4) Benfica – €414m
Trending
Alongside Porto, Benfica have dominated the Portuguese Primeira Liga and have won the league title in the last three seasons. It is no coincidence that in the entire history of the Portuguese league, every winner is either based in Porto or Lisbon.
And Benfica is just another hotbed for finding the talents of the future. But playing in Portugal is only a stepping stone toward bigger leagues that wait to snatch these talents.
Like Porto, they simply cannot afford to hold on to young players. Portugal’s UEFA coefficient has slipped down in recent seasons and they now find themselves in seventh place behind the top five leagues and the Russian Premier League. So they do the next best thing and hold clubs to ransom for their young players – the perfect plan in Portugal.
Benfica’s most famous players sold in recent years include Angel Di Maria, David Luiz, Ramires, Fabio Coentrao, Axel Witsel, Javi Garcia, Nemanja Matic, Nolito, Jan Oblak Lazar Markovic, Andre Gomes, Rodrigo, and, most recently, the young sensation that lit up Euro 2016 – Renato Sanches.
