For some time, there has been talks about a salary cap in the English Premier League. Something, most of the clubs are arguing against. For the next couple of weeks, Great Dane Football Blog will put focus on the wages in the Premier League and find out if they have any impact on the club's chances of winning trophies.

Last week we looked on the best paid goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and attacker, among the five richest clubs in England. This week we take a look on the amount of money the clubs has spent every season since 2002/03, compared with other Premier League clubs. The first chart for every season shows all the clubs together while the second single out the five clubs we are investigating; Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool.

As mentioned,  we start with the 2002/03 season of the Premier League. It is important to mention that the numbers from Bolton have been unavailable, why they do not figure in the chart. Not only was Manchester United the winner of the Premier League this season, they were also the club spending most on wages; 10.8 per cent of the total wages.
Arsenal follows just second both in the league and when it comes to wages, with 8.2 per cent of the total wages. Meanwhile, Chelsea and Liverpool stands for 7.4 per cent each they were placed fourth and fifth after Newcastle in the league. The Toons only spent £45.2m equal 6.1 per cent. It is worth mentioning that Leeds ended 15th in the league but was the club that spent third most on wages this season. Manchester City, on the other hand only takes 4.6 per cent of the wages for this season.

Take a look at the following charts to see the development both Chelsea and Manchester City have gone through and what impact the have had on the total wages. At the same time, Arsenal, Manchester United and   Liverpool have had a more steady development and impact.


Please not: Data for Crystal Palace is missing for the 2004/04 season
Please note: Data for Middlesbrough is missing for the season 2005/06 Please not: Data for Birmingham City and Portsmouth is missing for the 2009/10 season. Please not: Data for Birmingham City is missing for the 2010/11 season. What does the charts tell you? Do you think money have an impact on the trophy hunt? Next week we take a look on this season, before publishing the full article a couple of days later.