Real Madrid outside top 10 of transfer spend in Europe over last decade

Real Madrid have the image of the big-spending and all-conquering multi-national giant in football, but President Florentino Perez has more recently defined their transfer strategy by relative austerity. Limiting Los Blancos to just one galactico signing per summer, they only bring in experienced players as free agents these days too.

That shift occurred after their spending on the likes of Luka Jovic and Eden Hazard, two transfers that added up to nearly €200m, but scarcely brought a return either on the pitch or in their accounts. According to Transfermarkt, as carried by Cadena SER, Real Madrid rank 12th in the overall spend on transfer fees over the last decade, having forked out €1.1b over that time.

Ahead of them are Liverpool, and they are slightly ahead of the two sides of the Milan derby. It is notable that Spain’s big three are La Liga’s only entrants into the top 25 across Europe. Meanwhile Atletico Madrid just creep into the top 10, having spent €1.12b during the same period. Los Colchoneros can attribute a chunk of that to the past summer, when Julian Alvarez, Alexander Sorloth, Conor Gallagher and Robin Le Normand, in deals that also approach €200m in value. Ahead of them are Tottenham Hotspur (€1.13b) and Arsenal (€1.144b).

Barcelona are the highest-ranking side from La Liga, having spent €1.159b, and they sit seventh. Ahead are Juventus (€1.181b), Paris Saint-Germain (€1.89b), Manchester United (€1.97b), Manchester City (€2.06b) and Chelsea (€2.1b). At one time the Catalan side would have been near the top of the list, but since the use of their ‘economic levers’, the Blaugrana have slowed down somewhat, spending €90m over the last two seasons.

The rankings clearly give some insight into the spending habits of the top clubs in Europe, but also the financial might of the Premier League, who occupy five of the top ten spots. The rankings can also be somewhat deceptive in terms of total spending, as it does not take into account spending on wages or signing fees, which in the case of free agents like Kylian Mbappe, are significant.