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The transfer season is an equally anticipated fiasco within the realm of football. Players, clubs and fans are all excited to see what unravels before the start of the new season.
Ever since Neymar moved to Paris Saint-Germain for a whopping sum of €222m back in 2017, the transfer market has gone for a toss in terms of inflation. After the Neymar move, Kylian Mbappe, Philippe Coutinho, João Félix and many others made massively inflated, big-money moves.
The transfer window is often an opportunity for relatively smaller clubs to earn big bucks in return for their well-nurtured prodigies. Clubs like Borussia Dortmund and Ajax, among others, are the frontrunners in terms of profiting the most because of their starlets.
Getting into the present-day scenario, the 2021 summer transfer window has arguably been the craziest one in a long time. While we've seen surprising moves like Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos on free transfers, a good chunk of players have switched sides for hefty fees.
On a similar note, let's take a look at the top 5 European clubs with the highest transfer income this summer.
Note: This information has been sourced from Transfermarkt.
#5 Borussia Dortmund — €108m
As mentioned previously, Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund are one of the best clubs when it comes to breeding superior quality young talent.
Over the course of years, Dortmund's offload list has included a few of the world's best players. Ilkay Gundogan, Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gotze, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembélé and Christian Pulisic headline this list.
This term, Dortmund has collected a total of €108m from sever player sales. A major chunk (€90m) of it came from Jadon Sancho, who moved to Manchester United after lengthy speculation.
#4 RB Leipzig — €112m
RB Leipzig haven't had a fine transfer season in terms of retaining a few of their most prominent members. They have lost three of their star players in the form of Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konaté and Marcel Sabitzer, to bigger clubs (Bayern Munich & Liverpool).
In addition, they also had to let go of their coach Julian Nagelsmann, who decided to join the Bavarians as well. However, the Bundesliga outfits earned a handsome sum in return. While Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté added €42,500,000 and €41,500,000 respectively to RB Leipzig's wallet, Marcel Sabitzer earned them €15,000,000.
The club used the funds to bolster their side by replacing the departed players with some promising individuals. Portugal's skillful striker André Silva and USA's promising talent Caden Clark are the most notable arrivals at Leipzig this summer.
#3 Chelsea — €122m
Chelsea is arguably one of the strongest teams within the Premier League this year. They are on par with last season's champions Manchester City in terms of squad depth.
As of now, the Blues house two to three formidable options for each position. The only major cost incurred by the Londoners this season got them Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan. On the other hand, Chelsea offloaded 21 players during this year's summer transfer window.
Tammy Abraham, Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud were among the most prominent names to have left the club this summer. Tammy Abraham was bought by Jose Mourinho's Roma for €40m. Meanwhile, Kurt Zouma has joined Premier League side West Ham, for a fee believed to be around €30 million.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel used this transfer window to filter his side. He has retained only the best and offloaded others in the form of permanent sales or loan deals.
#2 Aston Villa — €127m
We all know how Aston Villa ended up as one of the most profitable clubs this year. Dean Smith's side bid farewell to their captain Jack Grealish, who joined Premier League champions Manchester City for a handsome fee.
The move meant Jack Grealish broke the record of being the most expensive transfer within the Premier League and that of an English player. Aston Villa earned €117m from the Grealish sale and additional €10m from selling Björn Engels and Mbwana Samatta.
It is undeniable that Aston Villa would not be the same without Jack Grealish. However, the hefty fee helped them bring in some notable talent from across Europe. Danny Ings, Emiliano Buendia and Leon Bailey are their headline arrivals this summer.
#1 Inter Milan — €197m
Serie A champions Inter Milan lead the list by a distant margin. The Nerazzurri have pocketed a sum of €197m during this summer transfer window by letting go of 28 of their players.
Achraf Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku played a pivotal part in Inter Milan's Scudetto victory last season. This summer, the duo were also responsible for the club's massive earnings. Hakimi was brought in by Paris Saint-Germain for €60m and Romelu Lukaku's sale was closed at €115m.
The Serie A champions have barely spent any penny this summer as they got Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Edin Džeko on free transfers. The Netherlands' EURO 2020 talent Denzel Dumfries joined the club for €12.5m from PSV.
In short, this year's summer transfer window was an absolute financial win for Inter Milan. It remains to be seen how their transfer business will translate on to the pitch.
