LONDON: Even before they conclude global broadcast deals totalling more than pounds 8 billion, the record-breaking financial might of Premier League clubs has been laid bare in the latest Deloitte Football Money League. The annual list of world football's richest teams, which this year covers the midway point of the current pounds 5.5 billion television contract, shows that the revenues generated by English sides scaled new heights during the 2014-15 campaign.
For the first time, nine of the top 20 most money-spinning clubs come from the same country, with West Ham United joining the traditional big eight teams in the rankings. More remarkably still, every side that has been in the Premier League for the past two seasons (17) is now in the top 30 biggest earners in football, with only those promoted and relegated last year left on the sidelines.
It is now all but inevitable that, come the end of next season - figures for which will be published in the 2018 Money League - all 20 Premier League teams will be inside that top 30.
At the elite end of the current list, Manchester United paid the price for their first season out of Europe for a quarter of a century by dropping back below the all-conquering Barcelona.
United's revenue plunged from pounds 433.2m to pounds 395.2m, with Barcelona closing the gap to Real Madrid with a corresponding surge from pounds 405.4m to pounds 426.6m.
Real continued to lead the way for the 11th year in a row with a revenue of pounds 439m but could find themselves overhauled by their arch-rivals in next season's list.
United are poised to overtake them both the following year under the new Premier League television deal.
Manchester City stayed in sixth place, just behind Bayern Munich, who fell from fourth to fifth below Paris Saint-Germain. City made pounds 352.6m last season, up from pounds 348.3m, but Bayern's revenue nosedived from pounds 407.7m to pounds 360.6m.
Arsenal climbed above Chelsea to seventh place, with the Premier League champions' revenue falling from pounds 324.4m to pounds 319.5m, despite their title triumph. Their London rivals' income grew from pounds 300.5m to pounds 331.3m over the same period.
Liverpool's short-lived first Champions League campaign since 2009 also helped them close the gap on Chelsea after they turned over pounds 298.1m, compared to pounds 255.8m the previous year.
Outside a top 10 in which half are Premier League clubs, four other English teams climbed up the Money League. AC Milan, dropped to 14th place from 12th, where they were replaced by Tottenham Hotspur (pounds 195.9m).
Newcastle United (pounds 128.8m) moved from 19th to 17th and Everton (pounds 125.6m) from 20th to 18th - overtaking Inter Milan - while West Ham (pounds 122.4m) pipped Galatasaray to 20th place, their first appearance in the top 20 for nine years.
But it was below that where some of the most remarkable movements were witnessed, with Leicester City surging from outside the top 40 into 24th place, above Sunderland, Swansea City and Stoke City. Were the side level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League, they would be virtually guaranteed to break into the top 20 for the first time. Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion also climbed into the top 30, overtaking southern Italian giants Napoli in the process.
Indeed, 17 English clubs now make more money than teams of the calibre of Lazio, Fiorentina, Ajax, Porto, Valencia, Sevilla, Marseille, Monaco and Celtic.
Tim Bridge, senior manager at Deloitte, said: "With the new round of Premier League broadcast deals set to deliver greatly improved domestic broadcast revenues in 2016-17, we expect to see Premier League clubs cementing their places in the top 30 in the coming years, with potential for some of these to climb into the top 20."