AFC Bournemouth are proving that money isn’t everything in the 2025/26 Premier League season, by comparing club wage bills with on-pitch performance.
Despite operating with one of the league’s smallest annual wage budgets, estimated at around £65 million, Bournemouth are outperforming several clubs that spend far more on their squads.
Data gathered from publicly available wage estimates shows a strong general trend: clubs that spend more typically finish higher in the table.
Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool all exceed £170 million in annual wages, yet when wage spending is adjusted to show how many points each club earns per £10 million spent, Bournemouth rises close to the top of the efficiency table.
The club has earned an estimated 2.8 points per £10 million spent through the first 11 Premier League games of the season, almost double the efficiency of some of the league’s richest sides.
Only a handful of teams, such as Brentford and Sunderland, achieve similar value for money.
This reflects a highly successful recruitment strategy and effective coaching.
Bournemouth have relied on developing players like Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo instead of buying ready-made stars on heavy contracts.
The result is a squad that consistently competes above financial expectations in the top tier of English football.
The trend also highlights the widening financial divide in the Premier League.
While Man City spend over £230 million a year on wages, more than four times Bournemouth’s budget, the gap in performance is far smaller, and in some cases, big-spending clubs significantly underperform relative to their wage bills.
In a league increasingly dominated by financial giants, the Cherries continue to prove that smart spending can still compete with high spending.
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