Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Southampton in action during the pre-season friendly between Southampton and Athletic Club Bilbao at St Mary's Stadium on August 7, 2016 Jordan Mansfield / Getty Images Europe's top football clubs spend fortunes but some invest far more wisely than others.

A Financial Times ranking of Europe's top-flight clubs, based on data from KPMG, found that big spending by clubs like Manchester United doesn't necessarily lead to success.

Calculated over the past four seasons, the FT's "smart spending" ranking looks at the margin by which a club exceeded its likely points tally based on the size of its wage bill relative to other clubs within the same league.

Put simply, if a club has a small wage bill and comes near the top of its league table, it has spent well.

Clubs that make the top of the list tend to have either very good scouting networks, which let them find undiscovered stars who are cheap, and/or strong academy systems, which let them develop home-grown talent rather than buy-in good players at inflated prices.

Take a look at the clubs which made the ranking: