Beyond a historic rivalry on the football fields, RC Lens and LOSC can boast of having something in common off it. That of having impeccable financial health.
Indeed, the International Center for the Study of Sport (CIES) published this Wednesday a report on clubs having “best operated” on the transfer market, from a financial point of view, since January 2021. Or in other words, a ranking of the teams with the best capital gains for five years.
In the lead, Eintracht Frankfurt. The German team has a positive balance sheet of 286 million euros. It must be said that the club was greatly helped by the sales of Hugo Ékitiké to Liverpool (90 million), Randal Kolo Muani to PSG (90 million) and Omar Marmoush to Manchester City (75 million) which helped replenish the coffers. Behind, Brighton & Hove (+€221m), Stuttgart (+€178m), Atalanta Bergam (+€150m) and Benfica Lisbon (+€147m) complete the top 5.
Lens and Lille in the top 10, OM last French club
Sixth place in this ranking is therefore occupied by Lens, and its 134 million euros in capital gains since January 2021. Logical, since nine of the club’s ten best sales have occurred in the meantime. There is of course Loïs Openda to Leipzig in 2023 and Abdukodir Khusanov to Manchester City last winter (€40 million) or even Elye Wahi to Marseille in the 2024 summer transfer window (€27 million). The Artésiens are ahead of their historic rivals, LOSC (+ €112 million).
Conversely, OM is on the verge of the top 10 clubs with the worst record. Far behind Al-Hilal (-€197 million) and Al-Nassr (-€104 million), but still with a loss of 31 million euros to deplore. The top 5 negative balance sheets are completed by three English clubs: West Ham (-€99 million), Aston Villa (-€85 million) and Manchester United (-€74 million).
