After Tottenham Hotspur released their 2016/17 financial results, let’s take a look at how the big-six Premier League teams compare in terms of wages.

Twitter user Swiss Ramble has done a great job of breaking down the results in full, but we’re focusing on the wage bills of each of the big-six clubs in particular.

For each club, we’ll look at the amount spent on player wages, and what percentage of their total turnover that constitutes. Then we’ll also look at the amount they’re each spending on directors, to see how that compares.

Tottenham Hotspur

• Wage bill: £127m (6th in the Premier League)
• Wage bill as percentage of turnover: 41% (20th in the Premier League)
• Highest paid director: £6.013m (1st in the Premier League)

Tottenham have the lowest wage bill of the big six clubs by quite a distance, but it’s still higher than the other 14 clubs, emphasising the gap between England’s top teams and the rest right now.

As you can see, they clearly have the cash to pay more, since their wage bill makes up such a small percentage of their turnover. It’s not surprising they’re holding funds back though, considering their stadium move. They’ll need the money to pay off their debts.

What’s surprising is that they’re paying such a ridiculously large amount to their directors. Daniel Levy makes up two-thirds of their total directors’ remuneration of £9m. As a result he’s earning significantly more than the likes of Ivan Gazidis and Ed Woodward.

On the other hand, if the team are keeping up with the rest of the big-six despite such a low wage spend, perhaps he’s earned that salary.

Tottenham need to be careful though. The new cost control restrictions won’t allow them to raise their wage bill by more than a set amount each year. So when their current players eventually leave, the club may struggle to afford to replace them with similar quality.

Arsenal

• Wage bill: £199m (5th in the Premier League)
• Wage bill as percentage of turnover: 47% (18th in the Premier League)
• Highest paid director: £2.618m (2nd in the Premier League)

Despite being £72m above Tottenham, Arsenal’s wage bill is still the second smallest of the big-six clubs.

Like Spurs, it’s also only a very small percentage of the club’s turnover. Compare Arsenal’s 47% with Crystal Palace at the top of the list, spending 79% of their turnover on wages.

According to BBC journalist David Ornstein, the club have run into trouble with the cost control measures. They prevented Arsenal from making any major signings last summer, and it was only once Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Francis Coquelin were all on the way out that they could afford Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the wage bill.

Clearly that’s not a problem when paying directors, given Ivan Gazidis’ high wages. Then again, it’s still not even half what the Spurs directors are earning.

Liverpool

• Wage bill: £208m (4th in the Premier League)
• Wage bill as percentage of turnover: 57% (10th in the Premier League)
• Highest paid director: £0.914m (5th in the Premier League)

Next up are Liverpool, who have been edging into the realm of the big spenders more and more recently.

They spent £151m in the last two transfer windows, and clearly that’s starting to be reflected in their wage bill. Signing Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain didn’t help bring it down, although selling Philippe Coutinho probably did.

They’re also in the top half of the table for percentage of turnover spent on wages. Only one of the big-six clubs spend a greater portion of the money they make on player wages, and they’re next up on this list.

As for directors, they’re way behind the top three, and more in line with the rest of the league.

Chelsea

• Wage bill: £220m (3rd in the Premier League)
• Wage bill as percentage of turnover: 61% (8th in the Premier League)
• Highest paid director: £0.308m (13th in the Premier League)

Ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal are Chelsea, but surprisingly there’s not that far away. The gap from 3rd to 5th is just £21m, less than a third of the £72m gap from 5th to 6th. It seems like the days when Roman Abramovich would come in and bankroll another load of signings on massive money are starting to disappear behind us.

Nonetheless, Chelsea are still spending a greater percentage of the money they make on wages than any other big-six club. That still only leaves them in 8th overall in the league, again because the big-six are bringing in so much more money.

Their highest paid director is on a surprisingly small amount, with only four of the clubs who have published accounts paying less.

Manchester City

• Wage bill: £244m (2nd in the Premier League)
• Wage bill as percentage of turnover: 56% (11th in the Premier League)
• Highest paid director: £0m (explained below)

According to their most recent accounts, Manchester City’s wage bill is actually £264m. However, their accounts cover a period of 13 months, so rounded down to a year they’re in second place.

Admittedly, more of City’s money seems to be going on transfer fees than wages at the moment. They’ve spent a ridiculous £284m in the last two windows alone. It was roughly the same story the previous season as well.

City don’t give the details of the remuneration of their highest paid director, because according to their accounts, they haven’t paid any directors during the period.

Manchester United

• Wage bill: £264m (1st in the Premier League)
• Wage bill as percentage of turnover: 45% (19th in the Premier League)
• Highest paid director: £2.604m (3rd in the Premier League)

Boosted by the arrival of Alexis Sanchez, United spend more on wages than any other club in England. They can afford to, given their revenue is so much higher than anybody else’s.

They’re also paying only slightly less than Arsenal to their highest paid director, but again, that’s no surprise given how much money they’re making.

Hopefully they keep wasting all that cash on 29-year-old players struggling for a consistent run of form.