New data released by the CIES Football Observatory shows that the era of the billion euro soccer club has well and truly arrived. Last year, Manchester City became the first soccer team to assemble a squad with a value of €1 billion or higher. Uefa subsequently banned City from the Champions League and fined the club €30 million for “serious breaches” of its Financial Fair Play regulations.
City have now been displaced at the top of the squad value table by Liverpool who have an aggregated transfer value of €1.4 billion. That’s primarily due to the soaring value of emerging talents like Trent Alexander Arnold while Virgil Van Dijk’s value has continued to rise, despite the Dutchman’s colossal transfer fee. FC Barcelona, Read Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United are the other clubs boasting squads valued at €1 billion or more.