Top 20 Ranking of English Premier League Teams with the Most Expensive Substitutes Bench

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Echoing with my Top 10 List of Europe’s Most Expensive Benchwarmers (2007-08) article, this week the Daily Mail thought about taking a look at the added values of players selected on the substitute bench, for last week-end’s English Premier League matches. Or, in other words: “How expensive was your team’s bench at the weekend”? The results are pretty frightening.

According to the Mail, “players who cost their clubs a total of £300.5m (€416m) in fees —including 58 internationals— were on the bench in last weekend’s 10 top-flight games. Shivering stuff. And those figures do not take into account Bosman free transfers or the value of players developed by a club’s youth system!!

ChelseaThe Mail‘s article points the spotlight to Sunderland’s Craig Gordon (tagged as the “most expensive goalkeeper in Britain” with his £9million (€12.4m) transfer), who was named among the substitutes for the game against Derby. Meanwhile the combined cost of Chelsea‘s replacements for the visit of West Ham reached a huge £67.6m (€93.6m) (that’s Sheva (£30m), Wright-Phillips (£21m), and Makelele (16.6m)… Hilario and Ben Haim were bought on a free transfer).

LiverpoolSecond in the rankings we find Liverpool, who totalled £37.5m (€52m) with their superstar benchees Javier Mascherano and Ryan Babel, while completing the podium, none other than Manchester United (£34m, or €48m, with their Michael Carricks and Louis Sahas). Reading were the only club without an international among their subsititutes, while Bolton were the only club whose replacements did not cost a transfer fee.

Man UtdThe Mail‘s article concludes on a nostalgic note: “How times have changed. In the first season of the Premier League (when only three subs were permitted), the bench at most clubs was populated by a combination of young emerging players, journeymen pros and and cheap squad players — with the occasional big-money signing returning to full fitness. These days it is not uncommon for a former European Footballer of the year, World Cup winner or Britain’s most expensive teenager to be on the sidelines“.

Here’s the full ranking:

.
Rank
.
Club
Total
Chelsea
1
CHELSEA
£67.6m
Shevchenko — £30m; Wright-Phillips — £21m; Makelele — £16.6m; Hilario — free; Ben Haim — Bosman free
Liverpool
2
LIVERPOOL
£37.5m
Mascherano — £17m; Babel — £11.5m; Kuyt — £9m; Hobbs — nominal fee; Itandje — free
Man Utd
3
MANCHESTER UNITED
£34.8m
Carrick — £18.6m; Saha — £12.2m; Kuzsczak — £4m; Fletcher — youth team; O’Shea — youth team
Arsenal
4
ARSENAL
£19.0m
Walcott — £12m; Gilberto — £4.5m; Senderos — £2.5m; Lehmann — free; Bendtner — nominal fee
Tottenham
5
TOTTENHAM
£16.6m
Defoe — £7m; Boateng — £5.8m; Huddlestone — £2.5m; Lee — £1.3m; Cerny — free
Sunderland
6
SUNDERLAND
£16.0m
Gordon — £9m; Chopra — £5m; Stokes — £2m; Miller — free; Harte — free
Aston Villa
7
ASTON VILLA
£13.0m
Davies — £8m; Harewood — £4m; Maloney — £1m; Berger — free; Taylor — free
Everton
8
EVERTON
£12.6m
Johnson — £8.6m; Jagielka — £4m; Wessels — free; Hibbert — youth team; Anichebe — youth team
Newcastle
9
NEWCASTLE
£12.3m
Enrique — £6.5m; Emre — £3.8m; Carr — £2m; Harper — nominal fee; Viduka — Bosman free
West Ham
10
WEST HAM
£11.75m
Ashton — £7.25m; Ljungberg — £3m; Collins £1m; Spector £0.5m; Wright — free
Man City
11
MANCHESTER CITY
£11.4m
Bianchi — £8.8m; Jihai — £2m; Hart — £0.6m; Etuhu — youth team; Ball — free
Blackburn
12
BLACKBURN
£10.0m
Savage — £3m; Roberts — £3m; Reid — £2.5m; Pedersen — £1.5m; Brown — Bosman free
Birmingham
13
BIRMINGHAM
£8.6m
Kapo — £3m; Forssell — £3m; O’Connor — £2.6m; Parnaby — Bosman free; Doyle — youth team
Portsmouth
14
PORTSMOUTH
£6.4m
Nugent — £6m; Taylor — £0.4m; Kanu — free; Ashdown — nominal fee; Hreidarsson — free
Middlesbrough
15
MIDDLESBROUGH
£6.0m
Huth — £6m; Cattermole — youth team; Tuncay — Bosman free; Steele — youth team; Hutchinson — youth team
Derby County
16
DERBY COUNTY
£5.6m
Earnshaw — £3.5m; Mears — £1m; Fagan — £0.75m; Leacock — £0.375m; Price — nominal fee
Fulham
17
FULHAM
£5.5m
Baird — £3m; Healy — £1.5m; Warner — nominal fee; Bocanegra — free; Seol — £1m
Wigan
18
WIGAN
£3.7m
Cotterill — £2m; Taylor — £0.75m; Pollitt — £0.2m; Granqvist — £0.75; Skoko — free
Reading
19
READING
£2.1m
Cissé — £0.6m; Long — £0.5; Bikey — nominal fee; Federici — youth team; Rosenior — £1m
Bolton
20
BOLTON
£0.0m
Stelios; Al Habsi; Wilhelmsson; Teymourian; Alonso — all Bosman free transfers



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Posted in English Premiership, Money/Finance in Soccer |

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  • 3 Responses to “Top 20 Ranking of English Premier League Teams with the Most Expensive Substitutes Bench”

    1. Andrei says:

      I do not see much wrong with having an expensive bench since it could mean one of two things:

      1) homegrown or cheaper players are doing a good job to keep those milti-milion players out of the team – that is a good thing, right?
      2) good players are so attracted to this league that, rather than play week-in week-out at Lazio for example, they would rather sit on the bench at the likes of Tottenham

      either of these makes the Premier League stronger than other leagues. After all we I rather see Anderson come off the bench than O’Shea.

    2. Ian says:

      I have said before that this new concept of an expensive bench is down to Chelsea. You don´t need to compare with the beginning of the premiership; just compare with about 5 years ago. Even last year I remember Man Utd having a bench comprising 5 of Kuzsczak, O’Shea, Richardson, Eagles, Fletcher, Brown, Solskjaer, Park. All 8 of those cost about 6M (Kuzsczak was on loan then).

      These days to compete with Chelsea (or to play against a rested Milan) you need to bring on players who are 1st team standard. Fergie knows this, Benitez knows this, Wenger knows this. Back in the 90s it wasn´t necessary. You could live with Jordi Cruyff, Luke Chadwick, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville on the bench. Yes times have changed.

    3. Andy Gultom says:

      An unique posting, although it seems relatively depends on the way of team managed their players.

      Sometimes shevchenko dont have to play against weak team, in order to rotate or replaced by some young players. Or in other case, due to different style of opponents, expensive players didnt have to play, cause team needs more hardworking efforts, than just individual technique.