Highest ever squad costs of clubs promoted to Premier League – See where Newcastle United figure


 
 
 
 
 
 

Much was made of the cost of the Newcastle United squad that got promoted to the Premier League back in the 2016/17 season.

Rafa Benitez doing a great job to get United straight back up, after Mike Ashley managed a second relegation in just eight Premier League campaigns.

Mike Ashley, Lee Charnley, Steve McClaren and others creating a massive mess that was too far gone to recover from, by the time Benitez was brought in.

Rats such as Sissoko, Wijnaldum and Townsend deserted the sinking ship, whilst numerous others needed to be moved on, thankfully many of them set to be out of contract anyway.

A massive reconstruction needed to try and get promotion and Rafa Benitez brought in 12 players in total in summer 2016.

So how much did they and the existing players already at the club cost, that got Newcastle United promotion?

The case of Luton Town has prompted football business expert Swiss Ramble to compare the cost of their squad that won promotion last season, with those of all other clubs that have been promoted these past eight years.

As you can see, only one club has been promoted with a smaller squad cost than Luton’s £12m in the last eight years.

Remarkable, especially as Huddersfield’s was seven years earlier, promoted in the play-offs the same season as Newcastle (and Brighton) went up.

As for Rafa Benitez and NUFC, that 2016/17 playing squad had cost £147m to put together.

It was the highest at the time but since surpassed by four others.

Even allowing for inflation, the two Fulham squads (£197m and £187m) and the Watford one (£187m) surely still exceed the Newcastle United one by some distance.