Manchester City Become The First 'Billion Euro' Club In Football History

Premier League champions Manchester City have become the first 'billion-euro' squad in football history, spending a total of €1.014b on their current squad.

The blue half of Manchester have certainly splashed the cash in recent years.

Kevin De Bruyne (£68.3 million), Rodri (£63 million), Riyad Mahrez (£61 million), Joao Cancelo (£58.4 million) and Aymeric Laporte (£58.4 million) are the club's five most expensive signing of all time.

Not to mention the early additions of Raheem Sterling (£57.3 million), Sergio Aguero (£36 million) and Fernandinho (£36 million), who have all excelled at the club since arriving from their respected clubs.

Image: PA

Image: PA

Pep Guardiola's side are well ahead of second place Paris Saint-Germain in the CIES Football Observatory.

The Ligue 1 side who have invested a total of €913 million on players such as Neymar (£199 million), Kylian Mbappe (£121 million) and Edinson Cavani (£58 million).

Spanish giants Real Madrid make up the top three with an estimated expenditure of €902 million, while rivals Barcelona have spent a reported £697 million on transfers.

Here is the list of total transfer expenditures via CIES Football Observatory:

Image: CIES

In terms of the gap between the costliest and cheapest squads, the difference between Manchester City and Norwich are the biggest with x32, while Real Madrid and Mallorca are an incredible x148.

Paris St-Germain and Nîmes are x85 in Ligue 1, Bayern Munich and Paderborn are x63 in the Bundesliga, while there is just a x32 gap between Juventus and Lecce in Serie A.

The average transfer expenditure to sign current squad members per league is €345 million in the Premier League, €167 million in both La Liga and the Serie A, €124 million in the Bundesliga and €118 million in Ligue 1.

Image: PA

Thoughts on the above results? Can Manchester City go on and win the Champions League this season with their most expensive squad ever?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Football, Manchester United, Barcelona, city, Premier League, Real Madrid

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_