Last Friday, after a hellish day, the 2023 summer transfer window closed its doors in most of the major European championships. Of course, some markets are still open for a few days, especially in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It is therefore time to take stock after a summer which will have been very turbulent, especially at Paris Saint-Germain. Before the end of the season, Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) and Sergio Ramos (Sevilla) left the club.
PSG sold well, but also spent a lot
Then other undesirables left. Among them, Neymar. Pushed out, the Brazilian joined Al-Hilal against a check for around 90 million euros (excluding bonuses). This is a record sale for the capital club, which sold for around 124 million euros this summer. But this does not really balance the books since the French champions have spent around 320 million euros to strengthen this summer. Eleven players have arrived in Paris.
If some signed free like Milan Skriniar or Marco Asensio (they had a signing bonus, editor’s note), others cost dearly to the image of Randal Kolo Muani or Bradley Barcola. Moreover, PSG is not one of the “good students” in Europe according to the latest Weekly Letter published by the CIES Football Observatory of Neuchâtel. This one presented this Wednesday “the net balance sheets on transfer operations of the 100 most active clubs in terms of financial volume of transactions concluded during the last decade.”
Paris is in the top 3 clubs with a deficit balance sheet over the last 10 years
Paris is in the top 3 teams with the most negative balance on transfer operations since 2014. Over the last decade, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi’s club has had a balance sheet deficit of more than one billion euros (1.010 billion ). But two other clubs are doing worse. These are Manchester United (1.396 billion) and Chelsea (1.033 billion). It should be noted, however, that the Blues have the worst post-Covid balance sheet (993 M€) and that they also have a negative balance for the year 2023 of 558 M€.
Regarding French clubs, OM are the second worst performers of the decade with a loss of €225 million. As for the “good students”, Benfica is first in the class with a positive balance of €764 million. Ajax (+€434m) and RB Salzburg (+€422m) are ahead of Monaco, fourth with €402m. The numerous sales, including that of Kylian Mbappé to PSG or Aurélien Tchouaméni to Real Madrid, have made it possible to fill the coffers. Lille (+€350m, 7th) and OL (+€336m, 8th), with many young people trained at the club who have been sold, are also in the top 10.
