Squad value development in 2022: Arsenal rank fourth - Two Premier League clubs at the top

With an increase of €114 million, Bayern Munich are one of the world’s biggest winners in terms of squad value in 2022, moving up four places in the international ranking of the most valuable squads and finishing the year behind leaders Manchester City. Thanks to support from Greece and Saudi Arabia, the biggest gains were posted by Nottingham Forest and Newcastle, two clubs that were able to make use of their financial resources, as well as Barcelona, who had to be a bit more creative raising the funds necessary.

Bayern’s increase of €114m to a squad value of €934m was achieved thanks to a strong summer in the transfer market, in which the players who arrived had a much higher market value than those who left, and Jamal Musiala’s rise to become the most valuable German footballer. Despite the departure of Robert Lewandowski, who took his market value of €45m to Barça, Bayern recorded the fifth-largest increase in 2022, while the Catalans improved their squad value by €204m to €800m.

The foundation of Barcelona’s plus is their activity on the transfer market, which caused astonishment in the football world. “It’s not just Lewy, they buy a lot of players,” Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann said about the dealings of the heavily indebted Spanish giants in July. “I don’t know how. It’s the only club in the world that has no money but buys every player it wants.” So far, the financial tightrope act has not fully paid off. Barça are currently ahead of Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table, but were once again eliminated in the Champions League group stages, now having to continue in the Europa League next year.

Squad value winners: Newcastle & Nottingham on shopping spree

The fact that Newcastle are already on course to qualify for next season’s Champions League probably comes as a surprise to many, despite the financial power of the owners. On January 1, 2022, the squad value was still €221m. Eight signings and €237m in spending later, the club sits third in the Premier League table.

Income & expenditure 11 clubs invested more than Newcastle in 2022/23 Click here for overview Arguably the most important new signing, however, arrived for free and is head coach Eddie Howe. The fact that Newcastle were initially turned down by Unai Emery and instead signed Howe, who had been out of work for 15 months at the time, proved to be a stroke of luck, because money alone is not enough to compete at the top of the richest league in the world.

This can be seen in the example of Nottingham Forest (+€233m to €281m), whose team no longer has much in common with the side that got promoted in the previous season after more than 20 new signings for €162m. Head coach Steve Cooper was allowed to stay on and, although he is in charge of the team with the world’s biggest increase in squad value, they only occupy 19th place in the table. Back in August, Forest broke the English record for the most new signings in a single summer.

Arsenal (€759m), whose strong performances are also reflected in a €197m increase in squad value, currently sit at the top of the Premier League. While winger Bukayo Saka recently became one of only nine players worldwide with a market value of €100m or more, several teammates like Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba saw their values increase significantly as well in 2022. Other big winners are AC Milan (+€100m to €574m), Stade Rennais (+€99m to €318m) and Eintracht Frankfurt (+€71m to €270m).

Squad value losers: Man Utd with biggest minus behind Sevilla 

With a decrease of €135m, Manchester United (€731m) are only the second biggest squad value losers in 2022, because Sevilla (€219m) are in much, much bigger trouble than the Red Devils. The departures of centre-backs Jules Koundé and Diego Carlos could not be compensated, the team is on the ropes, sitting 18th in La Liga, and consequently numerous market values also went on a downward slide. In 2022, a squad value minus of €171m or 43.8% is on the books.