The Premier League’s Top Five Selling Clubs Of The Last 20 Years

David Tully

3 years ago

Categories: Galleries, West Ham United News

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves

When supporters think of ‘selling clubs’, they usually think of smaller teams selling off their best players to those higher up in the league.

However, when it comes to revenue from sales, it is, in fact, the teams at the top of the league who have tended to make the most money, as they have the most valuable players.

Today, we will go through which teams in the Premier League have made the most revenue from sales over the past 20 years. We have used data from Transfermarkt (currency is, therefore, in euros), ranging from January 1st 2000 to June 27th 2020.

Press the next page as we countdown the top five selling clubs in England.

5) Arsenal – €678.54m

The Gunners have not actually sold their players for very high figures in recent years, with their highest player sale being Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (€38m) to Liverpool in 2017 and Marc Overmars to Barcelona all the way back in 2000.

Cesc Fabregas was the third-most high profile, costing Barca €34m in 2011. It appears they have very much sold players in quantity rather than quality over the past two decades.

4) Manchester United – €699.13m

Especially since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Red Devils have seen a large turnover of players, leading to a sizeable list of sales. Cristiano Ronaldo actually left before Ferguson retired and the Portuguese international is still their most expensive departure at €94m.

Romelu Lukaku’s €74m move to Inter Milan in 2019 is second on the list while Angel Di Maria’s brief, unhappy time at Old Trafford was ended when he left for PSG for €63m in 2015.

3) Spurs – €833.78m

Since owner Joe Lewis and chairman Daniel Levy took over the running of Tottenham at the turn of the century, the London club have been known for selling key players on for profit.

Gareth Bale’s €101m departure for Real Madrid in 2013 is still the most they have received for a player, followed by Kyle Walker’s move to Manchester City and Dimitar Berbatov’s switch to Manchester United.

2) Liverpool – €988.6m

There has been a lot of changes in the Reds’ personnel over the past 20 years so it is not a surprise to see them close to the top of this list. Philippe Coutinho’s €145m departure to Barcelona in January 2018 does, however, contribute a large slice in terms of player sales.

Barca’s €81.72m purchase of Luis Suarez is actually second on the list, with Raheem Sterling’s move to Manchester City in 2015 the third most expensive departure.

1) Chelsea – €1.22bn

As well as buying a lot of players during the last two decades, the Blues have also been able to offload a number of stars for significant fees.

In fact, Eden Hazard (at €115m) is the most expensive player they have sold, and that only came in the summer of 2019. They have also sold both Diego Costa (to Atletico Madrid) and Oscar (to Shanghai SIPG) for €60m transfer fees.