Manchester City have the oldest squad of any major team in Europe, new research from the CIES Football Observatory has shown.
City's owners have spent over one billion on the club since taking over in 2008 have won the Premier League title twice, and the FA Cup once. However, they are also top of a league that suggests their recent power has been built on experience, rather than youth.
The likes of Frank Lampard (36), Martin Demichelis (33), Yaya Toure (31), Bacary Sagna (31), Gael Clichy (29) and Jesus Navas (29) have tipped the balance in a squad that contains only three main first-team players under the age of 24.
In the Premier League, the study shows City in No. 1 spot, with an average age of 28.8 years. They are followed by Crystal Palace (28.39), Stoke (28.09), West Brom (27.77) and QPR (27.71) to complete the top five.
Meanwhile, the youngest five squads in the division belong to Newcastle (25.3), Manchester United (25.44), Southampton (25.57), Liverpool (25.68) and Arsenal (26.00) with Chelsea mid-table in 10th place (27.08).
Across the rest of Europe, City come in seventh with Torpedo Zhodino of Belarus (29.4 years), Fenerbahce of Turkey (29.3), Slutsk of Belarus (29.2), Atalanta of Serie A (29.1), Podbeskidzie of Poland (29.1) and Metalist Kharkiv of Ukraine (28.9) ahead of them.
La Liga's Real Madrid (26.26) are older than Barcelona (25.89), while Bayern are third oldest in the German Bundesliga (26.79) and Juventus (28.77) are the second most ageing side in Italy's Serie A.
Perhaps the biggest shock across Europe comes as Ligue 1 leaders Marseille are the youngest side in France at only 24.23 years old. PSG meanwhile are fifth at 26.66.
The youngest top division in Europe is the Dutch Eredivisie, where the players' average just 24.2 years old across the board. Heerenveen, come in at 22.6 years old, while giants PSV (22.8) and Ajax (23.5) are also under the overall average.