How much does AFC Bournemouth’s squad cost compare to all other Championship sides?

Scott Parker’s team lead 3rd place Huddersfield Town by four points while also having two games in hand over the Terriers.

The Cherries have the same amount of games left as high-flying Nottingham Forest in 5th place, with both set to play five more times this season, but Bournemouth lead the Reds by seven points.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, known for the Price of Football podcast, has detailed the figures behind the 24 Championship sides this season.

That has made for an easy way to compare the general budgets used by each team in the competition to get an idea of where the competitive balance lies in the second tier of English football.

The overall cost of the squads in the Championship amounts to £1.193 billion, which is a remarkable figure for a second tier competition.

However, a third of that figure is made up of just two teams, with Fulham leading the way both in the league standings and in the cost of their squad.

But Bournemouth are not far behind, with an estimated cost of almost £200m to assemble Parker’s team.

If we compare that to the Cherries’ previously mentioned rivals for promotion we can see that they have spent a significant amount more than Huddersfield or Forest.

Carlos Corberan’s side cost a meagre £17.2 million to assemble, which is easily dwarfed by the spend of Bournemouth.

Forest’s squad has cost a slightly higher £30.8 million to put together.

But Bournemouth’s figure is higher than both of those teams combined, in fact it is four times more expensive than if both their promotion rivals had a combined spend.

The Cherries have been helped out significantly due to the parachute payments that they received following their relegation from the Premier League two seasons ago.

However,