Brighton and Hove Albion excel in transfer deal table

Brighton and Hove Albion are one of football’s biggest money-makers when it comes to transfer deals, according to international research.

The sale of the likes of Moises Caicedo, Yves Bissouma, Alexis Mac Allister and Ben White are among their recent successes while fans are eager to see how new signing Valentin Barco shapes up on the pitch.

Some would say that poker-playing Albion chairman Tony Bloom, his data crunchers, talent-scouting set up and technical staff have helped the Seagulls to trade their way up – and a new set of figures seem to bolster that argument.

The club received €405 million (about £346 million) for non-academy players sold from 2014 to 2023, according to the International Centre for Sports Studies.

The Swiss organisation, widely known as the CIES (Centre International d’Etude du Sport), said that Albion spent €314 million (about £269 million) over the same period.

The result was a profit of €91 million (about £78 million) for the Seagulls, the second-highest of all the clubs currently in the Premier League. Only Brentford, with a profit of €99 million (about £85 million), made more.

Brighton and Brentford were the only Premier League clubs to make the global top 50, with the Bees 26th and Albion 29th.

Losses were more much common, with English clubs filling six of the top 10 places for loss-making transfer dealings, according to the data published yesterday (Wednesday 24 January).

The Spanish club Barcelona topped the table with a €631 million deficit, followed by Chelsea (€483 million) and Arsenal (€436 million).

Paris St-Germain were fourth, with a €410 million loss, followed by Manchester United, in fifth place, having lost €328 million.

The three other top 10 loss-making English clubs were Aston Villa (€256 million), Everton (€251 million) and Liverpool (€249 million) in seventh, eighth and ninth place respectively.

A fortnight ago, the CIES said that Brighton had recorded impressive academy receipts too, making the global top 100 in 62nd place.

Albion made €91 million (about £78 million) from eight players over the 10-year period, with all of those deals coming in the past five years.

The CIES study included only players who spent at least three seasons in the academy from the ages of 15 to 21.

One of those eight former academy players sold by Albion was Robert Sanchez, who signed for Chelsea for £25 million including “add-ons”.

The London club had the best track record for an English side for profiting from the sale of academy players though, and the fifth best in the world, generating €347 million from 28 deals from 2014 to 2023.

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City both featured in the top 10, with Aston Villa and Liverpool making the top 20.

Arsenal, Manchester United, West Ham United, Nottingham Forest and Everton all also generated more in revenue from selling academy players than Albion.