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Cheapest squad to build
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Sunderland have been the surprise package of the Premier League season but they face the ultimate test on this evening against title favourites Arsenal. The Mackems secured promotion to the English top-flight in dramatic fashion last season, with Tom Watson scoring an injury-time winner in the Championship play-off final.
Naturally, the expectation was that Sunderland would face a difficult task to avoid the drop as the previous six promoted teams have all been relegated in the following season. Sunderland, however, invested heavily this summer and they’ve recruited brilliantly to defy expectations. Ahead of matchday 11, Régis Le Bris’ men occupied fourth position and they are statistically the best performing Premier League side this season, based on the cost of assembling squads.
Are Sunderland the best performing Premier League club?
While the league table is the best indicator of a club’s performances on the pitch, here at Transfermarkt we track plenty of data that can also show whether the top-flight clubs are making the most of the money they have spent in the transfer market or are simply wasting their budgets on players that aren’t up to the necessary standard. By calculating the total cost of each Premier League squad based on the initial transfer fees paid for each player and dividing that by the points won in the Premier League this season, we can compile the cost per point table.
And as the graphic above illustrates, Sunderland occupy top spot having spent the least on transfer fees per point at €11m. Remarkably, the Mackems squad cost the least to assemble of all Premier League clubs at €205.63m but they’ve accumulated 18 points - level with reigning champions Liverpool. The two other promoted clubs - Leeds and Burnley - feature in the top five with Crystal Palace ranking second. Sunderland were the tenth biggest spenders in the world across the summer window (€188 million) and owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus recently admitted that was a necessity in their quest to remain in the Premier League.
“I think the stats showed us that unless you do something extraordinary you're likely going to go back to the Championship,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “For us, we didn't really set ourselves a budget in terms of the money we want to spend - we had an ambition to try and bring in the players we want and fortunately a lot of the deals we wanted to do we were able to conclude them, and as a result of that the spend in the end was big, but most importantly we got the players that we wanted.”
Sunderland’s recruitment in the summer was outstanding with the club hierarchy adding a blend of promising talents and experience. Granit Xhaka has proved an inspired addition with the former Arsenal midfielder immediately installed as captain and he’s a talismanic figure. They enjoyed great success from the French market with Habib Diarra and Nordi Mukiele already key players. Noah Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi and Robin Roefs possess huge potential and the future looks bright. Realistically, Sunderland will drop down the table as the season progresses but it would be a massive surprise if they become engulfed in a relegation battle.
