Chelsea make £1.13b, top teams with most player sales

Premier League giant Chelsea has received more revenue from player sales than any other team during the last decade.

The Blues have made headlines in the last 18 months for spending more than £1 billion since a Todd Boehly-led partnership purchased the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022.

They were similarly well-supported in the market by the Russian businessman, but were always adept at generating revenue through player sales.

And, according to recent transfermarkt data, Chelsea has the biggest transfer income since 2014–15, with £1.13 billion earned from selling stars.

This includes prominent big-money departures such as Eden Hazard’s move to Real Madrid in 2019 for a fee of up to £150 million, as well as the summer departures of Kai Havertz to Arsenal for £65 million and Mason Mount to Manchester United for £55 million.

However, Marc Guehi, Tammy Abraham, and Fikayo Tomori, three academy graduates, were all sold for huge prices totaling £65 million.

Benfica finished second to Chelsea with a total transfer income of £1.04 billion, with the Portuguese giants famed for producing countless top-tier players throughout the years.

This includes Joao Felix’s £113 million transfer to Atletico Madrid in 2019, Chelsea’s £106.8 million acquisition of Enzo Fernandez last January, and Darwin Nunez‘s £85 million move to Liverpool in 2022.

Rubian Dias, Goncalo Ramos, Ederson, Raul Jimenez, and Nelson Semedo have all left Benfica for more than £30 million during the last decade.

AS Monaco, another magnet for talent, came in third place, with a transfer income of £1.03 billion.

This was undoubtedly assisted by Kylian Mbappe’s £166 million move to PSG in 2017 and Aurelien Tchouameni’s £85.3 million move to Real Madrid.

Juventus (£933 million) and Barcelona (£908 million) earned the fourth and fifth highest transfer revenues, respectively.

Only three other English teams joined Chelsea in the top 20, and Arsenal and Manchester United did not even make the top 30 teams with the biggest transfer income.

Manchester City was 13th, having sold £678 million in talent, while Liverpool was 15th, having earned £631 million in transfer revenue.

Southampton was the surprise English club to break into the top 20, sitting between Lille in 18th and PSG in 20th.

While they are now in the Championship after a difficult few years, Southampton has a history of creating and selling very promising young players, with James Ward-Prowse, Adam Lallana, and Luke Shaw all transferred for more than £26 million.

Meanwhile, they have helped to develop players from other teams before poaching them, with Virgil van Dijk’s £75 million deal to Liverpool still their most expensive sale, while Sadio Mane also moved to Anfield for £34 million.