Deadline Day Approaches. So, United vs Chelsea: Who Spent More?

Ed’s Note: This article was written a couple of weeks ago. Just added Belletti’s signing to it.

With transfer deadline day looming large over us, it would be a good time to look at our closest rivals and compare our spending with them. So over to you Ronak…

Jose Mourinho insists the pressure is on United this season after our extensive summer spending spree. But are his claims yet again unfounded? Have we really spent that much? Let’s take a look at the significant moves of past two seasons:

2006/07
In: Carrick – £18m
Out: Jones – £1m, Howard – £3m, van Nistelrooy – £10m, Mikel – £12m.
(£25m)
Net Spending: -£8m

2007/08
In: Hargreaves – £17m, Anderson – £8m*, Nani – £8m*, Kuszczak – £2m, Tevez
– £4.5m** (£39.5m)
Out: Richardson – £5.5m, Rossi – £6.7m, Smith – £6m (£18.2m)
Net Spending: £21.3m

Total Spending: £13.3m

* initial fee.
** loan fee.

Through no magic trick it now becomes apparent that our total outlay of the past 2 seasons is less than half of the cost of one Andriy Shevchenko, but okay, maybe it wasn’t the special one’s decision to spend that “£30-56m”. But there were plenty that he did choose to sign:

Chelski’s Mourinho’s transfers:
In: Kalou – £8m, Mikel – £12m, Boulahrouz – £8.5m, Malouda – £13.5m, Belletti (£2m)
(£42m)
Out: Gudjohnsen – £8m, Duff – £5m, Del Horno – £4.8m, Huth – £6m (£23.8m)
Net Spending: £20.2m

There have been many ‘free’ signings in addition, but with Ballack costing £135,000 a week and Tal Ben Haim earning a hilarious £65,000 – how free are they really?

So even without Shevchenko, Chelski have managed to spend more than United, and if the rumours are true they are set to splash another £24m on Sevilla’s Daniel Alves.
and without splashing on Alves.

So Jose, who is the pressure really on this season? (Answer: Liverpool, but that’s another story…)

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