Solskjaer's £441m Man Utd spending spree compared to Big Six rivals

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer let loose in the summer transfer window to turn Manchester United into genuine title contenders.

The Norwegian splashed no less than £126million to bring in Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo respectively.

That takes Solskjaer's overall spending up to £441m in the two and a half years he's been at the Old Trafford helm.

Back in January, Amad arrived for £19m, but the youngster is yet to prove his worth.

The summer before that, Alex Telles' £13m arrival appeared to turn positional rival Luke Shaw into one of the best left-backs in the world.

Facundo Pellistri looks to be some good business at £7.5m but is still developing, Edinson Cavani on a free was a steal, but Donny van de Beek is still far from proving he was worth the £36m outlay.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not hold back during the recent transfer window ( Image:

Javier Garcia/REX/Shutterstock)

Solskjaer pulled off the signing of the season the previous January with Bruno Fernandes, who continues to play a starring role for the Red Devils, and has already justified his £56m price tag.

Solkjaer's most expensive signing though was Harry Maguire for a defensive record price of £75m - an eye-watering figure that the club captain is arguably still repaying but certainly has the ability to do so.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka also arrived that summer for a hefty £50m, as did Daniel James for £15m, though he was sold on for almost double that to Leeds on deadline day.

So how does Solskjaer's spending compare to that of his Big Six rivals? Mirror Football takes a closer look.

What do you make of Solskjaer's spending and recruitment? Give us your thoughts in the comments section

Jurgen Klopp - Liverpool

Klopp's smart recruitment won them the Premier League and the Champions League, while not looking particularly lavish.

In his six years at the club, the German has spent just over £500m on a total of 19 players, while bringing in a few on free transfers.

In that time, Klopp broke the record for a defender with the £75m acquisition of Virgil van Dijk and briefly for a goalkeeper in the £56m signing of Alisson.

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have proved to be bargains at £37m a piece ( Image:

PA)

Naby Keita is the only other player to cost over £50m, with key men Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane both costing £37m each - incredible business.

Other notable signings include Andy Robertson for just £8m from Hull, Joel Matip for free and the recently departed Gini Wijnaldum for £24m.

Pep Guardiola - Man City

Spanish tactician Guardiola has now been at Manchester City for five years - and in that time he has spent almost £1bn on players, earning a reputation for being a big spender.

Guardiola has spent around £920m to bring in over 30 new players, plenty of which have never featured for the club and been sold on.

City broke the British transfer record to bring in Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for £100m earlier this summer, comfortably their biggest ever fee.

But Guardiola has spent more than £50m on seven other occasions, all but one of whom are still in the squad.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola spent £100m on Jack Grealish ( Image:

GETTY)

Emerson at £36m back in 2017 represents terrific value for money, while the £1.8m City spent on Oleksandr Zinchenko five years ago has been repaid many times over by the Ukrainian.

Mikel Arteta - Arsenal

Arsenal boss Arteta may have surprised a few people with his heavy spending this summer, splashing nearly £150m to hopefully fire the Gunners back into Europe.

In his four transfer windows at the club, the Spaniard has spent around £225m on 12 new signings, with mixed success.

Thomas Partey was the main addition last summer for £45m, and when fit he looks to be worth that price, but has massively struggled with injuries, while £23m Brazilian Gabriel is arguably Arteta's most reliable defender.

Arteta turned things up a notch this summer after a disappointing season, splashing £50m on Ben White, as well as £30m-plus deals for Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale - all three of which are 23 or younger.

It's the same story for Arsenal's other three signings this summer, including deadline day addition Takehiro Tomiyasu, who will hopefully sure things up at the back after an awful start to the season.

Thomas Tuchel - Chelsea

Romelu Lukaku landed a £97m return to Chelsea in the summer

Tuchel's first proper window at Chelsea went from to 100 in the blink of an eye as they brought Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge in a whopping move.

The £97m striker is likely to be the German's biggest bit of business for some time, though Saul Niguez arrived on deadline day in a fairly pricey loan move.

Tuchel actually made profit during the transfer window, so may have some more funds to play with in January.

Nuno Espirito Santo - Tottenham

In his first summer at the helm, Nuno kept his spending down to just £60m at Tottenham, with keeping hold of Harry Kane his main order of business.

The Portuguese targeted youth too, with Bryan Gil arriving for £20m from Sevilla, while teenage midfielder Pape Sarr was the only other addition before deadline day from Metz for £15m.

Some sharp business saw Brazil international Emerson Royal arrive from Barcelona for £22m on deadline day.