The extent of over or underperformance against budget should be the critical KPI for clubs and prospective owners. Resources naturally vary from club to club, but performance relative to spend is within a club’s control, and a lead indicator of long-term results and the revenue multiple that underpins club valuations.

Big and small clubs can overachieve; our World Sports Rankings identifies Arsenal as the top division club with the largest overachievement relative to budget in the last two seasons. The club’s wage bill is modest relative to direct rivals, but they have consistently been the world’s second-best team, reflecting shrewd recruitment, use of academy players, and outstanding coaching.

To improve your league position, it’s almost always more cost-effective to increase investment in sporting operations rather than increase investment in players. The leading clubs in our Rankings do this and save millions relative to teams of a similar competitive standing.