Who’s mastered the market? The transfer kings of the past 5️⃣ years | OneFootball

There are clubs that manage money well, and then there are those where things have been less successful in recent years.

First and foremost, one might mention FC Barcelona. Expensive transfers like Ousmane Dembélé, which did not live up to their transfer fees, immensely high player salaries, problems with Financial Fair Play, and even registering the signed players is an ordeal every time. At the general meeting in October this year, the club confirmed outstanding debts of 469 million euros, as reported by 'kicker'. However, there are also clubs that manage their money better, especially when it comes to deals on the transfer market.

The portal 'CIES Football Observatory' has created a ranking of the clubs that have acted most cleverly on the transfer market over the past five years. Which team has achieved the best transfer balance overall with new signings (excluding those from their own youth teams) and sold players?

Only clubs whose transfer expenditures and revenues have exceeded ten million euros in total since 2021 were examined. And the really big names do not appear in this table.

Instead, in places ten to eight, there is a Champions League representative with OSC Lille, US Lecce, and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. All clubs have a positive transfer balance of 112 and 113 million euros respectively over the last five years.

In places seven to four are Udinese Calcio (+128 million euros), RC Lens (+134 million euros), SL Benfica (+147 million euros), and Atalanta Bergamo (+150 million euros).

On the podium, there are also the only representatives from England and Germany: VfB Stuttgart is in third place with a positive transfer balance of 178 million euros.

Before the start of the current season, the Swabians managed their finances very well. Revenues of over 115 million euros are compared to expenses of around 50 million euros. How cleverly VfB acted on the transfer market is probably best shown by the example of Nick Woltemade: The striker moved in the summer of 2024 on a free transfer from the Weser to the Neckar, only to be sold by VfB a year later. According to various sources, the transfer fee was probably between 75 and 90 million euros. The skillful transfer poker with FC Bayern played a role in the fee Newcastle United paid.

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In second place is Brighton & Hove Albion with a positive balance of 221 million euros over the last five years. Although the English had a shocking transfer balance of -231 million euros after the 2023/24 season, they have repeatedly sold stars like Caicedo, Mac Allister, Cucurella, or White to the competition over the last five years, building a comfortable cushion.

And the leader with an incredible plus of 286 million euros is Eintracht Frankfurt. The SGE sells players year after year for between 75 and 100 million euros to the competition and buys comparatively inexpensive talents. The best examples: Hugo Ekitiké moved from PSG to Eintracht for 31.5 million euros and was sold to Liverpool for 95 million euros. Or Omar Marmoush, who came on a free transfer from VfL Wolfsburg and moved to Manchester City for 75 million euros.

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What is particularly striking: Not a single Spanish club is among the top 10 transfer winners of the last five years. Hopefully, the club officials are not all taking too many cues from FC Barcelona.

By the way: At the end of this table, there are two clubs from the Saudi Pro League: Al-Hilal (-197 million euros) and Al-Nassr (-104 million euros) have the most negative trading balance of all the clubs examined.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Daniela Porcelli - 2025 Getty Images