Advertisement

Revealed: The truly shocking amount Premier League clubs paid to injured players last season

The eye-watering amount of money Premier League clubs paid to injured players last season has been revealed.
The eye-watering amount of money Premier League clubs paid to injured players last season has been revealed.

Premier League clubs paid out £217 million pounds to injured players last season, a 21% increase from last season’s £176m – despite the numbers of injuries falling from 735 to 663.

According to the BBC, Manchester United paid the most in 2017-18 with £23.3m being paid to injured players, while Arsenal suffered the most separate injuries last season with 54.

READ MORE: Benitez – ‘Everything is wrong. I am really worried’

READ MORE: The making of Frank Lampard: why Derby manager can be a success

At the other end of the scale, Brighton came out on top, suffering only 15 injuries and only paying out £3.01m to injured players.

Manchester City and Newcastle were second equal with only 24 injuries each.

Sergio Aguero and Manchester City suffered the second-least amount of injuries last season, with only 24.
Sergio Aguero and Manchester City suffered the second-least amount of injuries last season, with only 24.

Hamstring injuries were most common, while knee injuries had the highest average cost of £613,402 per injury.

Illness increased by almost 600% with only nine days lost in 2016-17 but rising to 62 days last season.

READ MORE: Where to find the Harry Kane £5 notes

READ MORE: Gossip – Chelsea & Spurs battle for midfielder

Insurance broker JLT Specialty calculated that an injury costs a club an average of £323,000 in wages.

Alexis Sanchez was one of the United players who were paid £23.3m of their salaries while injured.
Alexis Sanchez was one of the United players who were paid £23.3m of their salaries while injured.

Duncan Fraser, head of sport at JLT, said: “It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, the World Cup has on injury rates in the upcoming season.

“History has shown that teams could expect to see more injuries following an international tournament than during a fallow year.”

Premier League table of injuries 2017/18

Club

Cost (£m)

Number of injuries

Manchester United

23.3

37

Arsenal

19.3

54

Liverpool

16.2

44

Chelsea

16

38

Everton

15.9

35

Crystal Palace

15.8

35

West Ham

14.8

50

Manchester City

13.9

24

Watford

11

37

Tottenham

10.5

33

West Brom

8

34

Swansea

7.3

27

Burnley

7

26

Stoke

6.5

30

Leicester

6

30

Bournemouth

5.7

35

Southampton

5.1

25

Newcastle

4.5

24

Huddersfield

4

30

Brighton

3

15