I think if you are Jose Mourinho you probably shouldn’t open the Soccerex Football Finance report recently issued. After complaining that his club couldn’t compete with cross town rivals Manchester City, the report shows City have more financial muscle than any other club in the world.
While Jose was busy complaining that the £300 million he’s spent was ‘not enough’ Pep has actively coached his side. Yes City spent heavy in the summer, but few have featured on a regular basis.
Benjamin Mendy has been injured for the best part of the season, while Danilo and Bernardo SIlva have taken time to settle. True, Ederson and Kyle Walker have shown instant impact to improve their particular positions. But it is the improvement of Nico Otamendi and Raheem Sterling, to name just two, which have propelled City to the next level.
The report from Soccerex bases its rankings on five variables. Playing assets, along with fixed assets (stadiums etc) are taken into account. Along with that, cash in the bank and the clubs net debt is calculated. The interesting variable taken into account in the final calculation is the Owners potential investment.
They explain it as follows:
"For the purposes of the report, a starting percentage was used based on research and evaluationof the owner investment to date, with further weighting applied based on analysis of macro & microeconomic factors such asownership structure, national league restrictions and other regulations such as financial fair play."
Thanks to these calculations, Manchester City are in top spot, with a 4.883 rating. Citing our debt as only €15 million and our ‘cash on hand’ as €75 million. Our playing staff is valued at €637 million with our fixed assets rated at €534.
Reflecting the mega bucks TV deal the League has enjoyed over recent years, half of the top ten clubs ply their trade in the Premier League. Arsenal are second with Spurs fifth. All three are above Real Madrid, while Barcelona didn’t even make the top ten.
Manchester City, along with Arsenal have a significant less amount of debt, according to the report, than the other English sides. Even Tottenham are credited with over €240 million in debt. Seventh placed Manchester United are more than double that. At a €536 million debt figure, their playing staff and fixed assets are both below City’s valuation.
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In fact, United’s player assets are valued at only €12 million more than their net debt, which should be concerning for Red’s fans. As far as City are concerned, it’s a pretty healthy situation. Low debt, along with a lot of fixed assets and an owner who could cover any overage, it appears we are operating within our means. All this smoke and mirrors from other clubs regarding our spending ruining the market is just that it would seem.