Top 5 "selling" clubs of all time
Selling is an art, especially in football. Finding the right price, convincing the player, convincing his agent, convincing the buyer, scouting possible replacements - there are so many aspects to overlook while dealing with the sale of a player, more so if he is an important player.
How often have we seen that clubs sell their talismans and fail to cope without them? Or on the opposite side of the spectrum, clubs often keep their player in spite of a lucrative offer on the table, only to lose him for free next time.
But some clubs have acclimatized themselves to sales and have become famous in Europe for the same.
They say 'no player is bigger than the club', and these clubs certainly stick to that motto. On that note, here are the top 5 'selling' clubs of all time.
#5 Arsenal
Arsenal, especially under Arsene Wenger has had the reputation of developing young talent. Recruiting raw youngsters and turning them into world-class players has been a theme at the North London club.
Due to this, they have had to suffer numerous sales of talented players over the years. Furthermore, due to the construction of the Emirates stadium, some of the sales were deemed necessary to balance the books and maintain financial stability.
Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Marc Overmars, Nicolas Anelka are just some of the names which the Gunners let go for hefty sums. More importantly, these players could have benefitted the club quite a lot if they were kept hold of.
Since 2005, Arsenal has made sales amounting to a whopping amount of €498.4 million. In spite of this, they have managed to maintain their level, qualifying for Europe and winning some FA Cups along the way. Imagine what would have been without all those sales.