Comparing Liverpool and Man City’s net spend since Arne Slot was appointed | OneFootball

Liverpool‘s huge spending spree over the summer has generated plenty of noise and chatter from fans of rival clubs.

But how does their investment in players compare to their competitors Manchester City if you take a wider look at their overall outlay under Arne Slot?

“There is so much focus on our new signings, especially from pundits that favour some other clubs in the country that cannot stop talking about £450million,” Slot told reporters in September.

“I repeat, £450million, £450million! But they forget about [nearly] £300million that we have sold [players] for. So, yes, if we want to strengthen the squad we need to spend that much money.”

Slot remained composed as he addressed the debate over Liverpool’s spending, insisting the figures were being taken out of context.

The Dutchman framed the Reds’ summer rebuild as part of a long-term plan rather than a reaction to rivals’ moves.

“I think it is only a compliment that people tell everyone we have spent so much because that tells you the players we brought in are seen as very good players,” the Dutchman added.

“Some other teams prefer to bring in 27-year-olds because they are ready, but we think we have brought in players who are 21, 22 [and] who are ready.

“I think all the money we have spent we generated ourselves by selling, and by winning the league after we didn’t buy anyone at all.”

Arne Slot’s predecessor Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, admitted he was surprised by the scale of Liverpool’s outlay.

His tone was reflective rather than critical, acknowledging that times had clearly changed since his tenure.

“I had no clue that this is possible,” Klopp said on his recent appearance on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast.

“Nobody ever told me that it’s possible that we can spend like that.

“My last year at Liverpool, we obviously (had) the Adidas deal, the new stadium, all these kind of things – they earn more money. But never ever I could have asked for that amount of money, but that’s not a problem. In that time it was not there, no problem at all.”

Here’s how Liverpool and Man City’s net spend compares since Slot succeeded Klopp at Anfield:

Liverpool

Only Chelsea (to the tune of approximately £600million) have spent more on new recruits than Liverpool since Slot arrived in the summer of 2024.

But that’s in large part down to the Blues’ head-spinningly busy approach in the transfer market under Todd Boehly, with no fewer than 67 players signed in that time.

Chelsea have also generated the most in player sales (about £500million) – offloading 57 players in that time.

Liverpool’s business, by contrast, has been a little more orthodox. Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United have a greater overall net spend since the summer ’24 window, but almost all of the Reds’ notable expenditure and income took place this summer.

Modest signing Federico Chiesa (£12.5million) was Liverpool’s only first-team addition ahead of winning the title last season, turning a profit after offloading fringe players Sepp van den Berg and Fabio Carvalho.

Whereas this summer they’ve spent around £450million on marquee additions including Alexander Isak (for a Premier League record fee), Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, with not inconsiderable sums invested on Giorgi Mamardashvili, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni.

But, as Slot was keen to point out, they’ve also recouped approximately £200million on the likes of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Jarell Quansah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Manchester City

City’s net spend is about £20million less than Liverpool’s over the past three transfer windows.

Like Liverpool, City actually turned a profit last summer. They raised over £100million by selling Julian Alvarez, Joao Cancelo and Taylor Harwood-Bellis and only spent about £25million on adding Savinho to Pep Guardiola’s squad of reigning champions.

After the season-ending injury suffered by Rodri and a major wobble in form, City then went out and spent close to £200million in the winter window, bringing in Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.

They continued their rebuild in the summer, adding Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, James Trafford and Gianluigi Donnarumma for well over £150million.

City did recoup some money by selling James McAtee, Yan Couto, Ederson and Maximo Perrone, but treble-winning veterans Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker left on free transfers, while Jack Grealish and Manuel Akanji were only loaned out.