Manchester City tops PSG, United, Barcelona for history's costliest squad

Paris - Premier League leaders Manchester City have the most expensive squad in history, according to a report published on Monday by the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory.

The research values Pep Guardiola's squad at €878 million, with Paris Saint-Germain second on €805 million, after a January transfer window in which City acquired centre-back Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for €65 million.

Neymar's world-record signing from Barcelona accounts for more than a quarter of the PSG total but Kylian Mbappe is only on loan, despite an anticipated transfer fee of up to €180 million to be paid to Monaco at the end of the season.

That leaves Guardiola managing the costliest-ever collection of talent.

"When you want to compete at the highest level, you need to spend," Guardiola said last month.

"Some clubs spend £300, £400 million on two players. We spend it on six players."

Two other teams have spent more than €700 million building their squads - Manchester United (€747 million) and Barcelona (€725 million).

The rest of the top ten is made up of Real Madrid in sixth, Juventus in eighth and four Premier League teams - Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton.

The researchers calculated that the average Premier League squad cost "a record high" of €291 million, more than double La Liga's average of €131 million.