Which Premier League club has spent the most money since Jurgen Klopp took over at Liverpool?

Seb Sternik
10 June 2022

Is Jurgen Klopp the transfer wheeling-dealing genius we all think he is, or have we all been bamboozled by Liverpool’s German mastermind? Here, we take a look at all the key numbers.

When Paul Pogba re-joined Manchester United from Juventus for a record transfer fee of £89million back in 2016, one of the first people to criticise the move was Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.

The German manager told the media: "Other clubs can go out and spend more money and collect top players, yes. But if you bring one player in for £100 million or whatever, and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney."

He then continued: "Do I have to do it differently to that? Actually, I want to do it differently. I would even do it differently if I could spend that money. I want a special team spirit - I don't feel it is necessary, I want it.

"The day that this is football, I'm not in a job anymore. Because the game is about playing together."

Klopp said he would do things differently and for years, his reputation has followed that notion. But is there any truth to it?

Liverpool fans will defend their manager to the death, but considering the club haven't been afraid to splash the cash in recent years, is it time to call Klopp, and the club, out on their supposed miserly ways?

To find out, we used Transfermarkt to determine which club has spent the most money on players since Klopp became Reds boss in October 2015.

The figures in this article relate to transfers made from the 2016 January window, all the way to the 2021/22 campaign.

Before we take a look at Liverpool though, here's a look at their main Premier League rivals.

Manchester City - £967million

Manchester City have been splashing the cash ever since the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased the club in 2008.

Interestingly, since the 2016/17 campaign, there has only been one season where City's expenditure didn't cross the nine-figure mark.

Last season, the Premier League champions spent £121million, although £100million alone went on England international Jack Grealish.

Since 2016, the single most expensive campaign for the Citizens was 2017/18 which saw the club invest an eyewatering £285million.

That year, City welcomed the likes of Aymeric Laporte (£58m), Benjamin Mendy (£51m), Kyle Walker (£47m), Bernardo Silva (£45m) and Ederson (£36m).

Chelsea - £912million

Next, we have Chelsea who arguably started the spending revolution in England following the arrival of Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich.

The former Blues owner was never shy when it came to digging deep into his pockets - a point exemplified by the fact Chelsea have had two seasons of expenditure which crossed the £200million mark since 2016 alone.

The first such campaign was in 2017/18, while the second, in 2020/21, saw Kai Havertz (£72m), Timo Werner (£47m), and Ben Chilwell (£45m) arrive at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester United - £830million

Paul Pogba's house was targetted by burglars during the Atletico Madrid match

Interestingly, five of Manchester United's top six most expensive signings have arrived in the Premier League since 2016. The aforementioned Pogba tops that list.

Another man on it is Jadon Sancho who, with a price tag of £76million, was the most expensive addition of the most recent campaign.

The year with the most expenditure though, was the 2019/20 season. The Red Devils splashed £211million on the likes of Harry Maguire (£78m), Bruno Fernandes (£56m) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£49m).

Arsenal - £692million

Arsenal's spending mirrors their standing in the Premier League - not good enough to compete for the title, but still better than most of the division.

In the season just gone, Arsenal made history by spending over £150million for the very first time. The additions of Ben White (£52m), Martin Odegaard (£31m) and Aaron Ramsdale (£25m) made up most of that outlay.

The 2019/20 and 2017/18 seasons also proved costly, with expenditure mounting up to £144million and £137million, respectively.

Tottenham - £518million

In life, you tend to get what you pay for. That's certainly the case for Tottenham who haven't won a trophy since 2008, but also didn't spend as much cash as their big rivals.

The most expensive campaign for Spurs since 2016 was 2019/20 when they splashed out £133million.

Tanguy Ndombele (£54m), Steven Bergwijn (£27m) and Ryan Sessegnon (£24m) were the three major signings of that season, but considering all three have seen their market value tumble, don't expect Spurs to see a return on their investment.

What about Liverpool?

Now that we know about Liverpool's main rivals, what about the Reds themselves?

Since joining the club in late 2015, Jurgen Klopp has spent £557million on players - with that number rising to £605million if you include contract clauses and extras.

Whichever figure you use, it's clear that Klopp has spent a little more than Tottenham, a little less than Arsenal, yet the German has led his team to a long list of historic achievements.

While the Liverpool boss has never been afraid to spend big - for instance on Virgil van Dijk (£75m), Alisson Becker (£65m) or most recently Luis Diaz (£50m) - his total level of expenditure doesn't come anywhere near the levels of Manchester United, Chelsea or Manchester City.

Returning to the original question of whether Klopp has been able to stick to his word and do things 'differently', the answer is unequivocal - it's an emphatic yes.