How Much Money Every Premier League Owner Has Invested

Key Takeaways

• The amount of money every Premier League club owner has spent has been revealed in a recent report.

• Manchester City & Arsenal's respective owners have spent over £1 billion each, showcasing the incredible wealth behind these clubs.

• Chelsea's ownership group are only to have spent over £2 billion, with the purchase of the west London club costing £2.5 billion.

The Premier League has grown in wealth and levels of investment dramatically in recent years. The English game is seen as the most lucrative division in world football based on the eye-watering sums of money each club can pay on transfer fees and wages.

This wouldn't be possible without significant backing from those at the helm. Premier League owners are sometimes given a hard time by supporters, but one thing's for sure, every ownership group is willing to put money into their respective projects to garner the best results.

That said, The Athletic have gone into depth about the sums of money each club's owner has put into the club, including purchase price and subsequent injections of cash. Each of the 20 ownership groups have been ranked in terms of investment levels.

20 - 16

Ipswich Town, Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Tottenham

Newly promoted Ipswich Town and Southampton are among the favourites to be relegated from the Premier League this season. This may not be too much of a surprise as the Tractor Boys and Saints' owners are among the lowest investing owners in the top-flight (£123 million and £184 million respectively).

The remarkable work being done at Brentford is often put down to the wonderful coaching ability of Thomas Frank. However, the Bees are among the shrewdest operators in the transfer market, constantly picking up gems such as Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo on a shoestring budget. Matthew Benham bought the club for £20 million in 2012 and has since put a further £104 million into transforming the side into Premier League regulars.

Evangelos Marinakis is a controversial figure in English football, but his dedication to making Nottingham Forest one of the top clubs in the country once more can't be questioned. The Greek owner hasn't been afraid to dip into the transfer market since Forest's return to the top-flight and has invested a total of £162 million in doing so.

Tottenham Hotspur fans are often vocal about the level of investment in the 'Big Six' club. The north London club are run by Daniel Levy - who often bares the brunt of supporters' frustration - but ENIC's £194 million expenditure isn't even close to comparable to that of the team's biggest rivals.

15 - 11

West Ham, Bournemouth, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Liverpool

West Ham United looked to be a big football club drifting in the wrong direction when their current owners took the reigns in 2010. The Hammers have since re-established themselves as a Premier League side with the help of David Sullivan and Co's £206 million investment.

Black Knight Football - headed by Bill Foley - purchased Bournemouth for £120 million in 2022. The Cherries were once seen as the plucky underdogs who somehow rose through the leagues to become a top-flight outfit. However, Andoni Iraola and his talented group of players have had significant backing from their wealthy owners and are expected to continue growing.

Steve Parish leads the CPFC 2010 group that took over at Selhurst Park 14 years ago. New shareholders have been picked up along the way, such as John Textor, who has recently seen another club he's involved with, Lyon, get 'provisionally' relegated from Ligue 1. Despite this, the Eagles have come a long way since the takeover with over £102 million invested after the purchase.

Wolves have had a similar level of funding from Fosun International, just in a much shorter space of time. There have been rumours of a sale being on the horizon at Molineux Stadium, meaning Fosun may not be in it for the long run.

Liverpool's Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are another set of owners that are often met with fan frustration. However, the American investors saved the Merseyside-based club from the brink of administration when they put an end to Tom Hicks and George Gillett's reign of terror at Anfield. A lot of the success on the pitch has been based on FSG's sustainable model, as they have only invested £436 million in almost 15 years.

10 - 6

Leicester City, Brighton, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Man United

When Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha took over at Leicester City in 2010, little did he know that the club would go on to achieve Premier League glory under his watch. King Power International oversaw the rise from League One to the pinnacle of English football while investing just shy of £500 million.

Tony Bloom is seen by many as the most intelligent owner in English football because of the way he's taken Brighton & Hove Albion to new levels. He helped fund the construction of the Amex Stadium after his takeover in 2009, with interest-free loans to the amount of £80 million.

Newcastle United's £300 million takeover by the Saudi Public Investment Fund in 2021 brought new hope to St James' Park. That initial outlay has almost been doubled already and it's likely it will only continue to increase in the coming years.

With Aston Villa flying high under Unai Emery in both the Premier League and Champions League, V Sports' £60 million purchase of the club looks like a bargain. After buying the club in 2018, they have put a further £522million into the Villa Park project.

The Glazer family are extremely divisive figures in Manchester. A 2005 takeover has been looked back at negatively as the biggest club in England has slowly faded in terms of on-pitch success. Further investment has been put into the club by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the New York Stock Exchange, but the Glazers are thought to have injected just £45 million of their own money in almost two decades.

5 - 1

Everton, Fulham, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea

Everton may be floundering towards the bottom of the Premier League table, but the club's owners have put in just shy of £900 million. Farhad Moshiri has plundered £750 million into the Toffees, including massive funding for the ongoing construction of the club's new stadium.

Having purchased Fulham for £150 million back in 2013, Shahid Khan was one of the first American investors in the Premier League. The Jacksonville Jaguars owner has pumped eye-watering sums into the west London outfit, amounting to £938 million.

Arsenal and Manchester City are competing at the top of the league and with good reason. Kroenke Sports and Entertainment and the City Football Group have both invested well over £1 billion in their clubs. Sheikh Mansour's high-profile purchase of Man City in 2008 for £200 million was just the beginning of the Citizens' reign of financial terror in the English game.

No Premier League owners have ploughed more money into their current projects than the BlueCo group at Chelsea. Roman Abramovich sold the west London club to the American investors for £2.5 billion. Since then, a further £146 million has been injected in an attempt to get the trophy hunger club firing on all cylinders once more.