Football research organization CIES recently published data on the clubs that suffered the most losses in the transfer market over the past ten years.
*Figures do not include sales of players from the Academy

Chelsea

Revenue: 623 million pounds

Spending: £1.03 billion

Total loss: 412 million pounds

Since being taken over by Roman Abramovich in 2003, Chelsea has truly become a “giant” in the transfer market. They do not hesitate to spend heavily on the world’s top stars, but that includes many failed deals. A typical example is Romelu Lukaku, who the Blues had to spend nearly 100 million pounds to bring back to Stamford Bridge. However, after just one season, he was removed from the club’s plans.

Under Todd Boehly, Chelsea still continues the tradition of “spending money like water”, but at the same time they are also more actively liquidating players to stabilize their financial balance.

Arsenal

Revenue: 126 million pounds

Spending: £498m

Total loss: 372 million pounds

Despite being one of the lowest spending teams in the Big Six, the Gunners still rank quite high due to inefficiencies in the player disposal process. In fact, four of Arsenal’s 10 most expensive signings were allowed to leave the club on a free transfer, including Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil.

Of course, the “straightforward” liquidation policy can bring positive elements to the atmosphere in the dressing room and the Gunners’ salary budget, but at the same time, it also makes it difficult for Arsenal to balance. revenue and expenditure.

Manchester United

Revenue: 340 million pounds

Spending: £619 million

Total loss: 280 million pounds

Similar to Chelsea, the Old Trafford team also did not hesitate to “throw money out the window” to regain the lost glory after the era of Sir Alex Ferguson. However, the weakness in recruitment has caused Manchester United to continuously taste failure in the technology market, with a series of bad deals such as Angel Di Maria, Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho and especially Antony – the signing. The most disappointing contract in Premier League history.

However, it is expected that Man Utd will experience more positive changes in the future, when Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the INEOS group have outlined new strategies to bring the club back on track.

Aston Villa

Revenue: 94 million pounds

Spending: £312 million

Total loss: 218 million pounds

To be fair, the Villa Park team has spent relatively reasonably over the past decade, but similar to Arsenal, the amount of money earned from liquidating Villa’s players is also too low. Not including Jack Grealish (from the Academy), the most valuable player sale of the Midlands club in the past 10 years took place in 2015, they earned 32.5 million pounds after the sale. Go Christian Benteke for Liverpool.

However, the situation may soon change in the near future, as there is more and more interest in Douglas Luiz – a player that Villa is valuing at about 100 million pounds.