Barca are best at adding millions to their players' price tags... but which Premier League club makes most of their assets?

Arsenal are the most successful club in the Premier League at increasing the value of players on their books.

Analysts at the Football Observatory research centre in Switzerland have produced a new economic model, based on ‘hard’ criteria such as achievement, age, contract length, international experience and official historic transfer fees, to put an objective price tag on every player in Europe’s ‘Big 5’ leagues.

They have then calculated the difference between what each club spent on fees to assemble the squads who played in the 2012-13 season and what those squads are now objectively worth.

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Arsenal’s squad was put together by Arsene Wenger for £168million but is worth £269m, indicating Arsenal have improved the players collectively to the tune of £101m.

Manchester United’s squad (at the cut-off date of May 31, 2013) was worth the most in England at £359m — £67m more than Sir Alex Ferguson spent to assemble it. 

The squads at Chelsea (£344m) and Manchester City (£333m) are worth less than their owners paid.

The most valuable squads belong to Barcelona (£560m, or a remarkable £365m more than it cost to assemble) and Real Madrid (£425m, worth just less than Real paid). 

The most valuable player in the world is Lionel Messi at an astonishing £185m.