The ever-inflating transfer market has exploded in recent years, and some clubs have done a lot better out of it than others.
With the English Premier League 2019/20 season rapidly approaching, and the chance to get your bets in before it starts, we’re taking a look at the clubs that have scored the best when it comes to the transfer market.
Premier League clubs
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Chelsea are the only English squad in the top five (4th) with only Liverpool sneaking into the top 10 (9th). Tottenham (13th) and Southampton (19th) are the only other clubs in the top 20, while you have to look a long way down to see other big names such as Arsenal (26th) and Manchester United (36th).
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Chelsea’s relatively high position is largely thanks to their status as high rollers, and the ability to sell on players who were bought in for a substantial fee originally (Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Alvaro Morata are three of their four record departures, alongside Oscar to China). Only Manchester City, Manchester United, PSG and Barcelona have a bigger net spend this decade.
Liverpool’s place, meanwhile, is largely down to a few high-profile, extremely profitable departures such as Philippe Coutinho (€145m), Luis Suarez (€81m), Raheem Sterling (€63m) and Fernando Torres (€58m). But they’ve also done well to get smaller amounts from the fringe players in the squad.
Atletico Madrid making bank
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According to the figures, Atletico Madrid have made €952m in player sales since 2010. The fact that Atletico have spent €32m more than they’ve made in this period is a testament to what a serious force they’ve become under Diego Simeone.
The ability to spend so much on Felix was down to selling Antoine Griezmann to Barcelona for €120, Lucas Hernandez to Bayern for €80m and Rodri to Man City for €70m – their three record sales all in the same window.
With a track record of selling brilliant strikers (Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero account for more than €130m between them), they’ve also managed to recoup handsome figures for signings that didn’t quite work out. For example, Jackson Martinez (three goals in 22 appearances) was sold to China for a €7m profit after his big-money move from Porto failed to live up to expectations.
Benfica comes out on top
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Benfica has to be considered as one of the best run clubs across Europe. With the sale of Joao Felix, the most expensive transfer this summer, and the fourth most expensive player of all-time – they are boosted to the top spot.
The teenage sensation, who scored 15 goals in his breakthrough season, was sold for a reported €126m to Atletico Madrid. Overall, they’ve made an astonishing €953m this decade and could conceivably break the billion mark before the end of this window.
But he’s not the only homegrown star to have come through the club’s academy, arguably the best in the world – Bernardo Silva, Renato Sanches, Victor Lindelof, Goncalo Guedes and Ederson have all graduated from the club’s Caixa Futebol Campus since 2010. Angel Di Maria and David Luiz were also originally brought to Europe by Benfica, before moving on for a tidy profit.
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The full top 10 list
Other points of note from the top 10 are Monaco, third, who have consistently been able to make profits but did particularly well out of Leonardo Jardim’s title-winning side of 2016-17 (Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva, Thomas Lemar, Benjamin Mendy, Fabinho and Tiemoué Bakayoko account for nearly €400m combined).
Elsewhere, Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona have all been able to support their gargantuan signings by selling for sizeable fees themselves, most notably Paul Pogba, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo among plenty of others.
Here’s the full list:
1. SL Benfica (€953m)
2. Atletico Madrid (€952m)
3. Monaco (€911m)
4. Chelsea (€874m)
5. Roma (€791m)
6. Juventus (€786m)
7. Barcelona (€755m)
8. Real Madrid (€708m)
9. Liverpool (€702m)
10. Porto (€692m)
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Now that you know who the clubs with the money are, the question remains; have their own purchases been worth it? Will they succeed in their individual leagues? Make your outright predictions and place your bets on every exciting clash of EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A at Betway. You can even place live bets on the games from your mobile phone or pc.
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