Five teams who lose their best players every year

Three players in the picture above have left the club and the other two could follow suit — Three players in the picture above have left Monaco this summer and the other two could follow suit

#4 Valencia

Valencia once had a front three of David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata — Valencia once had a front three comprising David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata

Before Atletico Madrid won the La Liga title in 2013/14, the last team to beat Real Madrid or Barcelona to the league title was Valencia way back in 2003/04. The club also won the title in 2002 and reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2001 but lost to Bayern Munich on penalties.

However, their inability to compete on a regular basis with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona often led to the departure of their top players to greener pastures in search of trophies.

During the latter years of the first decade of the 21st century, the Los Murcielagos had an attacking line up consisting of David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata. Villa joined Barcelona in 2010 and went on to win the La Liga title, UEFA Champions League and several other honours; Silva joined Manchester City and won all possible domestic honours including two Premier League titles and Mata has won multiple honours with both Chelsea and Manchester United including a Champions League with the former.

Some of the other notable players sold by Valencia in the 2010s include Paco Alcacer (Barcelona), Andre Gomes (Barcelona), Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal), Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City), Jeremy Mathieu (Barcelona), Roberto Soldado (Spurs), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Isco (Malaga) and Adil Rami (Milan).

Edited by Arvind Sriram