by Benfica are back to being the king of the market this January, which isn’t exactly new. He’s been doing it for over two decades. Or to put it another way: no one in these 23 years of the 21st century, according to figures released by Transfermarkt, made as much money from sales in the winter market as SAD incarnate.
What happened this time was just another example of that.
This season, remember, SAD incarnate sold €127.8 million in player sales, largely achieved by transfer of Enzo Fernández to Chelsea, against 121 million. In addition, with Tomas Tavares, Diogo Gonsalves and Gilles Dias another six million euros were guaranteed.
This amount, which exceeds €127 million, is far more than what was earned by PSV, who were in second place in this table. The Dutch club made 81 million in transfers, having sold stars Cody Gakpo (42 million) and Madueke (35 million) to Liverpool and Chelsea, respectively.
The last place on the podium is occupied by Shakhtar Donetsk, who sold winger Mykhaylo Mudryk, 22, to Chelsea for €70m. In the list of the ten clubs that added the most money in this winter market, there is still room for Sp. Braga, who appear in seventh place, with 32 million in revenue, succeeded with the sale of Vitinha in Marseille.
Finally, it should be noted that Sporting do not appear on this list because the transfer of Pedro Porro has brought in only five million euros so far, in terms of the cost of the loan to Tottenham. In the transfer contract there is a buyout clause set at 40 million, which can be used by any team, but this money will only be accounted for in the summer.
The clubs that made the most money in this year’s winter market
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No one in this century has made as much money in January as Benfica
The revenue earned in January confirmed Benfica as the club that earns the most money from transfers this century. Since 2000, SAD incarnate has earned a total of 374 million euros, beating Chelsea by twenty million euros: the English club has made 354 million sales in the 21st century.
It is worth remembering that, in the winter market, Benfica has already sold, in addition to Enzo Fernandez (121 million), players such as Gonzalo Guedes to PSG (30 million), Nemanja Matic to Chelsea (25 million), Enzo Perez for Valencia. (25 million), Raul de Tomas for Espanyol (22.5 million), Talisca for Guangzhou (19 million), Helder Costa for Wolverhampton (15 million) and Bernardo Silva for Monaco (15 million) .
In second place in this ranking of the 21st century comes Chelsea, as already said, who in January sold, for example, Diego Costa to At. Madrid (60 million), Oscar to Shanghai SPIG (60 million) and Ramirez to Jiangsu Suning (28 million).
Liverpool are in third place, with sales of 306 million, which includes the transfer of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona (136 million), Fernando Torres to Chelsea (58 million) and Dominic Solanke to Bournemouth (21 million).
It should also be noted that FC Porto appears in 31st place, with total sales in January of the 21st century of 123.5 million euros, while Sporting appears in 43rd place, with total sales of 105.7 million. Already Sp. Braga comes a little later, in 48th place, with sales worth 96.4 million euros.
The clubs who made the most money in the winter market this century
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Benfica and Porto continue to be among the top-earning clubs in the market
Extending the analysis to all transfers, and not just the winter market, it appears that Benfica and Porto are at the forefront of clubs making the most money from player sales.
SAD incarnate takes second place, with a total of €1.57 billion guaranteed in this 21st century. Just behind Juventus, who lead the rankings with €1.60 billion.
FC Porto comes in sixth, having received €1.36 billion in player sales since 2000. Between Benfica and FC Porto, Chelsea, Monaco and Real Madrid come in third, fourth and fifth, respectively, all with sales corresponding to a total value of more than 1.40 billion euros.
As for the other Portuguese clubs, it should be noted that Sporting are a long way behind Benfica and Porto, in 24th place, just above Manchester United and below AC Milan, with a total of 769.5 million guaranteed. Already Sp. Braga is the fourth Portuguese club in the ranking, appearing in 64th place, with a total of 367 million won.
The clubs that made the most money from sales in the summer and winter markets this century
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Crazy month for Chelsea
Chelsea were the third highest earner from sales this century, but also spent the most money. The London club, in fact, spent almost twice as much on purchases as on sales: they earned 1.41 billion and spent just over three billion euros to strengthen.
In fact, just look at this market to see the madness Chelsea have become in this 21st century. This January, he spent €329.5 million on players such as Enzo Fernández (121 million), Mykhaylo Mudryk (70 million), Benoit Badiashile (38 million), Madueke (35 million), Malo Gosto (30 million), Andrey Santos (12 million). ) and even on loan from João Félix (11 million).
Huge madness, or it doesn’t mean that the London club are responsible for five of the eight biggest transfers in this winter’s market, all with sums in excess of 30 million, as shown in the table below.
Top 20 transfers from this winter market
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England continues to blow away the rest of the world with its ability to invest
From the above, it’s easy to see that Chelsea alone spent more money this January than the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh highest spending teams combined.
Another conclusion that stands out when looking at the transfer numbers in this market is that England continues to be a special case in world football: no other league comes close to investing in players.
Incidentally, nine of the ten clubs who spent the most in January this year are English. Only Marseille manages to get in the middle, mainly because of the 32 million euros invested in Portuguese Bithynia by Sp. Braga.
Interestingly, four of the biggest spenders in this market currently occupy the bottom six places in the English League and are struggling to escape the disparity: Southampton, Bournemouth, Leeds and Wolverhampton.
The fifteen clubs who spent the most in this year’s winter market
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Chelsea, yes, and who are the other biggest spending clubs of the century. XXI?
Given the above, it’s no surprise that Chelsea are the biggest transfer spenders of the 21st century. What is surprising is that the London club has invested 500 million more in the last 23 years than the second biggest spender of this century, which is also the millionaire Manchester City.
Chelsea signed, according to Transfermarkt, players worth a total of €3.05 billion, while Manchester City signed players that cost a total of €2.5 billion. In third place, curiously, there is a club, Barcelona, which since 2000 has already spent a total of €2.4 billion on transfers.
Juventus and Real Madrid close the top-5, while PSG appears in seventh place, with a total expenditure of 1.84 billion euros. Which is explained by the fact that it only became a millionaires’ club in 2013, after it was acquired by the Qatari royal family.
As proof that money is not everything in life and that more important than having a lot is knowing how to spend it well, Bayern Munich, a giant that always wins in Germany and is a perennial contender to win everything in Europe , only appears in 15th place in this ranking of clubs with the most spenders. Behind much inferior emblems such as Roma, Tottenham or At. Madrid.
The clubs who spent the most money on summer and winter markets this century
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Three “Portuguese” in the first fifteen transfers of January
Looking at the most expensive January transfers since 2000, three deals from Portuguese clubs stand out. Interestingly, one from Benfica, one from Sporting and one from Porto.
The SAD incarnate sold Enzo Fernández to Chelsea this year for €121m, the second-biggest January deal ever, just behind Philippe Coutinho, who left Liverpool for Barcelona in 2017-18 for €135m.
Bruno Fernandes, who in 2019-20 left Sporting for Manchester United for €63m, appears in ninth place, while Luis Diath, who in 2021-22 left Porto to move to Liverpool for 47 million euros. in the 15th place of the ranking.
Additionally, it should be noted that 13 of the 15 biggest transfers in January involved at least one English club (either as seller or buyer) and also for the fact that 2017-18 saw five of those fifteen biggest winter transfers: Philippe Coutinho , Virgil Van Dijk, Aymeric Laporte, Aubameyang and Diego Costa.
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The English League broke all investment records this January
Finally, it is worth looking at the evolution of the January market over the years. Never in this century has a league spent as much money as the English League did last January. The sum of the investments of all clubs in aid reaches the astronomical limit of 829 million euros, which is a record.
England, moreover, occupies seven of the top ten places in the most expensive leagues per market, only giving way to the intervention of the Chinese League (twice) and the Spanish League (in one year).
On the other hand, in terms of earnings, the balance is much greater, with the Portuguese Liga appearing in this ranking once among the best. It was exactly this time, when in January it added 167 million euros, which allows it to enter the fifth place in the ranking.
Interestingly, the Portuguese league wasn’t even the top-grossing league in the winter market this season. This distinction belongs to the French League, which earned 199 million and thus enters fourth place. In a sign that the last month of January was really crazy, even compared to other years.
The ten leagues that spent and earned the most money in the winter market
