Manchester United take in nearly as much money as the two most powerful clubs in Italy's Serie A combined, a survey revealed yesterday.
The Old Trafford club also knock the next three Italian footballing giants for six when it comes to total revenue.
The survey, by chartered accountants Deloitte & Touche, discovered that United's annual revenue of £87.9 million sterling was only slightly less than the combined turnover of Juventus (£51.9 million) and Inter Milan (£38.1 million).
They also scooped more than AC Milan (£46.3 million), Parma (£27.9 million) and Fiorentina (£25.8 million).
Merchandising is the major differential between Britain's best-supported team and the Italian clubs.
United also benefit from owning their own stadium, while many of their Italian counterparts have no control over their stadia and have to share grounds with their closest rivals.
The average Serie A side collects more in gate receipts and television rights than British clubs, but drum up only 14 per cent of revenue through other activities, such as merchandising, compared with United's 39 per cent.
Gerry Boon, chairman of Deloitte & Touche Football Industry Team, said: "Due to cultural differences and perhaps also the relative weakness of intellectual property legislation and its enforcement, Italian clubs tend to have relatively undeveloped merchandising activities compared with their British counterparts.
"Furthermore, the financial support provided to Italian clubs by large corporations and other investors is probably a much higher proportion of the total finance provided in the UK."
The review found Serie A's 18 clubs' combined turnover of £376.8 million is 21 per cent lower than the Premier League's total of £455.5 million.
But if Manchester United are not included, the Italian clubs creep a fraction ahead of the 19 remaining Premier clubs in income terms.
The survey also showed that wages in Serie A comprised of 58 per cent of total turnover compared to only 47 per cent in the Premier League.
Only seven of the 18 Serie A clubs recorded post-tax profits, Piacenza surprisingly topping the list with £2.48 million.
Other post-tax profits for clubs included Vicenza, Juventus, Roma, Lazio, Napoli and Reggiana.
AC Milan recorded the biggest post-tax loss of £9.6 million.
