Net spend isn't the best to judge by though as you get lottery wins like Coutinho or Bale. We got two world class players for one sub world class player that brought us from top 4 to title challenging. They got half a team from Bale that brought them from a top ten club to consistent top four. If you look at wages they've done exceptionally well but they've also got half the team going into the final contract year at the end of the season. They're a house of cards built on sand at the moment and could quite easily do a Leeds.
Michel Vorm – 2019
Toby Alderweireld – 2020
Jan Vertonghen – 2020
Danny Rose – 2021
Ben Davies – 2021
Eric Dier - 2021
Victor Wanyama – 2021
Christian Eriksen – 2020
Moussa Sissoko – 2021
Fernando Llorente - 2019
I disagree with the bolded.
All clubs have assets they can choose to keep or sell. Klopp, against the wishes of nearly every fan of LFC, chose, in his infinite wisdom, to sell Coutinho to Barca for 140m. Poch could have sold Sir Harold of Kaneshire to the red Mancs for about 120-150m and reinvested. But chose not too.
Some teams buy 30y/o ill-fitting super-stars on huge contracts, others hang on to shite players on huge contracts for too long, whilst some let their most valuable assets run down their contracts. Some do all three resulting in a huge net spend.
Some hang on to their most saleable assets for as long as they can and end up having nothing to spend. Other teams turn "average" players into world-beaters and sell them to reinvest.
Some buy the best player they can for every position, and the second best player they can for every position, and when they're not happy with them, buy the new best player for every position. And, most importantly, flaunt financial regulations and tax laws in the process. Because they are funded by oil-states with limitless funds.
It's not random. It's how they choose to do it.
