Which club made the biggest profit, which made the biggest loss? Who spent the most, who took in the most? Four outliers of the summer transfer window from Europe’s top leagues
The summer transfer window in Europe’s top five leagues has closed, and once again the English clubs dominated the billion-dollar action. Accordingly, three of them set four Europe-wide top figures – with Brighton switching sides.
Biggest plus: Leeds United – approx. 130 million euros
Last season, Leeds United squandered their return to the Premier League twice: first, coach Daniel Farke’s team slipped out of the direct promotion places, then they lost 1-0 to Southampton FC in the final of the play-offs. After that, saving money was the order of the day. The generous “parachute payments” that the long-established club had received last summer, like every relegated club, were no longer available.
Although the long-established club spent around 30 million euros on the summer transfer market, it ended up with a transfer fee surplus of around 130 million euros – the largest in Europe. With Georginio Rutter (Brighton), Archie Gray (Tottenham), Crysencio Summerville (West Ham) and Luis Sinisterra (Bournemouth), four key players made up for the Premier League promotion on a personal level. Ex-Hoffenheim player Rutter alone brought in income of around 45 million euros via a release clause
The club had lost the best player in the Championship in Summerville and the second-best in Rutter, explained Farke recently, saying that both could “not be replaced”. At least his crippled squad was filled out with four late, cheap transfers, including Ao Tanaka from Düsseldorf. Will that be enough for promotion after a year’s delay? With two wins and two draws, Farke’s young team has already made a promising start to the season
Biggest loss: Brighton – approx. 180 million euros
In case anyone had any questions about Brighton & Hove Albion’s ambitions, the club provided clear answers this summer: After a three-digit million plus in the previous year, Fabian Hürzeler’s new employer afforded itself a minus of around €180 million. And even if it sounds paradoxical, the transfer policy hardly changed at all
Once again, the Seagulls opted for young players such as Brajan Gruda (Mainz), Yankuba Minteh (Newcastle), Matt O’Riley (Celtic) or, see above, Rutter, the average age of the new players being just under 22. However, this time they did not shy away from investing in high transfer fees, always in the knowledge that the repurchase value could still be significantly higher one day. And, unlike in previous years, Brighton did not sell any key players for big money.
It was no coincidence that Brighton were openly dreaming of titles even before their strong start to the season. After a number of up-and-coming years, the southern English side seem to want to firmly establish themselves in the Premier League’s top six, top eight
Most Spent: Chelsea FC – approx. 230 million euros
The fact that Brighton are not in first place among Europe’s top leagues in terms of spending, but in second place, has to do with Chelsea FC, who spent around ten million euros more – but are on a par with clubs such as FC Bayern or Juventus Turin in terms of the transfer balance.
In their efforts to reduce the salary and age levels in the squad, the Blues have released a total of 37 players, many of them on loan at the last minute, often to partner club Racing Strasbourg. Although many of the 13 new arrivals around Pedro Neto and Joao Felix were, as always, no bargains, a lot of revenue was generated – also through numerous home-grown players from the inexhaustible academy, whose sales are particularly valuable in terms of the balance sheet.
If Napoli goalscorer Victor Osimhen had also arrived, which was a concrete possibility on “Deadline Day”, Chelsea’s spending would probably have broken the €300 million mark (and still been far below last summer’s figure of over €450 million). Coach Enzo Maresca, who has tirelessly emphasized in recent weeks that he does not work at “any crazy club”, postponed the subject of Osimhen until January
