As part of the vitriol directed our way this week after our performance at Southampton, are quotes such as us having "by far the strongest squad in the country" actually true? Comparing our current 26 man squad with the Rags, there is hardly any difference in overall cost (around £300m) and I would say they have more options in midfield, although they did spend over £130m to get this. They also spent more on their defence than us (£76m v £72m) although I think we got better value here.
Figures (£m) are taken from official sources where possible and exclude RSC, Bridge and Kolo who will never play for us again. Actually, adjusting the millions spent on Rooney, Ferdinand and Carrick for the transfer inflation that has occurred since then, our current squad actually costs less in real terms.
MCFC
Joe Hart 1.5
Costel Pantilimon 3
Joleon Lescott 22
Matija Nastasić 12
Karim Rekik 0
Vincent Kompany 6
Micah Richards 0
Gaël Clichy 7
Pablo Zabaleta 6
Maicon 3
Aleks Kolarov 16
Javi García 16
Gareth Barry 12
Jack Rodwell 12
Abdul Razak 0
Yaya Touré 24
James Milner 16
Samir Nasri 25
David Silva 24
Denis Suárez 1
Scott Sinclair 6
Marcos Lopes 0
Carlos Tévez 25
Sergio Agüero 38
Edin Džeko 27
John Guidetti 0
Total £302.5m
Rags
David de Gea 17
Anders Lindegaard 3.5
Jonny Evans 0
Phil Jones 16.5
Chris Smalling 12
Rio Ferdinand 30
Patrice Evra 5.5
Nemanja Vidic 7
Alexander Buttner 4
Rafael da Silva 2.6
Michael Carrick 18.5
Darren Fletcher 0
Tom Cleverley 0
Anderson 20
Ryan Giggs 0
Paul Scholes 0
Nani 21
Ashley Young 20
Antonio Valencia 16
Nick Powell 6
Shinji Kagawa 17
Wilfried Zaha 15
Wayne Rooney 30
Robin van Persie 24
Javier Hernandez 10
Danny Welbeck 0
Total 295.6m
Figures (£m) are taken from official sources where possible and exclude RSC, Bridge and Kolo who will never play for us again. Actually, adjusting the millions spent on Rooney, Ferdinand and Carrick for the transfer inflation that has occurred since then, our current squad actually costs less in real terms.
MCFC
Joe Hart 1.5
Costel Pantilimon 3
Joleon Lescott 22
Matija Nastasić 12
Karim Rekik 0
Vincent Kompany 6
Micah Richards 0
Gaël Clichy 7
Pablo Zabaleta 6
Maicon 3
Aleks Kolarov 16
Javi García 16
Gareth Barry 12
Jack Rodwell 12
Abdul Razak 0
Yaya Touré 24
James Milner 16
Samir Nasri 25
David Silva 24
Denis Suárez 1
Scott Sinclair 6
Marcos Lopes 0
Carlos Tévez 25
Sergio Agüero 38
Edin Džeko 27
John Guidetti 0
Total £302.5m
Rags
David de Gea 17
Anders Lindegaard 3.5
Jonny Evans 0
Phil Jones 16.5
Chris Smalling 12
Rio Ferdinand 30
Patrice Evra 5.5
Nemanja Vidic 7
Alexander Buttner 4
Rafael da Silva 2.6
Michael Carrick 18.5
Darren Fletcher 0
Tom Cleverley 0
Anderson 20
Ryan Giggs 0
Paul Scholes 0
Nani 21
Ashley Young 20
Antonio Valencia 16
Nick Powell 6
Shinji Kagawa 17
Wilfried Zaha 15
Wayne Rooney 30
Robin van Persie 24
Javier Hernandez 10
Danny Welbeck 0
Total 295.6m