The profits made from player sales for the Premier League’s ‘big six’ since 2015/16

Manchester United endured a disastrous 2021/22 season, slumping to a sixth place finish despite holding hopes of a title charge at the beginning of the campaign.

While Manchester City and Liverpool again led the pack and Chelsea finished third, United fell behind once more, with long-term issues with how the club has been run seemingly rearing their ugly head.

Appointing Ralf Rangnick to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on an interim basis did not improve results and the squad’s on-pitch performances as hoped. Instead, the only positive from what looks like an increasingly confusing decision is that Rangnick has forced the club into an audit and reset ahead of Erik ten Hag’s arrival.

For the Premier League‘s ‘big six’, money is no object. That means they can sign who they like, when they like, in order to try and keep their club at the top of the pyramid. However, being able to spend money doesn’t guarantee success.

The onus on running a football club efficiently and not putting the brand first is only becoming more and more important, because it’s so often done wrong. The age old comeback to United’s mismanagement is that they have spent money, so there is nothing to complain about regarding their recent failures.

The same can be said for Chelsea and Tottenham, who have never been afraid to splash the cash to try and reach the top, while Arsenal have also tried desperately to assert themselves once again.

But when we look at how these clubs have performed in recent years, it’s clear to see that their spending doesn’t align with their subsequent fortunes.

In a bid to represent this difference in how the big six operate, a Reddit user produced a graph using data to highlight each of the clubs’ total profit from player sales,