Stato
Well-known member
- Dec 21, 2011
- 7,367
With the seemingly imminent departure of Trossard likely to push our transfer balance this season to somewhere over 80m Euros* (Unless we buy someone other than Buonanotte this month), I wondered how this compares with previous instances of big transfer balance profits and what impact making a lot of money on transfers in a single season tends to have on a team's league position.
Looking only at teams that have had a net transfer balance larger than 30 million in a single season, it seems that only three teams have ever made over 30m in a season whilst also improving their league position. Nobody has ever risen by more than a single rung.
The best performance was from West Ham in 2008/09 who made a profit of 52.8m on the sales of Mascherano, Bellamy, Anton Ferdinand, George McCartney and some bloke called Bobby Zamora and went from 10th in 2007/08 to 9th in 2008/09;
The following season, 2009/10 Arsenal reaped a profit of 35.7m from selling Adebayor and Kolo Toure and climbed from 4th to 3rd;
In 2011/12 Spurs cleared the decks of Crouch, Palacios, Pavlyunchencko and Alan Hutton, making 34.25m and improving from 5th to 4th.
Everyone else that has made this kind of profit has slipped in the table:
2019/20 Chelsea made 112.3m profit after the sale of Eden Hazard. They dropped from 3rd to 4th.
2019/20 our friends up the road mugged Man Utd for Wan-Bissaka, making a 47.8m transfer profit, but dropping from 12th to 14th;
2017/18 Southampton sold van Dijk, putting them in profit by 37.1m - dropped from 8th to 17th;
2009/10 Man Utd cashed in on Ronaldo, making 77.2m profit, but losing the title, dropping to second;
2009/10 Portsmouth's fire sale, also involving Peter Crouch, as well as Glenn Johnson and several others recovered 41.49m, but cost 6 league places and saw them relegated in 20th;
2004/05 Everton dropped from 7th to 10th after making 33.53m, but losing Rooney;
2002/03 saw Leeds becoming the first team to have a transfer balance over 30m, as they began their attempt to recoup the money they'd spent but didn't have. They made a staggering 75.6m, (Probably around 130m today, but I'm not going into inflation of the Euro, this is already too complicated) mainly on Rio Ferdinand, but also on Woodgate, Keane and Fowler. They slipped from 4th to 5th. Worse was to come for them.
Leicester have, so far made the largest profit this season. The sale of Fofana puts them 64.4m in the black;
We are, before the Trossard deal, and anything else that happens before the end of the month, in profit to the tune of 62.2m on player sales in 2022/23. We've also made a fair chunk on compensation for the coaching team, that isn't included in these figures. At present, we sit two places above our 9th place finish last year. If we can maintain or improve that position, whilst also maintaining or increasing the transfer balance sheet, it seems that it would be, by this measure (and ignoring inflation) by far the best improvement, whilst making the most profit that has ever been acheived since Rupert's footyball extravagnza began.
* All figures in Euros because that's what Transfermarkt uses
P.S. - Just for fun: In the period since Chris Hughton left at the end of the 2018/19 season, Brighton's overall transfer balance is plus 4.53m. In that period, they have moved from scraping 17th to 7th. The second highest spenders in that period are Chelsea, who, despite having a transfer ban for two windows during this period, have managed to blow 440.14m. Their phenomenal investment has seen them drop from 3rd to 10th. There must be a better way Todd. You should get in a manager who is known for building teams / improving players. You might have to be quite patient though: - We spent a lot of time in the bottom six.
Looking only at teams that have had a net transfer balance larger than 30 million in a single season, it seems that only three teams have ever made over 30m in a season whilst also improving their league position. Nobody has ever risen by more than a single rung.
The best performance was from West Ham in 2008/09 who made a profit of 52.8m on the sales of Mascherano, Bellamy, Anton Ferdinand, George McCartney and some bloke called Bobby Zamora and went from 10th in 2007/08 to 9th in 2008/09;
The following season, 2009/10 Arsenal reaped a profit of 35.7m from selling Adebayor and Kolo Toure and climbed from 4th to 3rd;
In 2011/12 Spurs cleared the decks of Crouch, Palacios, Pavlyunchencko and Alan Hutton, making 34.25m and improving from 5th to 4th.
Everyone else that has made this kind of profit has slipped in the table:
2019/20 Chelsea made 112.3m profit after the sale of Eden Hazard. They dropped from 3rd to 4th.
2019/20 our friends up the road mugged Man Utd for Wan-Bissaka, making a 47.8m transfer profit, but dropping from 12th to 14th;
2017/18 Southampton sold van Dijk, putting them in profit by 37.1m - dropped from 8th to 17th;
2009/10 Man Utd cashed in on Ronaldo, making 77.2m profit, but losing the title, dropping to second;
2009/10 Portsmouth's fire sale, also involving Peter Crouch, as well as Glenn Johnson and several others recovered 41.49m, but cost 6 league places and saw them relegated in 20th;
2004/05 Everton dropped from 7th to 10th after making 33.53m, but losing Rooney;
2002/03 saw Leeds becoming the first team to have a transfer balance over 30m, as they began their attempt to recoup the money they'd spent but didn't have. They made a staggering 75.6m, (Probably around 130m today, but I'm not going into inflation of the Euro, this is already too complicated) mainly on Rio Ferdinand, but also on Woodgate, Keane and Fowler. They slipped from 4th to 5th. Worse was to come for them.
Leicester have, so far made the largest profit this season. The sale of Fofana puts them 64.4m in the black;
We are, before the Trossard deal, and anything else that happens before the end of the month, in profit to the tune of 62.2m on player sales in 2022/23. We've also made a fair chunk on compensation for the coaching team, that isn't included in these figures. At present, we sit two places above our 9th place finish last year. If we can maintain or improve that position, whilst also maintaining or increasing the transfer balance sheet, it seems that it would be, by this measure (and ignoring inflation) by far the best improvement, whilst making the most profit that has ever been acheived since Rupert's footyball extravagnza began.
* All figures in Euros because that's what Transfermarkt uses
P.S. - Just for fun: In the period since Chris Hughton left at the end of the 2018/19 season, Brighton's overall transfer balance is plus 4.53m. In that period, they have moved from scraping 17th to 7th. The second highest spenders in that period are Chelsea, who, despite having a transfer ban for two windows during this period, have managed to blow 440.14m. Their phenomenal investment has seen them drop from 3rd to 10th. There must be a better way Todd. You should get in a manager who is known for building teams / improving players. You might have to be quite patient though: - We spent a lot of time in the bottom six.
