Real Madrid have spent more than any club during the past year

The CIES Football Observatory have compiled a list of balance sheets of the clubs who have spent or received the most money over the past 12 months. The study is based on the outgoings and revenue relating to each player in the first team squad of every club. From that CIES have put together a ranking based on the difference between both figures.

Out of the clubs who have gained a profit, Chelsea tops the list with 205 million euros in gains - partly because they were unable to sign any players due to the FIFA transfer ban; they were only able to exercise their option to sign Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid for 45 million euros. Just below Chelsea are Benfica who registered 166 million euros profits, much of that was down to selling João Félix to Atlético Madrid; in third are Ajax with 137 million in profits - thanks to two high profile transfers last summer - De Ligt to Juventus and De Jong to Barcelona. It's telling that no Spanish club features in the top 20 clubs to have posted profits during the past year.

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Madrid spent 330 million euros on six players

However there are two Spanish clubs among those whose balance sheets are in the black. Real Madrid top the table with 181 million euros in losses. Madrid were the club who spent the most (330 million) during the two most recent transfer windows  - signing Eden Hazard, Rodrygo, Luka Jovic, Éder Militão, Férland Mendy, Reinier...) and even while they brought in a decent figure from selling players - 149 million euros for offloading Marcos Llorente, Keylor Navas, Raúl De Tomás, Mateo Kovacic and Theo Hernández, they were the club who posted the most losses in their transfer dealings.

Just behind them are Aston Villa, who spent 172 million euros but only raised three million in sales, leaving them with a negative balance of 169 million euros. Villa brought in 13 new players - Brazilian striker Wesley Moraes being the most expensive signing at 25 million. Completing the podium were Barcelona with a deficit of 166 million euros, after having invested 288 million in players such as Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie De Jong, Neto, Junior and Emerson, while bringing in just 122 million for the transfers of Malcom, Jasper Cillessen, André Gomes, Paco Alcácer and Denis Suárez among others.

The 20 clubs who made a profit

The 20 clubs with negative balance sheets

CIES ranking for the last two transfer windows

*For more information, visit the CIES website: