Premier League clubs spend a record €238m on injured players last season
Interestingly, the top seven clubs with the highest number of injuries is made up of the top six in the Premier League standings at the end of last season, plus tenth-placed West Ham.
The total cost of injuries to Premier League clubs reached a record £221 million (238 million euros) in the 2018-19 season, three percent more than in 2017-18, according to the Sports Injury Index 2019 compiled by insurance broker Marsh JLT Specialty.
In total, the 20 Premier League clubs had to deal with a total of 764 injuries last season, the highest number in eight years, and a 15 percent increase on 2017-18.
Interestingly, the top seven clubs with the highest number of injuries is made up of the top six in the Premier League standings at the end of last season, plus tenth-placed West Ham.
Manchester United incur must injuries
Manchester United was the club with the most injuries last season with 63, followed by Spurs (61), Liverpool (50), Chelsea (50), Arsenal (49), West Ham (45) and Manchester City (44). In fact, the Premier League top six accounted for 41.5 percent of total injuries last season, which could be explained by the fact that these clubs had more players involved in the World Cup last year.
Meanwhile the club whose physios were the least busy last season was newly promoted Wolves with just 11 injuries, which probably helped in some way towards their impressive seventh-place finish. Ninth-placed Leicester had the second least number of injuries with 18, followed by Fulham (19th) with 27.
Manchester City incur most injury expenses
The club who incurred the most expenses due to injuries was Manchester City (£26.3 million), followed by Manchester United (£25.2m), Arsenal (£24.2m), West Ham (£22.8m) and Spurs (£17.9m).
“The rise in injury costs has largely been driven by the top six clubs, which account for 54% of these costs. The top six have experienced an average 48-percent increase in salaries paid to injured players since 2016, with Tottenham Hotspur particularly affected, seeing costs rise by 110 percent in the last three years,” stated Marsh JLT Specialty, which also calculated that there has been an 86-percent increase in salaries paid by clubs to injured players since 2012/13.