Manchester United may have secured an unlikely Champions League spot this season… but it came at a price.
The Reds have been named as the least cost-effective Premier League side this season, according to new figures from online betting firm Bet Victor.
The figures show that each point Ole Gunnar-Solskjaer’s side won cost them a whopping £2.1million.
Over the Pennines, Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United side – a surprise package for many this season – were named as the most cost-effective side.
The Blades are set to pay just £237,193 in wages per point, according to Bet Victor’s Player Wages campaign.
A Bet Victor spokesman said: “Chris Wilder hasn’t only worked wonders with his Sheffield United team on the pitch this season, but also off it with the Blades the most cost-efficient side since the 1990s.
“The South Yorkshire side are set to pay just £237,193 in wages per point according to BetVictor’s Player Wages campaign, the lowest since Charlton Athletic in 1998/99.”
But whilst Charlton were relegated in ‘97/98, Sheffield’s success has secured them a top half league position despite their smaller budget, an impressive feat from manager Chris Wilder.
Liverpool have proven themselves among the most cost-effective champions in the last fifteen years, their £1,115,878 per point this season being bettered only by Leicester City.
Chelsea, perhaps unsurprisingly, are the least cost-effective champions on record after Jose Mourihno spent almost £2.5 million per point in the 2014/15 season, a record which remains unbeaten.
Historically the premier league’s first seasons include the most cost-effective sides, with Norwich’s £50,181 per point carrying them to third place.
As the rate of wages has increased dramatically, it has become increasingly difficult for clubs to maintain a cost-effective side.
In the first ten years of the league, the sum of the wages paid out by Manchester United was just under £296 million, with the average cost of a win being £1.2 million.
In contrast, over the last five years the club has paid out £988 million in wages, over a third of all the wages the club has paid in league history.
Meanwhile, the average cost of a win has leapt, with Man U paying an average of nearly £9.8 million per win during the same period, more than eight times the average in the first ten years.
Nonetheless, despite this dramatic rise in the cost per point over league history, the Blades’s ninth place finish has shown excellent coaching and management this season.
