Barcelona ranked as worst sellers in Spain; Villarreal at the other end of the scale

Barcelona are still struggling with their salary limit three years on from the departure of the infamous Josep Maria Bartomeu, and that may in part be down to their struggles to bring in sales for their big-money signings. Equally, Spanish football in the past has been strong in that regard, but that appears to be on the decline.

Following a study by the CIES football observatory on the profit and loss coming from transfers (excluding academy players) from 2015 to the present day, Villarreal are the only La Liga side who have managed to crack the top 20. As remarked by Relevo, they sit in 17th having sold €132m more than they’ve spent. Previously the likes of Sevilla and Valencia would have been renowned for their profitable recruitment, but that is no longer the case. Real Sociedad (€92m) and Real Betis (€103m) are also performing well in that regard.

At the other end of the scale, Barcelona rank as the fourth worst side in the top leagues with a negative balance of €368m, behind the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and Chelsea. Other offenders in that regard are Real Madrid, who have a negative balance of €131m. Atletico Madrid sit much lower in the ranking, but have a balance of negative €54m.

With Barcelona and Real Madrid there is a major caveat, in that both rely on their academies to produce players regularly, and especially with Los Blancos, make a profit for them in the transfer market. It goes to show that the Yellow Submarine have not lost their touch, and it is no surprise that while Sevilla flounder in midtable after a period success, Villarreal are challenging for a top four spot off the back of their success in the market.