How Arsenal compare to Chelsea, Tottenham, and rivals in PL transfer overspend table

Premier League clubs are not averse to spending exorbitant amounts of money on new players.

Transfer fees continue to creep up year on year, with little sign of them slowing down any time soon.

For the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur, recruitment represents some of their most notable expenditure - but are they getting good value for their money?

Stats gurus at CIES Football Observatory have crunched the numbers on every Premier League side’s fee-paying transfers since July 2012 and compared them to the estimated market value of the players involved to determine by how much each top flight club has overspent.

Deals concluded by triggering buy-out or option-to-buy clauses were not included in the sample analysed.

But which clubs have conducted the least savvy business?

Check out the full standings from first to 20th below...

*All figures in Euros.

1. Manchester United

Spend: €1,594M

Estimated value of players bought: €1,356M

Overspend: +€238M

Percentage overspend: +18%

2. Aston Villa

Spend: €577M

Estimated value of players bought: €428M

Overspend: +€149M

Percentage overspend: +35%

3. Chelsea

Spend: €1,334M

Estimated value of players bought: €1,199M

Overspend: +€135M

Percentage overspend: +11%

4. Arsenal

Spend: €980M

Estimated value of players bought: €851M

Overspend: +€129M

Percentage overspend: +15%

5. Everton

Spend: €747M

Estimated value of players bought: €650M

Overspend: +€97M

Percentage overspend: +15%

6. Newcastle United

Spend: €609M

Estimated value of players bought: €533M

Overspend: +€76M

Percentage overspend: +14%

7. Leicester City

Spend: €471M

Estimated value of players bought: €397M

Overspend: +€74M

Percentage overspend: +19%

8. Southampton

Spend: €467M

Estimated value of players bought: €397M

Overspend: +€70M

Percentage overspend: +18%

9. Liverpool

Spend: €1,004M

Estimated value of players bought: €948M

Overspend: +€56M

Percentage overspend: +6%

10. West Ham

Spend: €650M

Estimated value of players bought: €595M

Overspend: +€55M

Percentage overspend: +9%

11. Bournemouth

Spend: €297M

Estimated value of players bought: €245M

Overspend: +€52M

Percentage overspend: +22%25

12. Crystal Palace

Spend: €316M

Estimated value of players bought: €266M

Overspend: +€50M

Percentage overspend: +19%

13. Fulham

Spend: €303M

Estimated value of players bought: €258M

Overspend: +€45M

Percentage overspend: +17%

14. Nottingham Forest

Spend: €244M

Estimated value of players bought: €206M

Overspend: +€38M

Percentage overspend: +18%

15. Brentford

Spend: €154M

Estimated value of players bought: €117M

Overspend: +€37M

Percentage overspend: +32%

16. Leeds United

Spend: €279M

Estimated value of players bought: €243M

Overspend: +€36M

Percentage overspend: +15%

17. Manchester City

Spend: €1,180M

Estimated value of players bought: €1,157M

Overspend: +€23M

Percentage overspend: +2%

18. Brighton & Hove Albion

Spend: €313M

Estimated value of players bought: €314M

Overspend: -€1M

Percentage overspend: -0%

19. Tottenham Hotspur

Spend: €951M

Estimated value of players bought: €957M

Overspend: -€6M

Percentage overspend: -1%

20. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Spend: €305M

Estimated value of players bought: €326M

Overspend: -€21M

Percentage overspend: -7%