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#3 AS Monaco (France) – €285 million
Much like Lyon, AS Monaco have a knack for giving proper exposure to their young talents. Their coaches have always kept faith in the youngsters and have often been rewarded with excellent results.
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Under Leonardo Jardim, AS Monaco achieved unfathomable success in the 2016-17 season. Not only did they stop Paris Saint-Germain's Ligue 1 juggernaut, but they also reached the Champions League semi-finals.
The star of the show was a certain Kylian Mbappe, who was understandably snapped up by PSG at the end of the season.
Having scored 26 goals and provided 14 assists in 44 games across competitions that season, Mbappe emerged as the hottest young player in Europe. PSG, who had just triggered Neymar’s €222 million release clause in the summer of 2017 could not afford to buy Mbappe in the same window.
So, they got him on loan, with a mandatory €145 million purchase option, which they triggered in 2018.
#2 Real Madrid (Spain) – €330 million
Unlike the other four on the list, Real Madrid are not a selling club. They are the most decorated team in Europe and have a knack for splashing a ridiculous amount of money to sign their favorite players. So, while money has never been an issue for them, they rarely manage to guarantee regular exposure to their academy graduates.
Los Blancos’ insatiable desire for success does not bode well for their youngsters, as they rarely get opportunities to prove their mettle. As a result, the Whites end up selling most of their ambitious youngsters to the highest bidders.
Like numerous academy graduates before him, Alvaro Morata also did not manage to establish himself as a first-team regular. The Spaniard was not happy playing second fiddle to Karim Benzema and asked the club for a transfer.
He moved to Juventus in 2014 before returning to Real Madrid two seasons later. At the end of the 2016-17 season, the Spanish giants once again sold him, this to Chelsea for €66 million.
Unfortunately, he did not quite thrive at Stamford Bridge and was eventually shipped off to Los Blancos’ rival club, Atletico Madrid, in 2019. He is currently on loan at Juventus.
#1 SL Benfica (Portugal) – €379 million
Portuguese club SL Benfica have earned a whopping €379 million from player sales since the summer of 2015. They are one of the most successful clubs in the country, winning five league titles in the last eight years.
Benfica generally refrain from selling their talents to local rivals, but are a lot more open to doing business with foreign clubs.
In July 2019, La Liga giants Atletico Madrid went all out for Benfica’s Joao Felix. They paid a whopping €127.2 million for his services, making the youngster both Benfica’s most valuable departure and Atletico’s most expensive signing in history.
The young Portuguese played only 43 games for Benfica’s first team, registering 20 goals and 11 assists. Spending €127.2 million on the teenager was a gamble at the time, and critics claim Los Rojiblancos haven’t got their money’s worth yet.
