Chelsea 1st, Liverpool 15th - Top 20 clubs with biggest transfer incomes across last 10 seasons

It’s been an incredibly slow January transfer window so far with clubs across Europe unable or unwilling to fork out big transfer fees. The winter window is notoriously quieter than the summer with clubs holding off until the end of the season to complete major moves when they can budget accordingly based on league position and revenue. Vitor Roque’s €40m move from Atletico Paranaense to Barcelona remains the highest transfer fee paid this month with loan moves proving popular like Jadon Sancho’s return to Borussia Dortmund from Manchester United. 

Transfer fees have exploded across the last decade with the record broken on several occasions but nothing has eclipsed Neymar’s move from Barcelona to PSG for €222.00m in 2017. Inflation, increases in broadcast revenues and investment from wealthy benefactors are all factors behind the escalation in transfer fees. Unsurprisingly, three English clubs - Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United - lead the way in spending across the last decade but the clubs receiving the most income from player sales over the last ten seasons is fascinating. 

Top 20 clubs with highest income from player sales since 2014/15

The €2.33 billion that Chelsea have spent on signings across the last ten seasons means they’re the biggest spenders, but they’ve also received the highest income from selling players. Chelsea have raked in an incredible €1.32b from outgoings since the 2014/15 campaign. Remarkably, Chelsea don’t have any players in the top ten record sales list with Eden Hazard just missing out - the Belgian’s €115m move to Real Madrid in 2019 is Chelsea’s record sale. Chelsea’s academy is renowned as one of the best in Europe and it’s proved lucrative with Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guéhi all in their top 20 sales. While Chelsea’s academy talents are usually sold because they aren’t first-team regulars, Benfica and Monaco - second and third on the list - thrive at providing a pathway to youngsters before selling them for massive profits.

Portuguese clubs have enjoyed unbelievable success at developing academy talents with Porto (12th) and Sporting CP (16th) joining Benfica in the top 20. All three also feature in the top five clubs with the best net transfer balance across the last ten seasons, Benfica are top (€648m), Sporting are fourth (€381m) and Porto fifth (€379m). Benfica have amassed €1.21b in player sales across the last ten seasons with João Félix, Enzo Fernández, Darwin Núñez, Rúben Dias and Ederson amongst a plethora of high-profile departures. 

Like Portugal, France has also been a hotbed for young talent with Monaco leading the way - Lyon, Lille and PSG also feature in the top 20. Monaco received the 2nd biggest transfer fee in history when they sold Kylian Mbappé to PSG for €180m in 2017 but he’s not their only high-profile departure. Aurélien Tchouaméni, James Rodríguez and Thomas Lemar have all departed for fees in excess of €70m while Anthony Martial, Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Fabinho and Youri Tielemans have all completed big-money moves to the English Premier League. Juventus and Barcelona make up the top five as the other two clubs to have generated more than €1b. Only one club in the top 20 list currently plays outside the top-flight in their respective country - Southampton. They implemented a successful business model of selling to bigger Premier League clubs with their top ten sales all to fellow English clubs. Four of those players were sold to Liverpool with Virgil van Djik the most high-profile and Roméo Lavia joined Chelsea last summer for €62.1m following their relegation from the Premier League.

Manchester United, Arsenal and Bayern Munich outside top 20 

There’s some glaring omissions from the top 20 list with Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Tottenham the biggest names. RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg are famed for producing youngsters but they both just miss out. Bayern rank 25th after receiving €606m in sales with Lucas Hernández, Robert Lewandowski, Douglas Luiz and Ryan Gravenberch their biggest departures. Manchester United notoriously struggle to offload players with their high wages deterring potential suitors or leaving United to sacrifice a higher transfer fee to get unwanted players off their books. United rank 34th and they have the worst net transfer balance (€1.24b) of any club with Romelu Lukaku their record sale across this time period. Arsenal have fared even worse than their rivals in accumulating revenue through player sales as they sit 43rd.