While fans want to keep their star players, football is a business and Europe's biggest teams are always looking for ways to make money.
Teams like Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham all make smart deals before selling players for huge profits.
Using data from transfermarkt, we looked at the top 10 most profitable players.
Note:
This list only includes players that were purchased for a fee prior to being sold, not including any free transfers or academy graduates.
ten. Cristiano Ronaldo - 75 million euros in profit
After embarrassing John O'Shea in a pre-season friendly in August 2003, Ronaldo left Sporting and joined Manchester United in a €19 million deal.
He went on to win three Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles with the club, as well as United's first Ballon d'Or winner since George Best in 1968.
His incredible performance at Old Trafford has not surprisingly attracted the interest of Real Madrid, who have been relentlessly pursuing the winger for more than a year.
While Sir Alex Ferguson publicly vowed he 'wouldn't sell the virus' to the Spanish giants, United's resistance broke in the summer of 2009 when Real made a historic transfer offer. Continent of the world at that time, who was too beautiful to refuse.
—April 15, 2009
Ronaldo scored from the parking lot and then won the Puskás for it
(via @ManUtd) pic.twitter.com/RGV0x213NW
– B/R football (@brfootball) April 15, 2023
9. Enzo Fernandez – 76.75 million euros profit
Fernandez was a relatively unknown midfielder when he signed for Benfica for 14 million euros in the summer of 2022, but he has since enjoyed a massive rise.
The Argentina international impressed in Portugal's top-flight and then rose to international fame at the 2022 World Cup, where he won the tournament's Young Player of the Year award.
Benfica had hoped to keep Fernandez for more than six months, but Chelsea activated a €121m release clause in his contract in January 2023.
The Portuguese side made a huge profit but had to pay €30.25 million to River Plate, who included a 25% sale clause in the contract when selling the midfielder.
8. Dusan Vlahovic – profit of 78.4 million euros
Vlahovic rose through the ranks at Partizan Belgrade and his €3.2 million move to Fiorentina in 2018 was met with little fanfare.
He went on to become one of the best strikers in the world and scored 33 league goals in 2021, equaling Cristiano Ronaldo's Serie A scoring record in a calendar year.
The Serbia international completed a €81.6 million move to Juventus in January 2022 but has struggled to find his best form in Turin, much to Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso's satisfaction.
“He has exactly half [of the goals] of our two strikers,” Commisso said in March 2023. “And in between we won 70 million euros. The [Arthur] Cabral and [Luka] Jovic deals are good for us, unlike Juventus' Vlahovic deal.
7. Antony – 79.25 million euros profit
Antony joined Ajax from Sao Paulo in a deal worth 15.75 million euros in 2020 and has grown stronger under the guidance of Erik ten Hag.
Ten Hag moves to Manchester United in 2022 and is determined to reunite with the winger, but Ajax are not ready to offer their former manager a contract cut.
United had to dig deep into their pockets when the Eredivisie side turned down two offers before finally accepting a €95m offer.
Ajax chief executive Edwin Van der Sar told The Athletic: “We want to keep him for another year. "There is no urgent need to sell it, we have money in the bank - but the fees are too high.
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