Harry Diamond
Manchester United remain top of the Premier League’s money league, though the club’s position as England’s number one side is at risk from rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.
Barcelona top the Deloitte rankings for the first time ahead of La Liga rivals Real Madrid, though it is Premier League sides who dominate once more with eight sides featuring in the top 20 earning clubs in world football.
Deloitte’s Football Money League once again has Manchester United ranked as the highest-earning Premier League club, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side third overall in this year’s list with earnings of £627.1m.
The Red Devils have been the highest-earning English side since the money league was first created in the mid-nineties, but are at risk of being overtaken by Man City (sixth, £538.2m) and Liverpool (seventh, £533m) should they once again fail to secure Champions League football this season.
The recent successes of their north-west rivals has seen the financial gap close over the past few seasons, and another successful campaign mixed with a predicted fall in United’s annual revenue could see a new side emerge as England’s number one.
“Manchester United have been the top English club since we started the Money League but that could come under a bit of pressure when we do it in 2021,” Dan Jones of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte told Sky Sports.
“That will cover this season when Liverpool are having a tremendous season on the pitch, so we think there’s a possibility of United losing that number one position.
“Part of that will ride on how the rest of this season goes, if City or Liverpool go deep into the Champions League.
“It is definitely a possibility that United will lose that place. Depending on where they are in that range of projected revenue (£560-580m), and if City and Liverpool do well in the Champions League, it could be very, very close.
“If you think about where we were 10 years ago, the idea that City would overhaul United in financial terms would have seemed far-fetched.”
It’s no secret that the Premier League as a whole enjoys a significant financial advantage over every other division, with eight English sides among the 20 highest earners, West Ham and Everton joining the traditional ‘big six’, while Leicester sit just outside the top 20 in 22nd.
TOP 20
1 – Barcelona £741.1m
2 – Real Madrid £667.5m
3 – Manchester United £627.1m
4 – Bayern Munich £581.8m
5 – Paris St-Germain £560.5m
6 – Manchester City £538.2m
7 – Liverpool £533m
8 – Tottenham £459.3m
9 – Chelsea £452.2m
10 – Juventus £405.2m
11 – Arsenal £392.7m
12 – Borussia Dortmund £332.4m
11 – Atletico Madrid £324m
14 – Inter Milan £321.3m
15 – Schalke £286.3m
16 – Roma £203.6m
17 – Lyon £194.6m
18 – West Ham £190.7m
19 – Everton £187.7m
20 – Napoli £182.8m
Read – Arteta impresses during start to Arsenal reign, but old issues run deep
See also – Rating the five youngest players to make 200 appearances for Manchester United