Top 5 European selling clubs in the last decade

An end of a season brings another transfer window and throughout the summer, clubs all around Europe frantically try to bring in new talents or superstars to propel their campaign either towards glory or achieve goals set for the year. It is a month of nerves for managers as well as the fans, but more than them its brutal for one entity i.e. The Selling club.Many clubs have to go through the brunt of selling their players for different reasons ranging from clearing debts, to re-invest in another talent, to respect the aspirations of players or quite simply just to get rid of them. Whatever be the reason, the continuity of these clubs are broken as they have gone through a phase of stability achieving success. The bigger vultures are ready to cherry pick the top performers who have helped achieve success for some clubs.We take a look at the top 5 selling clubs in the last decade who have had to lose players consistently year on year.

#5 Atletico Madrid

Approximate Revenue earned: more than €200 million

The current La Liga champions and Champions leagues finalists Atletico Madrid had a phenomenal last year, breaking the duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the league.

A fairytale ending at Camp Nou saw them being crowned champions despite the fact that they have had to sell their star assets. The club’s financial situation is such that they will have to keep selling their players in order to pay off huge debts.

The very fact that they have been able to perform so well the last two years speaks volumes about the coach and the players that are imported and coming through the youth system. This year too they have ended up losing important players from the first team like Diego Costa and Filipe Luis, as well as from the squad.

As a team, for their achievements, they will always be raided by billionaire backed clubs for the players who have helped the team achieve success.

Some of the big names who have moved out from Atletico include Radamael Falcao who moved to Monaco for €60 million a deal which earned them a cool profit of €20 million, Diego Costa moved to Chelsea for £32 million after joining for an undisclosed fee. Local hero and crowd favorite Fernando Torres moved to Liverpool for £20 million – a huge sum seven years ago.

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#4 Valencia

Approximate Revenue Earned: more than €200 million

Los Che, like Atletico Madrid, have been one of the most cash strapped clubs in La liga, often having to sell their best players to balance their financials. The 2008-2010 period was the darkest in the club’s history as Valencia went from double La Liga winners to selling their best players due to the debt (€547 m) that piled up over years.

Probably one of the best youth producing setups in the country, Valencia have lost some of the regular Spanish nationals to Barcelona, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Chelsea. With the arrival of Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim, all this might change and the club might be able to hold on its key players rather than sacrificing them to raise cash.

Some examples include David Villa who was sold to Barca for €40m five years after becoming a star, David Silva, the playmaker from the Canary Islands, who progressed through the ranks before joining Manchester City for €35m in 2010, Juan Mata who was sold to Chelsea for €26m and Raul Albiol who was sold for €15m to Barcelona.

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#3 Benfica

Approximate Revenue Earned: more than €200 million

One of the big three in Portugal, Benfica like Porto and Sporting Lisbon have to rest on the laurels of developing superstars and then watching them leave for bigger clubs. Benfica’s core focus remains on importing talent, especially from South America. Talents that join the club at a relatively young age and are developed into potential superstars. The financial constraints in the Primeira Liga mean that they have to sell players to raise cash.

However, they have still won 5 league titles as well as made consistent appearances in the Champions League. Even after facing a financial crisis in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Benfica have done an amazing job of building a talented team year on year.

They have sold players for massive fees like €40 million for Axel Witsel and €30 million for Angel Di Maria and Fabio Coentrao. The list goes on with fees over €20 million for David Luiz, Ramires, Simao and more recently, Nemanja Matic.

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#2 Tottenham Hotspur

Approximate Revenue earned: more than €350 million

The world record transfer of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for €100 million would have definitely made their purse pockets larger, but the fact remains that Spurs are the biggest selling club in England. In spite of spending millions in bringing in new players almost every season, the irony remains that Spurs are also forced to sell players who have Champions league aspirations.

Although they are one of the most financially stable clubs in the Premier league, it shows that the lack of title ambitions and Champions league football are enough driving factors for players to swap clubs. Their transfer strategy is so confusing that it leads to the belief that they buy players with an eye on selling them for profit.

Some of the players who have left the club include Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Jermaine Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov.

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#1 FC Porto

Approximate Revenue earned: €400 million

Another Portuguese club on this list, Porto is one of the most unique clubs operating in European football. They have won a staggering 9 Primeira Liga titles, a Champions league and two UEFA Cups/Europa Leagues in the past decade against all odds. Their success is even more surprising considering the fact that they are forced to sell their star players every year. A weak Portuguese market coupled with the inability of the league to generate any substantial revenue to compete with Europe’s best leagues means that they have no option but to sell their best assets to raise substantial funds.

The club should be lauded for their scouting network (which is the best in the world) that is able to handpick relatively unknown players, buy them for cheap, groom and develop them into superstars and then sell them for huge amounts to the European powerhouses. They then repeat the entire cycle again and again and again (sic). Yet they are able to achieve success year on year. Some of the world beaters who left the club include Colombian superstars James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao, Pepe, Hulk, Jao Moutinho to name a few.

It’s not only the players but also their managers who are capable of being sold for astronomical amounts. The “Special One” Jose Mourinho and his prodigy Andre Villas Boas have come, conquered and left.

Imagine a team full of these superstars and being managed by Jose Mourinho.

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