Premier League and Serie A are the two main sources of income that Madrid has been having in the market since 2009. Since then it has sold for 784 million: 41.5% have been in transfers to England and 34.6% to Italy and surely Mbappé is on the horizon.
But there was a third galactic project, this one much more recent, just two summers ago, Madrid spent 298 million on 5 players: Hazard (100), Jovic (60), Militao (50), Mendy (48) and Rodrygo (40). In it, the Belgian is the franchise player and must lead the transition, after a summer without signings due to the coronavirus crisis, towards the new era in which he will coincide with Mbappé. But how can Madrid sustain that level of spending without a state behind it, like they have PSG or Manchester City? How can the white entity face three-figure signings for the future without being driven by American or Chinese investors such as United, Liverpool, Inter or Milan? To answer these questions, beyond the traditional sources of income, you have to turn your gaze to the sales that are made.
The following study shows that the Premier League and Serie A are the two main sources of income that Real Madrid has had in the market since 2009, taking this reference date as it was when Florentino Pérez started his second term and when Madrid understood that he needed sell to be competitive. The big change in that policy came in the summer of 2013: Madrid needed to sell Higuaín to Napoli (40 million) and Özil to Arsenal (47) in order to buy Bale (101). A year later, he packed Di María destination United (75 million) to buy James (80). Today, making large outlays without letting go of ballast is a pipe dream. Financial Fair Play is insurmountable in another way.
Since 2009, Real Madrid has spent 1.34 billion euros buying players. In that same period, it has sold for 784. Of that great pie of additional income for the white entity that is now the sale of footballers (the 784 million in cash since 2009) 41.5% has been in transfers to the Premier League and 34.6% to Serie A. These two leagues account for 75% of the outbound operations; Spain remains at 12%, Germany, where there is an important culture of cost containment and commitment to the quarry, at 4% and Russia and Portugal only appear as markets residual sales.
It is curious, there is not much reciprocity with respect to the markets in which Madrid buys. Mainly it is in the Premier, but the rest is widely distributed between France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and Brazil, in this order.
As we pointed out, Madrid has become a clearly selling team (or at least, as much as a buyer) since the summer of 2013. It exceeded 100 million in income in this concept in that summer of 2013 (109 million in Ozil, Higuaín, Albiol and Callejón), in 2014 (111 in Di María, Morata, Sahin and Xabi Alonso), in 2017 (129 in Morata, Danilo, Diego Llorente and Mariano) and in 2018 (100 in Cristiano). The summer period of 2019 remained at 95 million (Kovacic Marcos Llorente and Theo) and, in 2020, that of the pandemic, at 85 (Achraf, Reguilón and Óscar Rodríguez). At this point the trickle of important departures is already permanent. In addition, Madrid released a burden on its salary mass by shedding (without any benefit) James and Bale (between them they collected 50 million gross of the 283 that Madrid pays, according to their latest official accounts, to the players of the first team). And he did not sign. Everything, prepared the star signing of Mbappé in the summer of 2021.
On the other hand and as in any sector of the economy, there are more expensive markets and others cheaper. And that maxim is also fulfilled in football, both for purchases and for sales. In the case of Real Madrid and given that, as its television rights income indicates, the Premier is the best league, it is there where the white club pays the most for transfers: an average of 53 million in the eight players it brought from 2009. In the same way it is where it sells the most expensive (40 million on average for eight footballers). Italy keeps the same proportion, Madrid pays on average each player 45 million and sells them at 30.
By teams, in terms of sales, Chelsea (125 for Morata and Kovacic) and Juve (100 for Cristiano and 20 for Morata) are the ones that have left the most cash since 2009, while Tottenham (136 in Bale and Modric) and Olympique de Lyon (105 in Mendy, Mariano and Benzema) is where Real Madrid has spent the most. In the national market, it is clearly Sevilla (30 million in Óscar Rodríguez and Negredo) and Atlético (also 30 in Marcos Llorente) who have left the most money in Madrid’s coffers in the last decade. Valencia, another great of Spain, only 8 in Channels. In LaLiga, the player gets an average of 13.6 million and sells it at an average of 14.
Naples Football City 