Source: Statista

At the elite level, money rules football. But does spending the most money necessarily equate to a team ruling the sport? As this infographic shows, looking back over the last ten years, the clubs with the biggest net transfer spends have delivered very mixed levels of performance on the pitch. What might immediately stand out, aside from the chronic board-level mismanagement at Manchester United, are the clubs which have failed to win a single domestic league trophy in the analyzed time period.

Everton is surely the worst example on this list. Currently sitting in 10th place in the Premier League and having burned through eight managers in the last nine years, the club’s net spend of €429 million has really not paid off at all. This leaves new boss Frank Lampard with a difficult job: leading an ambitious club with high standards but no direction or recent pedigree.

Where it clearly has been effective (at least at maintaining high levels of success, if not buying new levels of achievement), is at Manchester City, PSG and Juventus. Barcelona, on the other hand, has been led similarly badly at board level to Manchester United. In the Catalan club’s case, spending wasn’t just not effective on the pitch, it led directly to the dire financial situation which caused its inability to keep hold of its greatest (ever?) player, Lionel Messi – now at the club third on this list, PSG.