Slot’s recent comments 

©TM/IMAGO

Arne Slot has been a revelation since joining Liverpool in the summer with the Reds strong favourites to win the Premier League title. It was widely believed that replacing Jürgen Klopp would be an impossible job but Slot has embraced the challenge magnificently and improved Liverpool in subtle ways. 

The Dutchman, however, remains indebted to his predecessor for inheriting an excellent squad full of world-class players. Despite failing to win enough trophies in his final few years at Anfield, Klopp worked wonders in building an incredible squad and transforming Liverpool as a club on a relatively modest budget compared to his rivals across Europe. And Slot has highlighted this disparity in spending on several occasions in recent months but how does Liverpool’s expenditure compare to other Premier League clubs across the last three seasons?

English Premier League spending since the start of the 2022/23 season

After Erling Haaland signed his new nine-and-a-half year contract at Manchester City on Friday, Slot responded to a question about the financial power of his Premier League rivals. “We know how good we have to be every single day to compete in this league,” Slot replied. “It is not only the City you are referring to. Chelsea have also spent £1.2 billion and United have spent an incredible amount. Every team spends a lot of money over here, that’s why it’s such an interesting league to be part of. Some seasons this club (Liverpool) spends a bit more, the other season other clubs spend a bit. We are still able to compete with all these teams that are spending an incredible amount of money.”

And Slot’s comments are absolutely on the money as Liverpool’s spending is dwarfed by several Premier League rivals across the last three seasons. As the graphic above illustrates, Liverpool are the 12th biggest spenders in England during that time period, behind the likes of West Ham, Brighton and Nottingham Forest. Moreover, Liverpool’s total spend of €360m is €170m less than main title challengers Arsenal and €300m less than their biggest rivals Manchester United. Chelsea, unsurprisingly, ranks first and they’ve spent more than three times what Liverpool have.

Liverpool’s net spend since the start of the 2022/23 season

When you analyse the net spend of Premier League clubs, Liverpool rise to ninth place. The Merseyside club have raised €188m from player sales to leave their transfer balance at -€171m. That total remains significantly lower than four or the traditional big six clubs with Manchester City (-€92m) benefitting from raising impressive funds through player sales. But Liverpool remain some distance behind Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man United while even Bournemouth have a significantly higher net spend.

Slot also referenced Nottingham Forest’s spending ahead of their recent Premier League clash and their net spend is €86m more than Liverpool across the last three seasons. While Slot has received some criticism for his recent financial comments, the Dutchman has raised valid arguments and the success of Liverpool this season is only more impressive when you factor in that his only signing to arrive at Anfield last summer was Federico Chiesa for €12m.