After Manchester City cruised to their third Premier League title in four years, many rival fans pointed at the ridiculous amount of money they’ve spent in recent years.
It’s true, Pep Guardiola has splashed the cash since his arrival in England with the club spending more than £500m on players since 2016.
But is it always the case that the club that spends the most money wins the league?
Well, tremendous work from Football365 has explored that theory. They worked out which club spent the most money each season and revealed where they finished in the table.
It turns out that only five sides who spent the most money in that season went on to win the Premier League…
1992/93
The biggest spenders: Blackburn
The spend: £8.46m
The finish: 4th
The huge £3.4m signing of Alan Shearer wasn’t enough to pip Manchester United to the title - who had signed Eric Cantona themselves.
1993/94
The biggest spenders: Blackburn
The spend: £8.5m
The finish: 2nd
Blackburn were the Manchester City of the 90s just without the success - until the following season.
1994/95
The biggest spenders: Everton
The spend: £10.9m
The finish: 15th
The year in which Blackburn didn’t spend quite as much, they ended up winning the title. Everton, meanwhile, splashed £4m on Duncan Ferguson - a good signing in the long-run.
1995/96
The biggest spenders: Newcastle
The spend: £24.5m
The finish: 2nd
A huge spree in comparison to what went before with the likes of Faustino Asprilla, Shaka Hislop, Les Ferdinand, David Batty and David Ginola coming in. Good signings, in truth.
1996/97
The biggest spenders: Newcastle
The spend: £17.5m
The finish: 2nd
Newcastle were at it again - although it was down to the £15m signing of Shearer. That turned out alright, didn’t it?
1997/98
The biggest spenders: Newcastle
The spend: £24.65m
The finish: 13th
13th!? Oh dear. The biggest signing was Gary Sped for £5.5m but they also signed Shay Given, Temuri Ketsbaia and Nikos Dabizas among others.
1998/99
The biggest spenders: Manchester United
The spend: £29.35m
The finish: 1st
United won the league thanks to the brilliant signings of Jaap Stam and Dwight Yorke.
1999/2000
The biggest spenders: Liverpool
The spend: £35.9m
The finish: 4th
Liverpool splashed £11m on Emile Heskey but it was only enough for fourth.
2000/01
The biggest spenders: Leeds
The spend: £48.7m
The finish: 4th
If only someone had told Leeds not to spend almost £50m back in the 2000/01 season. Rio Ferdinand arrived for £18m.
2001/02
The biggest spenders: Manchester United
The spend: £58.6m
The finish: 3rd
Ruud van Nistelrooy was a quality signing. Juan Sebastián Verón wasn’t.
2002/03
The biggest spenders: Manchester United
The spend: £30.6m
The finish: 1st
Just one signing, really - Ferdinand for £29.1m. It worked.
2003/04
The biggest spenders: Chelsea
The spend: £121.5m
The finish: 2nd
Hello Roman Abramovich. Goodbye Claudio Ranieri.
A whole host of players arrived at Stamford Bridge such as Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Juan Sebastián Verón, Adrian Mutu, Claude Makélélé and Herman Crespo.
2004/05
The biggest spenders: Chelsea
The spend: £94.45m
The finish: 1st
They got it right the following year with Petr Čech, Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba just three of the incoming stars.
2005/06
The biggest spenders: Chelsea
The spend: £54.4m
The finish: 1st
And again. This summer wasn’t quite so glamorous but Michael Essien’s signing certainly helped retain the title.
2006/07
The biggest spenders: Chelsea
The spend: £56.5m
The finish: 2nd
Chelsea added Andriy Shevchenko, Ashley Cole and Michael Ballack to their ranks amongst others but were beaten to the title by Manchester United.
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2007/08
The biggest spenders: Liverpool
The spend: £69.3m
The finish: 4th
The £20m signing of Fernando Torres contributed to Liverpool’s overall spend but it was only enough for 4th.
2008/09
The biggest spenders: Manchester City
The spend: £119.35m
The finish: 10th
Welcome, Sheikh Mansour.
Vincent Kompany arrived but so did Robinho for £32.5m and they could only finish 10th.
2009/10
The biggest spenders: Manchester City
The spend: £125.5m
The finish: 5th
Carlos Tevez was the biggest purchase as City improved on their 10th placed finish 12 months previous.
2010/11
The biggest spenders: Manchester City
The spend: £152m
The finish: 3rd
And again. This summer saw Yaya Toure, David Silva, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko arrive. They were getting closer to the title…
2011/12
The biggest spenders: Chelsea
The spend: £79.2m
The finish: 6th
Like with Blackburn, the season in which City didn’t spend the most they ended up winning the title. Chelsea, meanwhile, signed Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, Juan Mata and Kevin de Bruyne. Not bad for less than £80m.
2012/13
The biggest spenders: Chelsea
The spend: £86.1m
The finish: 3rd
Eden Hazard was the standout signing during the 2012/13 season for Chelsea but the £32m man could only inspire the club to third.
2013/14
The biggest spenders: Tottenham
The spend: £109m
The finish: 6th
Tottenham!?
They didn’t spend their £109m well with Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Étienne Capoue, Vlad Chiricheș, Christian Eriksen and Érik Lamela coming through the door.
With the exception of Eriksen and possibly Lamela, that’s a lot of money wasted.
2014/15
The biggest spenders: Manchester United
The spend: £147.2m
The finish: 4th
United spend almost £60m on Angel di Maria, who was joined by Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw. Louis van Gaal had to settle for fourth.
2015/16
The biggest spenders: Manchester City
The spend: £149.6m
The finish: 4th
De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling were the main buys but, like United, £150m only got them fourth.
2016/17
The biggest spenders: Manchester City
The spend: £171.5m
The finish: 3rd
The following year, they added Ilkay Gündoğan, Leroy Sané, John Stones and Gabriel Jesus. They could only achieve third.
2017/18
The biggest spenders: Manchester City
The spend: £278.7m
The finish: 1st
Finally Pep Guardiola got it right.
How could he not after spending almost £300m on the likes of Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte?
2018/19
The biggest spenders: Liverpool
The spend: £165.45m
The finish: 2nd
Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri can’t be considered a success - although Fabinho and Alisson were great signings.
2019/20
The biggest spenders: Manchester United
The spend: £192.6m
The finish: 3rd
A lot of money was spent on Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Bruno Fernandes while Daniel James also joined. Perhaps if they had signed Fernandes in the summer, rather than in January, they may have finished a bit higher.
2020/21
The biggest spenders: Chelsea
The spend: £222.5m
The finish: Likely 3rd or 4th
Chelsea *should* finish in the top four after spending more than £200m on Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Kai Havertz and Edouard Mendy. Frank Lampard may not have been able to get the best out of them but Thomas Tuchel will take them to the FA Cup and Champions League finals.
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