Barcelona is ranked among the worst sellers in Spain; Villarreal at the other end of the scale

Barcelona are still struggling with their salary limit three years after the departure of the infamous Josep Maria Bartomeu, and that may be partly due to their difficulties generating sales for their big-money signings. Likewise, Spanish football has been strong in the past in this regard, but this appears to be in decline.

Following a study by the CIES football observatory on profits and losses from transfers (excluding players from the training center) from 2015 to the present, Villarreal is the only team in La Liga to have managed to rank in the top 20. Statementthey are in 17th place after selling 132 million euros more than they spent. Previously, Sevilla and Valencia would have been known for cost-effective recruitment, but that is no longer the case. Real Sociedad (92 million euros) and Real Betis (103 million euros) also perform well in this regard.

At the other end of the scale, Barcelona ranks as the fourth worst team in the major leagues with a negative balance of €368 million, behind Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and Chelsea. Other offenders in this regard are Real Madrid, which has a negative balance of 131 million euros. Atletico Madrid are much lower in the rankings, but have a negative balance of 54 million euros.

With Barcelona and Real Madrid, there is a major caveat, in that both rely on their academies to regularly produce players, and especially with Los Blancos, to make profits for them in the transfer market. This shows that the Yellow Submarine have not lost touch, and it is no surprise that, although Sevilla are floundering in mid-table after a period of success, Villarreal are fighting for a place in the top four thanks to their success in the market.