Manchester City Become The First ‘Billion Euro’ Club In Football History

Manchester City has become the first club in the history of football to invest more than one billion euros ($1.1 billion) on the transfers of players that make up its current squad, according to research by the CIES Football Observatory.

The English champion leads the way on €1,014 billion ($1.10 billion), ahead of France’s Paris Saint-Germain (€913 million/$1 billion) and Spain’s Real Madrid ((€912 million/$995 million).

City, which won the domestic treble last season, broke its transfer record earlier this year when it paid a reported £62.8 million ($77.6 million) for Spanish midfielder Rodri from Atletico Madrid. City’s current squad also includes David Silva, who was signed in 2010.

The Premier League champion has spent 32 times more than Norwich City on its squad of players.

According to CIES Football Observatory, the research analyzed transfers to have taken place since 2010 involving teams from the top five major European leagues.

Manchester United on €751 million ($829 million) were found to be the fourth biggest spenders, ahead of Juventus on €719 ($793 million), and Barcelona on €697 ($769 million).

According to the research, European champion Liverpool was ranked seventh after spending €639 ($705 million).

City, which is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan’s investment company Abu Dhabi United Group, was also found to be the biggest spender on player transfers in the past decade.

City has spent €1,368 billion on transfers ($1,809), with Barcelona just behind on €1,525 billion ($1,685 billion).

Chelsea, PSG, Juventus, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Liverpool are all recorded to have all spent over €1 billion ($1.1 billion) on transfers over the past 10 years.

City also had the largest net spend deficit between 2010-2019 (-€1,091billion /-$1.2 billion), ahead of PSG, Manchester United and Barcelona.

English Premier League clubs alone have a total net negative balance of €6.5 billion ($7.2 billion).

French club Lille had the most positive net balance for transfers followed by Monaco, Genoa, Lyon and Udinese.

Meanwhile, French club Monaco received the most monies for its players between 2010-2019 from clubs playing in Europe’s top five leagues.

Monaco has raked in €1,029 billion ($1.135 million)) from player sales over the past decade which included offloading Kylian Mbappe to PSG for a reported €180 million ($199 million).