Arsenal rank fifth in the list of the top 10 teams with the most money from player sales since the Premier League began.
That’s according to statistics compiled by the Daily Star, who added up all the money received by each club since 1992, and then ranked them against each other to come up with their list of 10. We’ve put together the results for you below:
- Chelsea – £694,342,000
- Liverpool – £671,708,000
- Tottenham – £631,490,000
- Manchester United – £544,194,000
- Arsenal – £477,016,000
- Everton – £356,932,000
- Newcastle – £355,991,000
- Manchester City – £352,927,000
- Southampton – £307,310,000
- West Ham – £302,970,000
The list really highlights how much better some clubs have been at getting money in, particularly clubs like Tottenham.
It’s hard to name many Tottenham sides that have had a higher overall value than Arsenal’s at the time. But nonetheless, Spurs have ended up more than £150m better off in terms of players sales.
There’s an argument that Arsenal hold onto their players for a bit longer, retaining them through their peak years and then selling on afterwards, but the likes of van Persie, Nasri, Fabregas and others still had years ahead of them when they left.
So at that point, you have to start looking at the team in charge of transfers, and ask whether they’re getting as much as they should be.
Hopefully the potential acquisition of Barcelona sporting director Raul Sanllehi should help in this regard, but it’s definitely something the Gunners can improve on.
[Edit – let’s not forget the stupid money Real Madrid paid for Gareth Bale]