With average transfer fees escalating and €100 million-plus deals increasingly common, the financial spotlight is shining brightly on soccer teams around the world. But which clubs have done well and which have failed? Helpfully, the CIES Football Observatory have conducted a study that can explain it all.
CIES' report looked at the 100 most active clubs across the past decade in terms of net transfer spending (incomings minus outgoings). From 2014 onwards, Manchester United have emerged as the club with the single biggest negative balance, but they are not alone from the Premier League as there are plenty of others who have failed to "break even" too.