (£2.364 billion) compared to United, which dropped nearly half a billion dollars to $2.75 billion because of “higher wages and lower profit,” according to the study.
Unsurprisingly, the top six were all miles ahead of the rest of the league, accounting for 74 percent of the combined league value of $19.34 billion (a 1.6 percent decrease).
Tottenham managed to take third on the list at $2.42 billion followed by Liverpool ($2.12 billion), Chelsea ($2.12 billion) and Arsenal ($1.8 billion).
Seventh-place Burnley was valued at $523.62 million, but the study described the Clarets as “most sensibly run club in the Premier League financially,” which Arsene Wenger would probably describe as just as good as any trophy.
Swansea, relegated after the 2018 season, was rated the least valuable at $219.71 million, or seven percent of Manchester City’s value.
The most valuable Premier League club was calculated based on revenue, profits, non-recurring costs, average profits on player sales over a three-year period, net assets, wage control and a proportion of seats sold, according to BBC. This is different from Deloitte’s list of the richest clubs in the world, which ranked Manchester United behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in January.
At $777 million, Manchester United had the highest revenue in the league. The Red Devils also had the highest wages at $390 million, with Huddersfield’s $83 million the lowest. Arsenal made $158 million profit selling players, best in the league.