Manchester City's €878m squad the most expensive in history

London, February 12: Manchester City boast the most expensive squad in football history after spending €878million in the transfer market, according to new figures.

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A table published by the CIES Football Observatory shows Pep Guardiola's Premier League leaders have spent more than any other team in Europe's big five leagues, having made Aymeric Laporte their latest signing for a reported club-record fee of €65m in January.

De Bruyne for Ballon

City's investment eclipses that of Paris Saint-Germain, whose squad cost €805m, more than a quarter of which was spent on the world-record €222m deal to sign Neymar from Barcelona.

Manchester United are third in the list of the top 98 on €747m, ahead of Barcelona (€725m), Chelsea (€592m) and Real Madrid (€497m).

Squad recruitment cost (million euro) for @premierleague clubs: from @ManCity to @htafcdotcom; big-5 league data in last @CIES_Football Weekly Post at https://t.co/KA1Tpnadoq pic.twitter.com/BWQqvu1aUy

— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) February 12, 2018

There are six other clubs from the Premier League in the top 20, including Liverpool (€461m), Arsenal (€403m), Everton (€365m), Tottenham (€358m), Southampton (€229m) and Crystal Palace (€225m).

Indeed, spending in England's top flight averages out at a record €291m, well ahead of La Liga (€131m), Serie A (€124m), the Bundesliga (€113m) and Ligue 1 (€97m).

Squad recruitment cost (million euro, figures corrected not including players on loan) for @LaLiga clubs: from @FCBarcelona to @LevanteUD; big-5 league data in last @CIES_Football Weekly Post at https://t.co/KA1Tpnadoq pic.twitter.com/23jXYHIRu7

— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) February 12, 2018

In total, 42 clubs out of the 98 have broken the €100m barrier in recruitment cost, while Troyes prop up the table with just €2m spent.

The CIES Football Observatory is a research group within the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), an independent study centre located in Neuchatel, Switzerland.

These three all trained this morning at the CFA ahead of #fcbvcity! 😄 #mancity pic.twitter.com/7B7aD0w02a

— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 12, 2018

Source: OPTA