TicketGum.com decided to investigate the cost of football by specifically focusing on the cost of football shirts, reports www.fcbusiness.co.uk

The importance of football shirts for fan culture is indicated by figures showing the Premier League's traditional top six clubs (Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur) collectively sell an average of 4.95 million shirts per year (2011-12 to 2015-16 season).

For the research, Ticketgum.com focused on the top five football leagues in Europe (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1).

Based on the final league table from the 2016/2017 season, Ticketgum took the top twelve teams to find out the price for each club's official home shirt for this season (2017/2018).

• The average price of a Premier League shirt for the 2017/18 season is £53.74

• Comparatively, the average price of a football shirt in La Liga: 19% higher (£63.78), Bundesliga: 28% higher (£68.85), Serie A: 34% higher (£72.08) and Ligue 1: 34% higher (£72.10)

• 74% of fans believe the current price of football shirts are too excessive

• 58% believe football clubs can be doing a lot more to offer supporters better value on official merchandise.