Deep pockets help English clubs buy the Champions League

Does money buy success? For those who don’t believe it, rethink it.

The owners of the most expensive teams in world football will need to know when Chelsea will play Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League final this Saturday.

Earning the highest honor of European football club would be the ultimate reward for multimillion-dollar sponsors who have invested hundreds of millions in building their staffs and football business.

Roman Abramovich, the Russian-Israeli tycoon who bought Chelsea in 2003, expects it to be repeated in 2012, the club’s first and only triumph in the competition.

Meanwhile, City, under the control of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the billionaire deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, awaits the club’s first Champions League silver after securing its third Premier League title in four years. Both owners have spent about £ 1.6 billion net of players sold since they took the helm.

Saturday’s match only marks the third Champions League final between two English clubs.

Although the first two all-English finals (2008 and 2019) were more than a decade apart, it has only been two years since the last, for two other Premier League teams to reach the final. of the most important competition in Europe.

Deloitte’s Football Money League FT analysis shows that, within the top 15 teams in Europe, English clubs have averaged more revenue than mainland rivals in nine of the last 16 seasons. And Premier League dominance is on the rise. English clubs have surpassed the income of their European rivals in six of the last seven seasons, bolstered by the league’s global appeal and millions of pounds in broadcast revenue.

“English clubs, especially those with benevolent owners willing to subscribe to investments on the pitch, have a potential advantage over other European clubs,” said Kieran Maguire, professor of football finance and accounting at the University of Liverpool. “The Premier League broadcasting agreement gives a huge advantage to the rest of the UEFA countries competing for European trophies.”

While the pandemic ended with up to 8.1 million euros of top-tier club revenues across Europe over the past two seasons, which limited much of the transfer market, City and Chelsea have not been chained.

According to data from the website Transfermarkt.com, Chelsea spent more than 220 million seasonal pounds this season approximately the same amount as the combined teams of Barcelona and Juventus, which occupy the third and fourth place in the ranking of transfer spending .

Manchester City have invested £ 150m in new players, including £ 68m in Portuguese defender Rúben Dias of Benfica, and £ 23m in midfielder Ferran Torres, who has scored four goals in six games in the Champions League.

Chelsea were the only club to spend more than £ 100 million on players sold, while City were limited to £ 97 million, according to the analysis. By contrast, German Borussia Mönchengladbach, who also played in the Champions League this season, spent just £ 12m on new signings with no revenue for players to leave, some 13 times less than the northern club. of England.

But expensive signings are not the only reason for performances on the field. Investing in coaching academies has helped ensure that Chelsea and City have younger players on average compared to the value of the squad than many rivals. Phil Foden, 20, a graduate in academia, has played in all 12 games so far scoring three goals and is already worth £ 72 million, according to Transfermarkt. While Chelsea’s Mason Mount, just two years older, has scored twice in 10 games and is worth £ 67.5 million.

Collectively, these high-value young players have influenced the club’s performance and kept the squads young. With an average age of 27, City and Chelsea are noticeably younger than Real Madrid, PSG and Italian Juventus. Although, of the top 10 European clubs by income, Barcelona had the lowest average age, with 24 years for their first team.

The Champions League finalists have also achieved the maximum value of the squad with an average market value of around £ 30 million per player. By contrast, PSG, where Kylian Mbappé plays for £ 144m, has an average player value, less than any English club that played in this year’s competition.

On paper, City is the strongest team. Uefa is third in the Manchester club and Chelsea 12th in Europe. Nationally, City regained Liverpool’s Premier League title and retained the League Cup trophy. Chelsea lost in the FA Cup final, another national trophy, and finished fourth in the league.

But Chelsea’s results have increased since the London club hired Thomas Tuchel, the former PSG manager who lost the 2020 final to Germany’s Bayern Munich to replace Frank Lampard in January, when the club ran out in the ninth. position. Tuchel’s job is to prevent City’s super coach Pep Guardiola from becoming the fourth coach to win the Champions League three times.

Recent evidence suggests that Chelsea are capable of being upset, having beaten City twice in national competitions in the last two months.

“We know that in a final anything can happen. Luck is an important part and its mental focus: who can withstand the pressure and the small details ” Tuchel said this week. “Man City is the benchmark, again they are the champions and we are the guys who want to hunt them down and we want to reduce the distance.”

Additional reports by Chris Campbell