EPL Finances

[coremiller]

Swiss Ramble has been tweeting out EPL clubs' financial statements. They're pretty interesting but they don't really fit in any other thread, so I'm posting them here:

EPL wage bills:

revenue:

wage to turnorver ratio:

There's a lot more at the @swissramble twitter account and it's highly worth perusing.

A few thoughts:

- these are all numbers for last season, so things may have changed since.
- Manchester United's commercial dominance is still extreme despite their underperformance on the pitch the last few years.
- Holy shit were Aston Villa poorly managed. Getting relegated while having the 7th highest wages and the worst wage:turnover ratio is an epic management disaster.
- Financially, there's a Big 5, not a Big 6, or really a Big 1 followed by a Big 4 followed by Spurs. Spurs are not in the same league in revenue or wages as the other big clubs.
- Liverpool have a higher wage bill than City and Arsenal. I would not have guessed that.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

I'd be curious to hear more about the Liverpool figures. You see lots of news stories about wage bills, most probably unreliable. I have never seen anything to suggest that Liverpool's wage bill was that high in absolute terms or above City or Arsenal in relative terms. They've always seemed like a club that was relatively aggressive in the transfer market (in terms of net spend) but clearly behind top competitors in terms of wages. SwissRamble is usually pretty good so maybe all these other sources have been wrong. Or perhaps there is some kind of weird accounting thing going on for this specific year that has bumped Liverpool's "wage bill" up.

 

[JimBoSox9]

I'd be curious to hear more about the Liverpool figures

That's exactly the one that jumped out at me, too, ranking ahead of both City and Arsenal was a surprise. I found a table of 2016-17 player salaries that totals up to within ~10m of the chart total (source: http://sillyseason.com/salary/liverpool-players-salaries-69073/), so I'll assume it's accurate & authoritative without further research. The data shows that Liverpool used their transfer windfalls from a few years back to give A+ wages to a heap of loyal A-/B+ talent that may or may not ever be healthy enough to appear on the pitch:

----------Player----------------Age---------Weekly Wage-----------Contract left
Christian Benteke------------24----------$140,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
James Milner------------------30----------$120,000.00----------2 Years (2018)
Daniel Sturridge--------------26----------$120,000.00----------4 Years (2019)
Jordan Henderson-----------25----------$100,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
Roberto Firmino--------------24----------$100,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
Sadio Mané-------------------24----------$90,000.00----------5 Years (2021)
Georginio Wijnaldum-------25----------$90,000.00----------5 Years (2021)
Lucas Laiva ------------------29----------$80,000.00----------2 Years (2017)
Mamadou Sakho -----------25----------$75,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
Martin Skrtel -----------------31----------$75,000.00----------3 Years (2018)
José Enrique ----------------30----------$75,000.00----------Last Year (2016)
Coutinho ----------------------23----------$75,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
Joel Matip --------------------25----------$70,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
Nathaniel Clyne ------------24----------$70,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
Dejan Lovren ---------------26----------$65,000.00----------3 Years (2019)
Kolo Touré -------------------34----------$65,000.00----------Last Year (2016)
Adam Lallana ---------------27----------$65,000.00----------3 Years (2019)
Simon Mignolet ------------27----------$60,000.00----------5 Years (2021)
Lazar Markovic ------------21----------$60,000.00----------3 Years (2019)
Danny Ings ------------------23----------$60,000.00----------4 Years (2020)
Ragnar Klavan -------------30----------$55,000.00----------3 Years (2019)
Emre Can --------------------22----------$55,000.00----------2 Years (2018)
Joe Allen --------------------25----------$45,000.00----------2 Years (2017)

 

[67YAZ]

When FSG took over Liverpool, one of John Henry's first observations was that the wage structure was upside down - too much invested in a few star players, very little spent on quality depth. Now, Daglish's short tenure under FSG didn't really address this issue, and the Rodgers era perpetuated the problem as season passed. Given FSG's transfer committee approach, it's hard to pin the responsibility on anyone person, of course. But the problem remains today. The current squad has little depth. One more injury up front or in the midfield, and Liverpool are down to untested recent academy graduates.

Klopp, with control over transfers, does seem to be moving in the right direction. Markovic and Sakho are on loan, the latter brining back £1m month fee. Benteke, Skretl, Allen, Toure, and Enrique are gone. Milner and Matip signed on frees, so those wages are higher than might be expected. And Klavan came for a £3m fee, so those wages seem fine for veteran depth.

This summer will be huge for Klopp. Lucas and Sakho are surely gone. Sturridge will be shopped, but it's hard to see who will pony up for him now. Negotiating with Can is proving tricky, and I half expect Lallana, Lovren, and Firmino to inquire about new deals (the former two because they'll be going into their 2nd to last contracted season, the latter because of his performance level).

Making the Champions League (knock on wood) will obviously bring a lot more revenue and make Liverpool a much more attractive destination. The slow integration of Woodbury and Alexander this season should also help provide depth at very low cost. Hopefully, Klopp is able to maneuver the way he wants in the transfer market and is able to fill the holes (LB, CB depth, DM depth, attacking depth, GK?) for a much tougher campaign.