Newcastle United’s squad is valued at £147million, according to new stats from the CIES Observatory – a football think tank based in Switzerland.

CIES place United’s squad as the 25th most expensive in Europe – but only the 11th in the Premier League, behind the likes of Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham. The data is based on fees spent on the squad to assemble it.

The data illustrates the growing chasm between Europe’s super-elite clubs and even the Premier League’s clubs.

(Image: Newcastle United)

The values are given in Euros – top of the charts are Manchester City, who invested a record value of €853 million in transfer fees to assemble its current squad. This value is €850 million for Paris St-Germain and €784 million for previous record holder Manchester United.

Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez, of course, wanted to see more investment to break into the top ten in the Premier League but he will no doubt be satisfied with back-to-back top flight wins.

United’s net spend was worked out by the think tank as £27million – 22nd highest in Europe. That is below Huddersfield and Brighton and 11th highest in the Premier League.

CIES have also worked out valuations for four of United’s big summer signings. They rate Mikel Merino at £6.6million, Joselu at £3.4million and Florian Lejeune at £13.25million.