The Sun: Arsenal top Premier League wage bill at £175m

According to The Sun, Arsenal tops the Premier League wage bill with £175 million.

Fans were shocked to learn what the Premier League's total wage bill could otherwise fund.

As the new season gets underway, data website Spotrac has released striking statistics showing how much each Premier League team spends on player salaries.

Despite not having any players in the top three highest earners, defending champions Arsenal still lead the list.

Manchester City, home to the league's highest-paid player Erling Haaland, ranks second with a total wage bill £9.52 million less than the Gunners.

Liverpool's annual salary expenditure, boosted by the second-highest paid player Virgil van Dijk, reached £165.1 million, placing them third.

Manchester United's wage bill stands at £157.9 million per year, ranking fourth.

The astronomical figures spent annually on player salaries in the Premier League also highlight the disconnect between the league and the everyday lives of fans.

As of July 2024, the average house price in the UK is £273,000.

This means the money paid to Premier League players could buy 5,978 houses.

With NHS nurses earning between £37,000 and £42,000 annually, the Premier League's wage bill could fund 38,857 to 44,108 nurses.

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The average cost of a new school is approximately £45 million, so the annual salary budget could build 36 new schools.

The combined earnings of just the top Premier League earners are also equivalent to the GDP of some small nations, such as Cape Verde.

The top six clubs on the list collectively spent a staggering £896.92 million, while the remaining 14 teams spent a total of £732.49 million.

This means Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea account for approximately 54.9% of the league's total wage bill.

The average expenditure for the top six is £149.5 million, whereas the average for the other teams is only £52.5 million, roughly 2.85 times less.

Looking at the bottom of the list, the three lowest-spending teams – Ipswich, Hull City, and Coventry – have a combined total wage bill of just £48.15 million.

This accounts for approximately only 3% of the total Premier League wage expenditure.