The 92nd CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report analyses from a spatial perspective the origin of the >€75 billion transfer revenues collected by clubs worldwide between 2014 and 2023. Overall, clubs have generated around two-thirds of their transfer incomes from international deals. However, this proportion varies greatly from country to country, with a minimum of 37% for English clubs and a maximum of 73% for French teams among the big-5 league associations.

Teams from only three countries other than England - among the twenty whose clubs generated the most transfer incomes during the last decade - collected less money from foreign teams than from domestic ones: China (22%), Mexico (44%) and Italy (48%). The dependence on foreign transfers is much greater for clubs in associations such as Portugal (91%), the Netherlands (90%), Belgium (87%), Brazil (86%), Argentina (83%) or Turkey (77%).

For many countries, England is the main fund provider for international transfers. Among the nine other associations whose clubs received the most indemnities between 2014 and 2023, this is notably the case for the Netherlands (38% of total transfer revenues were generated from England), France (32%), Germany (31%), Spain (30%), Portugal (30%), Belgium (25%) and Italy (14%). Brazil (Spain) and Argentina (Italy) are the only exceptions.

>>> Access the mapping

Number 452 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 169 clubs in the world whose volume of incoming or outgoing player transactions over the last five seasons exceeded the €100 million threshold, as well as their net spending for the last ten, the last five and the last season. In terms of the volume of money exchanged, Chelsea is clearly in the lead with €2.572 billion, followed by Manchester City (€1.726) and Paris St-Germain (€1.404).

In total, 14 teams from seven countries have ’shuffled’ over a billion euros in five seasons: five from England, two from Spain, two from Germany, two from Italy, one from France, one from Portugal and one from the Netherlands. Twenty-four countries, including five outside Europe, are represented among the 169 teams whose volume of transactions exceeded €100 million, with a maximum of 30 clubs for England.

In terms of balance sheets, the values for the current season range from -€384m for Al-Hilal to +€167m for Southampton. Over the last five seasons, the figures stretch from -€782m for Chelsea to +€354m for Benfica. Finally, over the last decade, the values go from -€1.348bn for Manchester United (with only Chelsea also totalling a >€1bn deficit) to +€732m for Benfica. All the sums presented include any add-ons, regardless of their effective payment.

>>> All the data

On this Valentine’s Day, the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights the footballers from 60 leagues around the world who have been in the first team squad of their current club for the longest uninterrupted period. Russian international goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev is the most loyal player overall: he has been defending the CSKA Moscow goal for 21 years.

In the European big-5 leagues, two Germans top the table: Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) and Tony Jantschke (Borussia Mönchengladbach). They are currently playing their sixteenth consecutive season with their respective clubs. Three Spaniards complete the podium in the big-5: Athletic Club’s Iker Muniain and Óscar de Marcos, as well as Atlético de Madrid’s Koke Resurrección.

For the other European leagues surveyed, Akinfeev is ahead of compatriot Rizvan Utsiev (Akhmat Grozny), Scotland’s Lewis Stevenson (Hivernian) and Norway’s Steffen Hagen (Odds BK). Outside Europe, Emirati goalkeeper Ali Khaseif (Al-Jazira) tops the list ahead of the Shanghai Port duo Huikang Cai and Wenjun Lü, and Japan’s Hisashi Jogo (Avispa Fukuoka).

>>> All players

The 450th issue of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post analyses the game intelligence data produced exclusively by our partners SkillCorner to reveal the one hundred midfielders with the best statistics in terms of ball retention under high pressure* in 28 leagues around the world. The best percentage in absolute terms was recorded for a player who is relatively unknown in Europe: Darlington Nagbe (93.4%) of Columbus Crew.

Four better-known midfielders rank behind Nagbe: Rodri Hernández of Manchester City (92.1%), Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona (91.8%), Toni Kroos of Real Madrid (also 91.8%), and Granit Xhaka of Bayer Leverkusen (91.6%). Many footballers from teams playing a possession-based game are among the top-ranked ones, showing that the individual ability to keep possession also depends on the solutions offered by teammates.

The three youngest players in the top 100 are Paris St-Germain’s Warren Zaïre-Emery, Barcelona’s Pablo Gavi and Hull City’s Tyler Morton (on loan from Liverpool), followed by Gerard Yepes (Sampdoria) and Pablo Maia (São Paulo). The data refers to the current season or the last completed one for summer leagues. Only footballers who have played at least 1,000 domestic league minutes have been incldued in the rankings.

* A player is considered under pressure when he is in possession of the ball and at least one opponent player nearby him is trying to either recover the ball or limit his options. For each situation, SkillCorner determines the intensity of pressure by considering the speed of the players applying it, their distance to the player in possession and the angle of their movement. More information is available here.

>>> Top 100

The 449th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 402 footballers who played in the big-5 before turning 18 during the 15-year period from January 2009 to December 2023. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is the footballer who has played the most minutes in the five major European leagues as a minor (4,879), followed by Alban Lafont, Eduardo Camavinga, Florian Wirtz, Pablo Gavi and Warren Zaïre-Emery (ongoing).

Seven players made their big-5 league debut before the age of 16, the youngest in absolute terms being Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri (15.5 years). With 119 minors fielded by their clubs, France’s Ligue 1 is the leader in this area, as the Monthly Report number 91 also reveals. The sharp rise in the use of underage players recorded since 2022 is strongly linked to the increase observed at French Ligue 1 level.

The study also shows that early experience in big-5 leagues is no guarantee of success. Only a minority (47.7%) of footballers used in the big-5 as minors and who subsequently played in other teams were able to do so for at least one club at a better sporting level than their initial one. This finding indicates that caution is required when it comes to assessing the true potential of players launched into professional football at an early stage.

>>> The 402 minors’ list

>>> Full analysis

See also the FIFA, ECA & CIES study on the transfer of minors and their career paths.

The 448th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 50 clubs in the world with the most positive and negative transfer balances for non-academy players signed and transferred between 2014 and 2023. The figures range from a positive balance* of €386 million for LOSC Lille (Pépé, Osimhen, Botman, etc.) to a negative balance of €631 million for Barcelona (Coutinho, Dembélé, Griezmann, etc.).

With +€317 million in capital gains, Ajax (de Jong, Antony, Lisandro Martínez, etc.) are in second place. RB Salzburg (Naby Keita, Mwepu, Haaland, etc.) complete the podium, just ahead of AS Monaco (Tchouaméni, Lemar, Bernardo Silva, etc.). The top 10 of clubs having generated the most profits from player trading during the last decade also includes two German (RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt), two Italian (Sassuolo and Atalanta) and two Portuguese teams (Benfica and Sporting CP).

At the other end of the scale, Barcelona (-€632 million) are ahead of Chelsea (-€482m with the three biggest losses for Jorginho, Pulišić and Rüdiger) and Arsenal (-€436m; Pépé, Aubameyang, Lacazette). Paris St-Germain has the fourth most negative balance (Neymar, Di María, Icardi, etc.), ahead of Manchester United (Matić, Fred, Mata, etc.). Manchester City (-€59m) and Bayern Munich (-€61m) have the best balances among the most competitive teams.

* Add-ons included irrespective of actual receipt or payment, not including agent commissions.

>>> Full data

The top 100 of youth academy players’ last decade transfer incomes by club is available here.