FOOTBALL fans have almost become numb to the astronomical amount of cash that is splashed around in the transfer market these days.
With transfer fees increasing exponentially each year, the ten clubs that have cashed in the most money for their stars in the 21st Century has been revealed.
We’ve seen nine players breach the £100m mark in the last seven years alone with a premium being slapped on Premier League talent over recent campaigns.
But despite four of the ten most expensive transfers of all time coming from Prem clubs, only one English side makes the cut for the top 10 best selling clubs of the last 24 years.
While a few unexpected names have seen their revenue rise through the roof, thanks to deep pocketed Prem owners snatching away their talent for sky-high prices.
See the top 10 best selling clubs of the 21st century according to Transfermarkt below…
Italian giants Roma have raked in the cash for their stars over the last 24 years, totalling £1.1billion in sales since the turn of the century.
They have one English club to thank for a big chunk of it with Liverpool handing over the cash for their two record sales.
Mohamed Salah (£36m) and Alisson (£54m) both swapped the Italian capital for Merseyside after excelling in Serie A.
Atletico Madrid have managed to stay competitive while also selling some of their best stars over the years.
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Antoine Griezmann‘s £103m move to Barcelona and Lucas Hernandez’s £68.5m switch to Bayern Munich helped earn the club a hefty chunk.
While Premier League exits for Rodri (£60m), Thomas Partey (£45m), and Matheus Cunha (£44m) have also increased the cashflow.
However, it looks like Atleti are turning into spenders this year with the side in line to drop £81m on Julian Alvarez and a further £34m on Conor Gallagher.
When you think of Real Madrid you often think of big spenders, not big sellers.
But when Juventus splashed £100m on Cristiano Ronaldo they helped re-balance the books in the Spanish capital.
While a combined £223m from Premier League clubs for Mesut Ozil, Casemiro, Angel Di Maria and Alvaro Morata also went a long way to earn Los Blancos some extra spending money.
The first surprise of the list, until you remember the slew of talent that that Porto have produced over the years.
Eder Militao, Luis Diaz, Eliaquim Mangala and James Rodriguez all cost in excess of £38.5m.
While the Portuguese giants got a nice cash boost last summer when they flogged Otavio to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr for £51.5m.
Barcelona, like Real Madrid, are better known for their spending than their selling.
But their world record sale of Neymar to PSG pocketed the club an eye-watering £198MILLION.
Arthur Melo’s £69m move to Juventus and Luis Figo‘s £50m move to rivals Real Madrid in 2000 also stick out as notable sales.
What’s perhaps most impressive is that they sit sixth on this list having made £0 from Lionel Messi‘s switch to PSG.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that AS Monaco’s £166m sale of Kylian Mbappe is the only superstar exit from the Ligue 1 club.
But in fact they have earned bundles of cash for a number of big names over the years.
Aurelien Tchouameni, James Rodriguez, Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar are just a few of their big-money sales.
The names of the stars that have left Inter Milan since 2000 are astonishing, with the Italian giants making a killing from some of football’s biggest icons.
Romelu Lukaku, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Achraf Hakimi and Ronaldo Nazario all earned Inter over £250m.
While Andre Onana‘s £47m move to Man Utd last summer was a nice boost to their transfer kitty.
Benfica might just be the best producer of young talent on this list, especially if you’re only breeding the superstars to rack up some funds.
The Portuguese outfit have made an astonishing £636MILLION in PROFIT in the last 10 years alone.
Joao Felix’s £114m switch to Atletico Madrid tops their list while Enzo Fernandez’s £107m move to Chelsea is their second most expensive sale.
Beyond that they made £85m from Liverpool for Darwin Nunez and £61m from Man City for Ruben Dias.
This summer they cashed in even more when they sold rising star Joao Neves to PSG for £50m.
You wonder why Juventus have been in such a financial mess in recent seasons when you see how much money they have brought in over the years in player sales.
Paul Pogba, who was signed for free, earned Juve £89m when he returned to Manchester United in 2016.
Unbelievably their second highest sale still belongs to Zinedine Zidane, whose 2001 switch to Real Madrid made Juve a record-shattering £69.8m.
That’s right, the Premier League’s biggest spenders are also the world’s biggest earners.
In no small part thanks to Eden Hazard‘s £115m move to Real Madrid, the Blues have earned a whopping £1.6bn in transfer fees over the last 24 years.
Many of their big-money departures have come in recent seasons, with Kai Havertz‘s £65m switch to Arsenal and Mason Mount‘s £55m Man Utd exit representing the club’s second and third highest value sales.
Don’t be fooled by their sale figures though, thanks to Todd Boehly‘s rampant spending, Chelsea are still believed to be £1.54BILLION in the red when it comes to transfer balance after spending £3.14BILLION on incomings in the same period.
