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Premier League squad cost ratio table: no club's figure is published, so here are the inputs
No Premier League club's squad cost ratio is published. The revenue, staff costs and transfer amortisation for all 20 clubs, each with its year and source.
Footy Cap desk ·
No Premier League club's squad cost ratio has been published. The league sets each club's limits from revenue figures agreed with the club before the season, and we have found no club that publishes its own ratio (Premier League).
The only official numbers come from UEFA, under its separate 70% rule. It found that Aston Villa, Chelsea, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest were over the line in the 2025 calendar year (UEFA). What anyone can check are the inputs, so below are the three that matter for all 20 clubs, each with its year and source.
What the ratio counts
Squad cost is player and head-coach wages, agents' fees, and the amortisation and impairment of transfer fees. It is measured against football revenue plus net profit or loss on player sales. Admin and commercial staff are left out, and so are assistant coaches (Premier League).
Up to 85% is the Green Threshold. A club still above it once its accounts are checked can face a levy, from 2027/28. The Red Threshold starts at 115%. A club over it on 1 March loses six points, plus one more for every £6.5m over the line (Premier League).
Why the accounts cannot give you the number
Club accounts print staff costs for everyone on the payroll, from the striker to the ticket office. That all-staff line is the one every club files, so it is the one in our table. Revenue in the accounts is not the league's figure either. The league and each club agree estimated football revenue before the season, and promoted clubs get an uplift because their latest accounts are from the Championship (Premier League).
So every published "SCR" for a Premier League club is someone's estimate. Matchday Finance assumes football wages are 75% of staff costs (Matchday Finance), and PSRwatch makes the same assumption (PSRwatch). For Chelsea the estimates run from about 82% (PSRwatch) and 83% (Matchday Finance) to 92.5% at The Orange Ledger (Orange Ledger). That gap is the reason our club pages leave headroom blank.
Premier League 2026/27: squad cost inputs from each club's latest accounts
| Club | Accounts to | Revenue | Staff costs (all staff) | Player amortisation | Staff costs ÷ revenue (our calc) | Official SCR | Footy Cap grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | May 2025 | £691m | £347m | £172m | 50.2% | not published | B (67.3) |
| Aston Villa | Jun 2025 | £378m | £273m | £100m | 72.2% | not published; UEFA: 80-90% in 2024, above 70% in 2025 | B (66.5) |
| Bournemouth | Jun 2025 | £182m | £158m | £69m | 86.8% | not published | B (69.0) |
| Brentford | Jun 2025 | £173m | £131m | £48m | 75.6% | not published | B (68.5) |
| Brighton | Jun 2025 | £222m | £164m | £82m | 73.9% | not published | D (40.0) |
| Chelsea | Jun 2025 | £491m | £359m | £214m | 73.1% | not published; UEFA: 80-90% in 2024, above 70% in 2025 | B (73.7) |
| Crystal Palace | Jun 2025 | £195m | £145m | £54m | 74.5% | not published | C (52.0) |
| Everton | Jun 2025 | £197m | £152m | £51m | 77.3% | not published | C (51.3) |
| Fulham | Jun 2025 | £195m | £167m | £62m | 85.7% | not published | C (52.2) |
| Leeds United* | Jun 2025 | £137m | £103m | £46m | 75.0% | not published | B (71.5) |
| Liverpool | May 2025 | £703m | £428m | £117m | 60.9% | not published | A (82.6) |
| Manchester City | Jun 2025 | £694m | £408m | £170m | 58.8% | not published | B (74.2) |
| Manchester United | Jun 2026 | £678m | £302m | £212m | 44.6% | not published | C (56.3) |
| Newcastle United | Jun 2025 | £335m | £243m | £100m | 72.5% | not published; UEFA: above 70% in 2025 | B (72.4) |
| Nottingham Forest | Jun 2025 | £222m | £167m | £74m (incl. impairment) | 75.2% | not published; UEFA: above 70% in 2025 | C (56.7) |
| Sunderland* | Jul 2025 | £39m | £53m | £10m | 134.2% | not published | D (45.9) |
| Tottenham | Jun 2025 | £565m | £256m | £142m | 45.3% | not published | C (56.2) |
| Coventry City* | May 2025 | £34m | £26m | £14m | 77.5% | not published | F (22.0) |
| Hull City* | Jun 2025 | £26m | £37m | £10m | 142.0% | not published | F (23.2) |
| Ipswich Town | Jun 2025 | £155m | £77m | £30m | 49.6% | not published | B (73.6) |
Each figure links to where we took it from. Revenue, staff costs and amortisation are from each club's most recent filed accounts, as read by PSRwatch from Companies House filings, except Chelsea and Brighton (Matchday Finance, Matchday Finance), Nottingham Forest (revenue and staff costs Salary Sport, amortisation Matchday Finance) and Manchester United (club results, year to 30 June 2026). Rounded to £1m; percentages use unrounded figures where we hold them. Matchday Finance puts Tottenham's amortisation at £147m (Matchday Finance) against PSRwatch's £142m; we show the lower figure and flag the gap. * Accounts cover a Championship season. Staff costs ÷ revenue is our division of the cited figures, not a squad cost ratio. Official SCR: the Premier League publishes none; UEFA lines are from its July 2025 and June 2026 decisions and use UEFA's own calendar-year measure. Grades from Footy Cap's method.
What the inputs show
Staff costs alone take more than 85% of revenue at two clubs before a penny of amortisation: Bournemouth (86.8%) and Fulham (85.7%). Both figures include non-playing staff, so neither shows a breach. They do show how little room those clubs have once transfer costs go on top.
Amortisation is where the big spenders stand out. Chelsea booked £214m in 2024/25 and Manchester United £211.8m in 2025/26 (Matchday Finance; Manchester United). Liverpool, with the biggest revenue in the division, booked £117m.
Manchester United have the lowest staff-cost share in the table at 44.6%, a figure the club prints itself (Manchester United). They are also the only club in the table whose 2025/26 accounts are out.
Sunderland (134.2%) and Hull (142.0%) look alarming, but their accounts cover Championship seasons on Championship income. Their SCR revenue will be the league's adjusted estimate, which has not been published.
The UEFA numbers
UEFA fined Aston Villa €22.5m, €15m of it conditional, and limited new registrations on its 2026/27 List A. Chelsea were fined €3m (€2m conditional), Newcastle €3m and Forest €2.5m. Villa and Chelsea were credited for bringing their ratios down from 2024 (UEFA). A year earlier UEFA said both clubs' 2024 ratios sat between 80% and 90% (UEFA). Neither UEFA nor the clubs have published an exact figure.
Newcastle also signed a three-year settlement under UEFA's football earnings rule: €10m, €7m of it conditional (UEFA).
The league around it
The 20 clubs of 2024/25 turned over £6.8bn and lost £795m before tax between them. Asset sales to sister companies at Newcastle, Villa and Everton made that loss smaller than it would have been (Matchday Finance). Amortisation, £1,954m that year, counts in full as squad cost. Of the £4.4bn wage line, only players' and head coaches' pay does.
The Premier League's financial picture, 2024/25 (the 20 clubs in that season)
| Revenue | £6,809m (Matchday Finance) |
| Salaries and wages | about £4.4bn, all staff; 64.6% of revenue on our calculation (Matchday Finance) |
| Player amortisation | £1,954m (Matchday Finance) |
| Net debt | £3.77bn of loans net of cash; gross loans £1.4bn from related parties and £3bn from third parties. Net transfer fees owed: £2.2bn (Matchday Finance) |
| Net transfer spend, 3 seasons | about £5.28bn on our sum: £2.3bn (2022/23), £1.6bn (2023/24), £1.38bn (2024/25) (Matchday Finance) |
| Profit / loss | combined pre-tax loss of £795m (Matchday Finance) |
| Footy Cap league grade | C (average 58.8) across the 20 clubs in the 2026/27 league: 1 A, 9 B, 6 C, 2 D, 2 F |
| Spending rule | SCR in force from 2026/27: 85% Green Threshold, Red Threshold starting at 115%, tested on 1 March; levies from 2027/28 (Premier League). Clubs' ratios and headroom: not published |
League totals cover the 2024/25 division, which included Leicester, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves, none of whom are in it now, so they are not the sum of the table above. The 64.6% and the three-season total are our arithmetic on Matchday Finance's figures.
How the 85% and 115% lines work is in our squad cost ratio explainer. Each club's inputs are on its page, and the whole division is on the Premier League report card.
Sources
- Premier League: new financial system explained (21 Jul 2026)
- UEFA: finalisation of club monitoring for the 2025/26 season (30 Jun 2026)
- UEFA: CFCB First Chamber decisions for the 2024/25 season (4 Jul 2025)
- Matchday Finance: Premier League financial results 2024/25
- Matchday Finance: Chelsea financial results 2024/25
- Matchday Finance: Brighton & Hove Albion financial results 2024/25
- Matchday Finance: Nottingham Forest financial results 2024/25
- Matchday Finance: Tottenham Hotspur financial results 2024/25
- Manchester United plc: fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2026 results (23 Sep 2026)
- Salary Sport: Premier League club finances and accounts
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Arsenal
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Aston Villa
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Bournemouth
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Brentford
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Crystal Palace
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Everton
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Fulham
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Leeds United
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Liverpool
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Manchester City
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Newcastle United
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Sunderland
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Tottenham Hotspur
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Coventry City
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Hull City
- PSRwatch: 2024/25 accounts explained, Ipswich Town
- PSRwatch: Chelsea squad-cost estimate
- The Orange Ledger: Chelsea's squad cost ratio
Footy Cap does not forecast. Figures are as published on the dates shown; where our pages and a source differ, we say so above.
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