The summer transfer window has just started, the 2024-2025 football season is soon resuming and this year, as usual, the transfer market has been the talk of the town. Each year, at the end of the football season, a new season begins of more than 2 months which lasts all summer. This period, particularly appreciated by football fans, tends to redistribute the cards for the coming season. The biggest clubs in Europe and the world compete to acquire the best players on the planet. AND this decade has seen its share of twists and turns. The world of football has never generated so much money Focus on the evolution of the transfer window over the past ten years!
The year 2023 is undoubtedly the year of all records for the transfer window. For the first time in the history of football, investments in transfer fees on a global scale have exceeded 10 billion euros. Even though the transfer period has not yet officially ended in all countries around the world, expenditure has already reached 12.4 billion euros. 10 years ago, during the 2014 summer transfer window, this sum did not exceed 4.5 billion euros.
The CIES methodology
The Football Observatory CIES is a research group part of the International Center for the Study of Sport (CIES). Specializing in the statistical analysis of football, the latter regularly publishes analyses, reports and assessments on the world of football. Therefore, to produce this article, we relied on the figures published by CIES, which include fixed transfer compensation, any bonuses, as well as the amounts paid in the context of paid loans. The amounts negotiated for loans with obligation to purchase are included in the statement for the year of transfer.
The evolution of expenses over the last ten years
Do you know the Big 5? In the world of football, and particularly European football, there is a group of five countries whose championships are considered the best in Europe. These championships therefore benefit from more media coverage than the others: more TV rights, more money, more players of better quality…
The countries present in the Big 5 are England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The clubs in these championships have spent a lot in recent years. In reality, according to CIES figures, in 2021, they would have spent more than 3.834 billion euros compared to 1.956 billion in 2012, almost double in just ten years.
Which clubs are the biggest spenders?
Over the last ten years, it is unsurprisingly English clubs that have spent the most. If we take stock of the most negative net results on transfer operations by club between 2014 and 2023, out of the top ten, seven are English, including the first two in the ranking. In reality, it is logical: English clubs are those which receive the most TV rights and their championship is renowned for being the best in the world.
| Rank | Team | Expenses | Recipes | Balance sheet |
| 1 | Manchester United | 1.959 billion euros | 563 million euros | -1.396 billion euros |
| 2 | Chelsea FC | 2.637 billion euros | 1.604 billion euros | -1.033 billion euros |
| 3 | Paris Saint-Germain | 1.761 billion euros | 751 million euros | -1.010 billion euros |
| 4 | Arsenal FC | 1.380 billion euros | 509 million euros | -871 million euros |
| 5 | Manchester City | 1.953 billion euros | 1.097 billion euros | -856 million euros |
| 6 | Newcastle United | 1.016 billion euros | 345 million euros | -671 million euros |
| 7 | FC Barcelona | 1.779 billion euros | 1.116 billion euros | -663 million euros |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1.264 billion euros | 655 million euros | -609 million euros |
| 9 | AC Milan | 979 million euros | 434 million euros | -545 million euros |
| 10 | West Ham United | 1.009 billion euros | 482 million euros | -527 million euros |
Thus, with more than 2.63 billion euros spent over the last decade, of which it must be remembered more than a billion invested only since its takeover in the summer of 2022, Chelsea is by far the club having invested the most money as transfer compensation. However, Manchester United has the most negative record of the last decade. The reason is simple, although the Mancunian club has invested 1.96 billion euros, they have on the other hand achieved very little revenue (linked to the sale of players), so it has by far the highest balance negative.
The Premier League above the rest
With seven clubs in the top 10 of clubs with the most negative net transfer transactions between 2014 and 2023, the Premier League is by far the most represented championship. As the championship is the most followed in the world, English clubs have much higher revenues from TV rights than their European neighbors.
Manchester City, 5e The biggest spending club of the decade has invested nearly 2 billion euros in 10 years. Led by their legendary coach Pep Guardiola, the latter did not hesitate to put pressure on his leaders so that the club doubles all positions. In the 2016-2017 financial year, Manchester City spent 1.24 billion euros, making Pep Guardiola the biggest spender. This season, City won the Champions League for the first time in their history. But more than individuals, the Sky Blues have succeeded in just ten years in creating one of the most spectacular teams in the history of football.
Freewheeling Chelsea
Chelsea and its brand new owner, Todd Boehly, are by far the biggest spenders in the summer transfer window. It is the first and only team in the world to have crossed the symbolic milestone of two billion euros invested. In the space of one year and just two transfer windows, Chelsea have invested more than 600 million euros, more than a quarter of the total amount spent over the last decade. Nevertheless, this season the London club finished 12e of the Premier League. So money isn’t everything in football.
Who are the best sellers in the transfer window?
Being a spendthrift does not mean being a good salesman. As proof, no English club is present in the top 20 teams having made the best net profits on transfers over the last ten years. On the other hand, France and Portugal have respectively 3 clubs each present in the Top 10. The reason is simple, the young gems from Monaco, Lyon or even Benfiquists are approached very early by big European clubs who no longer hesitate to spend We go crazy to attract players who sometimes have very few professional matches.
| Rank | Team | Expenses | Recipes | Balance sheet |
| 1 | SL Benfica | 564 million euros | 1.328 billion euros | +764 million euros |
| 2 | AFC Ajax | 593 million euros | 1.023 billion euros | +434 million euros |
| 3 | RB Salzburg | 202 million euros | 623 million euros | +421 million euros |
| 4 | AS Monaco | 972 million euros | 1.374 billion euros | +402 million euros |
| 5 | Sporting CP | 368 million euros | 744 million euros | +376 million euros |
| 6 | FC Porto | 433 million euros | 785 million euros | +352 million euros |
| 7 | LOSC Lille | 375 million euros | 724 million euros | +349 million euros |
| 8 | Olympique Lyonnais | 520 million euros | 856 million euros | +336 million euros |
| 9 | PSV Eindhoven | 236 million euros | 499 million euros | +263 million euros |
| 10 | Dinamo Zagreb | 78 million euros | 329 million euros | +251 million euros |
Arrival/sales: the transfer window balance of Ligue 1 clubs over ten years
But what about the French Championship? For more than 10 years, Ligue 1 has driven the transfer market, notably thanks to Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco. Significant arrivals were able to delight French supporters. Big names have appeared on Ligue 1 pitches such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Radamel Falcao, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr, Dimitri Payet, Alexis Sanchez and many others.
However, Ligue 1 clubs had to deal with financial fair play following the arrival of large investors. This new regulation aims to prevent excessive spending by clubs, by ensuring that they do not spend more money than they earn. But in reality, which clubs have actually managed to balance their accounts?
Ranking of the transfer window balance of the last decade
| Rank | Team | Transfer window balance |
| 1 | Lille | +€321.23M |
| 2 | Lyon | +€321.03M |
| 3 | Monaco | +€181.49M |
| 4 | Montpellier | +€132.33 million |
| 5 | Lorient | +€118.99M |
| 6 | Toulouse | +€72.06M |
| 7 | Metz | +€61.10M |
| 8 | Le Havre | +€43.35M |
| 9 | Reims | +€37.22M |
| 10 | RC Lens | +€33.63M |
| 11 | Clermont | +€32.63M |
| 12 | Nantes | +€28.63M |
| 13 | Rennes | +€26.46M |
| 14 | Brest | +€18.60M |
| 15 | Strasbourg | -29.25M€ |
| 16 | Nice | -75M€ |
| 17 | Marseille | -219.23M€ |
| 18 | Paris | -890.60M€ |
The Top 10 biggest transfers in football history
Each transfer window has its share of surprises and record transfers. Business Cool summarizes for you the 10 biggest transfers of the decade.
| Rank | Player | Club | Amount |
| 10 | Jack Grealish | Aston Villa -> Chelsea | €117M |
| 9 | Antoine Griezman | Atlético Madrid -> FC Barcelona | 120M€ |
| 8 | Enzo Fernandez | Benfica -> Chelsea | €121M |
| 7 | Declan Rice | West Ham -> Arsenal | €122M |
| 6 | Joao Felix | Benfica -> Atlético Madrid | €126M |
| 5 | Moises Caicedo | Brighton -> Chelsea | €133M |
| 4 | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool -> FC Barcelona | €135M |
| 3 | Ousmane Dembélé | Dortmund -> FC Barcelona | €145M |
| 2 | Kylian Mbappe | Monaco -> PSG | 180M€ |
| 1 | Neymar JR | FC Barcelona -> PSG | €222M |
