No club in Europe has made more money from selling players over the past decade than Chelsea, according to a leading study.
CIES Football Observatory have produced the numbers behind each club’s transfer business in the big five leagues, with it emerging that the Blues racked up over £1billion from moving players on since the summer of 2012.
The numbers of the trailing Premier League clubs pale in comparison, with Liverpool (£660m), Manchester City (£605m) and Tottenham (£572m) following behind. Arsenal have made the least from player sales (£377m) out of the so-called ‘Big Six’.
Only Monaco (£934m) have earned anywhere near the £1.016bn pocketed by Chelsea, with Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Juventus making up the top five in Europe.
On the flipside, Man City have paid the most for players over the last decade. A princely sum of £1.4bn has been forked out by the Premier League leaders, who have four league titles, an FA Cup and six League Cup trophies since the summer of 2012 to show for their expenditure.
Barcelona (£1.379bn), Chelsea (£1.365bn) and Manchester United (£1.3bn) are next in the leaderboard with Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Liverpool all over the ten-figure mark.
When it comes to net expenditure, with sales deducted from purchases, United are the only side lumped with a one-billion-euro loss.
The Red Devils’ transfer business has lost them a staggering £909m during a decade in which they have won a single Premier League title, FA Cup, League Cup, and Europa League each.
Although more successful, neighbours City are not much better with a £832m net spent on transfers, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain (£796m), Barcelona (£550m) and Arsenal (£493m).
The clubs who have made the most overall profit from the market in the last ten years, according to the study, are French teams Lille (£295m) and Lyon (£209m), and Serie A side Genoa (£169m).
