Juventus have built the most expensive Serie A squad for the 2021/22 season, according to a recent report.
The Bianconeri lost Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer but brought in Manuel Locatelli, Kaio Jorge, Moise Kean and Mohamed Ihattaren to take the accumulated transfer fee of their 2021/22 squad up to €657m (including add-ons).
The data, provided by the CIES Football Observatory, shows that this figure is somewhat higher from a season ago, where the value of Juve’s squad was €594m.
Juventus’ monster €657m figure unsurprisingly tops Serie A, with Napoli their closest competitors for the second season running despite the total of their transfer indemnities falling from €467m for 2020/21 to €417m for 2021/22.
Jose Mourinho’s Roma climbed up to third after a busy summer of spending. Their current squad cost the Giallorossi €362m, a €59m increase from last season.
Inter, meanwhile, fell a spot following the departures of Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi. Simone Inzaghi’s squad cost €341m in transfer fees, a steep decline from Antonio Conte’s Scudetto victors last season. That squad cost the Nerazzurri €439m.
Premier League dominates
While Juventus topped Serie A in this regard, they only ranked seventh across Europe’s top five leagues.
Manchester City (€1.08b) once again topped the charts, while Manchester United (€1.023b) and Paris Saint-Germain (€939m) made up the top three. Chelsea (€780m) and Liverpool (€672m) also made the top ten, as did Arsenal whose €630m spent on their current squad ranks a spot behind Juventus in eighth.
Barcelona’s summer exodus meant they fell from fourth to ninth in the charts. Their transfer expenditure fell from €826m to €578m.
Serie A’s financial inferiority
Juventus were the only Italian club in the top ten. Napoli’s squad ranks 14th, Roma’s 16th and Inter’s 20th – behind Aston Villa (€351m), who finished 11th in the Premier League last season.
AC Milan, meanwhile, slotted in behind Wolves (13th in the Premier League last season) and West Ham United with a total transfer expenditure of €287m on their 2021/22 squad.
At the other end of the spectrum, Serie A new boys US Salernitana were one of five squads to cost less than €10m. Spezia (€23m) and the impressive Empoli (€24m) made up the bottom three among Italian clubs.