Brighton Have Been in the Premier League Less Than a Decade… and Are Already Worth More Than a ‘Top Six’ Giant

Brighton Have Been in the Premier League Less Than a Decade… and Are Already Worth More Than a ‘Top Six’ Giant

When you think of Brighton in the modern day, you think of a club with a fine reputation, a high-quality squad and manager, and most importantly, a club with a model which has guaranteed Premier League survival, and now regular European contention, despite having been in the English top flight for less than a decade.

Their buying and selling exploits have become common knowledge, and kudos to Tony Bloom and co.; it has worked a treat. Despite losing key players at the start of each and every season over the course of the last five years, Brighton manage to sniff out the most obscure of bargains to ensure they remain competitive amongst England’s elite.

🗣️ "When he puts his mind and effort to something, he usually delivers..."

Could Hearts follow the success stories of Brighton and USG? The inside story of Tony Bloom's investment elsewhere, and what could be next for Derek McInnes' side ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/625lEafpMA

— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) September 23, 2025

However, one thing that has gone unnoticed is just how valuable the Seagulls squad is - with many of their players brought in for mere peanuts, the majority of fans assume that while their value is surely higher than it was when they arrived, it is still not high enough to challenge the value of England’s "Big Six."

That’s where you would be wrong - let’s talk about Man United. Sure, 'elite club' is arguably an overly generous term for Ruben Amorim’s side, who struggle to win one game at a time, let alone pick up consecutive positive results; but historically, they are one of, if not the biggest club in England in terms of reputation and past successes.

Of course, their trials and tribulations have not stopped owner Jim Ratcliffe from splashing the cash at Old Trafford - this past summer alone saw him splurge over £200 million on the likes of Bryan Mbuemo, Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Senne Lammens.

Unveiling our summer signings at Old Trafford 😍

🤳 @Snapdragon x #ShotOnSnapdragon pic.twitter.com/hzEJ7Yd5f0

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 9, 2025

However, due to the Red Devils’ alarming decline over the past few seasons, squad value has dropped significantly, particularly for those who have remained at the club throughout that difficult spell.

As a shocking result of this, Brighton, who 10 years ago were playing Championship football under the guidance of Chris Hughton, quite incredibly boast a more valuable squad than a side with a trophy cabinet exploding with league trophies, domestic cups, and European accolades, despite boasting none themselves.

So how did the Seagulls reach this point?

The Numbers Don’t Lie

First off, let's talk about the current squad value figures - and before you go on Transfermarkt to prove me wrong, I'm afraid to inform you that the site does not boast its own immensely complicated algorithm. Instead, let us investigate these figures through the reputed CIES Football Observatory, which has just such an algorithm.

According to the CIES Football Observatory, Manchester United’s squad is now worth £118m less than it was in October 2024 😳

Despite spending £215m on new signings this summer, the Swiss-based analysts claim the Red Devils’ squad is now valued below Brighton’s, with Ruben… pic.twitter.com/ov0NmpQHln

— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) October 9, 2025

The French data analysis company crunched the numbers of each and every club in the top five leagues, gauging how much value their squad had either lost or gained since October last year. This was done by combining net spend in that time alongside generic player value evolution.

The complex study states Ruben Amorim currently boasts a squad worth £712 million, which, on the surface, is a perfectly respectable figure. However, that figure is stripped naked and then paraded in front of the masses when you discover that this time last year, United’s overall squad value sat at over £1 billion.

Their 15th-place finish and Europa League final failure saw the value of countless players fall, and their underwhelming start to the new season has done nothing to help that number rise again.

Brighton, on the other hand, now flex a total squad valuation of £721 million, after overseeing a £60 million valuation increase across the last year. This is the first time they have finished above Manchester United in this list, and remarkably, their total vaults them to just outside the top 10 most valuable squads in the world. Who saw this coming - Brighton have the 11th most valuable squad on the planet.

Long-Term Growth Over Headline Transfers

What makes this even more remarkable is that just four years ago, in the not-so-distant days of April 2021, Manchester United’s squad value sat at £1,000,800,000 – one billion, eight hundred thousand for those who struggle with long numbers.

By contrast, Brighton, who had been in the Premier League for just under four years at that point, owned a squad worth less than £215 million - the likes of Aaron Connelly, Neal Maupay and Alireza Jahanbakhsh were still knocking around at the club at this time.

However, it was in this season that Brighton started to create a significant backlog of high-value young prospects, a list which included Tariq Lamptey, Ben White and Yves Bissouma, all of whom have since been sold for significant transfer fees.

Later down the line, the sales only became more headline-worthy: Joao Pedro, Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister were brought in for just a shade over £50 million combined and were sold on for four times that.

Brighton after selling their best players to Chelsea and still beating them 🤝 pic.twitter.com/IopEtaGq46

— 🔴 𝑼𝑵𝒊𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑩𝒀 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 🔴 (@TheTraffordArmy) September 27, 2025

It is down to this reason that Brighton have seen their squad value skyrocket in recent years. Though very much a selling club, the Seagulls’ long and successful track record of bringing in unknown names and building them into potential superstars has seen competing clubs start to take them more seriously as time has gone on.

Gone are the days when a competing club could shove 10 to 15 million on the table and be guaranteed to snatch up a highly rated prospect from the south coast. These days, offers need to be along the lines of £50 million or more for Tony Bloom to even consider entertaining them. In Carlos Baleba’s case, even £80 million turned out to be too cheap for the chairman’s liking.

🚨 JUST IN:

Early indications suggest Brighton’s valuation of Carlos Baleba could be in the region of £100m, though that could be the overall value of the package, with a SMALLER initial transfer fee.

[@RichFay] pic.twitter.com/PFAgHjPHCt

— Morgan (@utdscope) August 13, 2025

On the flipside, United have nothing as fancy as a long-term vision for the club. Of the countless signings they have made since Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013, very few have been made with a view to the future - Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot and Daniel James are the only moves that can be likened to Brighton’s approach - buy young, sell big. And we all know that each and every one of them never fulfilled their full potential.

Instead, they were always focused on making the next marquee signing. Angel Di Maria, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Antony, Harry Maguire - all of them were signed for extortionate transfer fees, and yet not a single one would hit the level expected from them. United were substance over sense when it came to transfer business, and only now are we starting to see the toll it has taken on the club.

🚨💰 Man United owed other clubs £447m in unpaid transfer fee instalments at June 30, 2025. (@KieranMaguire) pic.twitter.com/mzGTTwThek

— The United HQ (@TheUTDHQ) September 18, 2025

In fairness to United, this season has seen a transition to more future-orientated signings: Sesko and Lammens are 22 and 23, respectively, while Bryan Mbuemo is still only 25, with Matheus Cunha just a year older.

However, despite buying them young, United’s intention is not to give time to and develop these players slowly - they were brought to immediately provide a little extra firepower to the squad, and so far, few have failed to deliver on their hefty price tags.

Despite playing just once for the club, Lammens has in fact looked the most convincing, as he kept a calm, collected clean sheet on debut against Sunderland last weekend - and he was the only summer signing brought in for a reasonable price: £18.2 million.

Can United Rebuild? And If So, Then How?

The road back to the top looks like a long one for Manchester United - they are a side lacking identity, security, and a united fanbase, and worse still, it doesn’t look like anything will change for a while yet.

This is because Jim Ratcliffe, ever the smart club owner, came out yesterday and stated that he wanted to give Amorim three years at the helm. His exact words?

🚨🚨💣 Sir Jim Ratcliffe: “Amorim will have 3 YEARS to DEMONSTRATE HIS VALUE AS COACH”.

“Things DO NOT CHANGE from night to morning”. pic.twitter.com/sPLnKa34yO

— O J C (@OkorieJesseC) October 9, 2025

“Amorim will have three years to demonstrate his value as a coach. Things do not change from night to morning.”

There is a lot to be said for backing your manager. Stuck with Klopp, and they ended up winning everything there was to win. Arsenal backed Arteta after a sketchy start to his reign, and they now top the table heading into the October international break.

But sticking with Amorim seems to be a different proposition altogether - and a high-risk one at that. His three-at-the-back system has consistently proven to be a calamity, a system which the Portuguese coach simply does not have the players to use successfully, and their lack of legs in the midfield indicates that his setup and approach will never produce results until the club brings in some shiny new engines in the centre of the park.

Amorim’s system looks unreal. Turns out all it needed was to have one player more than the opposition

— k (@kxsmo) September 20, 2025

However, their transfer strategy is certainly improving - along with their more expensive summer signings, United also have talented prospects in Ayden Heaven, Diego Leon, and Chido Obi Martin, while the club also have the arrival of 17-year-old Cristian Orozco to look forward to next summer.

In this facet at least, the Red Devils are taking inspiration from Brighton. The Seasiders have shown that if you do your homework and crunch the numbers, buying young, inexperienced, unproven players can work in your favour - but there is a reason that they are one of very few clubs that have mastered the art of recruitment.

This mastery has seen Fabian Hurzeler’s side go from strength to strength in the last five years or so. Now one of the most respected sides in England, as well as one of the most reputable sides in the world, it is surely only a matter of time until we see their blue and white stripes competing near the front of the queue for trophies.

For United, things need to turn around big time. It is hard to pinpoint where to start, but the most logical place would be the manager - despite receiving Ratcliffe’s backing, enough time has passed to see that Amorim is not cut out for the Premier League.

This Amorim graphic is absolutely awful. pic.twitter.com/mCAsY9l2EE

— MC (@UtdMicah) October 7, 2025

Though their recruitment team is starting to focus on the right things, it can take years for some moves to start reaping rewards, and the 13-time Premier League champions cannot afford to wait that long - something needs to give, because if they aren’t careful, they will have far bigger problems than Brighton trumping them for squad value.