Chelsea's squad, at the end of the 2024 financial year, was the most expensive ever assembled in Europe in terms of transfer fees, according to a report released by UEFA, the governing body.

The ‘European Club Finance and Investment Landscape’ report said Chelsea spent 1.656 billion Euros (1.79 billion US Dollars) on combined transfer costs.

The amount surpassed the value of Manchester United’s squad in 2023, which cost 1.42 billion Euros to assemble, and the 1.33 billion Euros spent by Real Madrid, the highest squad cost in 2020.

Chelsea has signed 41 players since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club in 2022, but the West London club’s big-money transfers have not translated to significant on-field success, as Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League last season and is currently fifth.

According to the report which analyses all of Europe’s top divisions, Real Madrid (1,073 million Euros), Manchester City (854 million Euros), Paris St Germain (808 million Euros), Manchester United (771 million Euros) and Bayern Munich (765 million Euros) had the highest revenues in 2023.

The Premier League has nine teams among the top 20 earning clubs, with an average revenue of 357 million Euros. 

Spain’s La Liga was second with revenues of 3.7 billion Euros, with Germany’s Bundesliga (3.6 billion Euros), Italy’s Serie-A (2.9 billion Euros) and France’s Ligue-1 (2.4 billion Euros) rounding out the top five.