Real Madrid spend €225m on signings and raise €200m in sales without losing a star

Real Madrid have closed a transfer window that was as ambitious as it was surgical. The club spent around €225 million to renew several areas of the squad, while bringing in close to €200 million from sales, percentages and rights over players. The result was a net spend of roughly €25 million and a significant reduction in the wage bill, in a window that ended up as the club's most profitable of the 21st century.

• Real Madrid invested around €225 million, their third-largest outlay since 2000.
• Transfer income approached €200 million, the highest figure for the club this century.
• Nico Paz returned for about €9 million and was sold again to Como for around €60 million.
• The exits of Alaba, Carvajal and Ceballos freed up about €43 million gross per year in fixed wages.
• No key starter such as Vinicius, Bellingham, Valverde or Mbappe left the team.

A €225m window almost entirely funded by player sales

The Spanish giants were active both in arrivals and departures. They signed Yan Diomande, Marc Cucurella, Carlos Espi and Denzel Dumfries, added Ibrahima Konate and Bernardo Silva as free agents, and paid €3 million for Sergio Martinez, initially earmarked for Castilla. In return, a long list of outgoing operations cushioned almost all of that spending.

The final balance left a net outlay of around €25 million once all the money generated from transfers, percentages and rights over former academy players is counted. Never before this century had Real Madrid raised so much from player-related operations, not even when they sold Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria, Mesut Ozil or Alvaro Morata.

Never before this century had the club raised so much from player-related operations. This time, they did not lose a star.

The academy as Real Madrid's main source of transfer income

Much of the revenue came from players developed at Valdebebas who did not have a guaranteed place in the first team. The biggest operation involved Nico Paz: Madrid paid around €9 million to exercise their buy-back option and then sold him again to Como for about €60 million, while keeping a path open to bring him back in the future.

The list of sales also included Gonzalo Garcia, transferred to Fulham for €40 million, as well as Victor Munoz for €20 million, Mario Gila for €15 million, Alvaro Rodriguez for €12 million, Alex Jimenez for €12 million, Cesar Palacios for €10 million and Jacobo Ortega for €10 million. Other exits such as Victor Valdepenas, Fran Garcia, Mario Martin, Fran Gonzalez and Manuel Angel helped push the total income even higher.

Wage bill relief: €43m less in fixed salaries

On top of the transfer revenue came a less visible but equally important saving. The departures of David Alaba, Dani Carvajal and Dani Ceballos freed up around €43 million gross per year in fixed wages, a figure that could approach €50 million with bonuses and variables. Alaba and Carvajal saw their contracts expire without renewal, while Ceballos agreed to terminate the year remaining on his deal.

Real Madrid did not earn money from those three moves, but they shed expensive veteran contracts, rejuvenated the squad and opened room for the salaries of their new players. The extra wage margin allowed the summer arrivals to be absorbed without tension.

How this window compares with 2009 and 2019

The €225 million outlay places this window as Real Madrid's third most expensive of the 21st century, behind only two summers that changed the economic scale of football. In 2009, with Florentino Perez returning to the presidency, the club signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Raul Albiol, Alvaro Arbeloa and Esteban Granero for a combined €258.5 million.

That market left a deficit of €170 million after raising €88.5 million, but delivered an extraordinary return: Cristiano became the club's all-time top scorer, Benzema won the Ballon d'Or and several of those signings featured in one of the most successful eras in the club's history. A decade later, Madrid executed their biggest spending spree ever with €361.3 million including winter operations during the 2019-2020 season.

On that occasion, Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo concentrated the investment. Sales of Kovacic, Llorente, Theo Hernandez, Raul de Tomas, Keylor Navas, Odegaard and Borja Mayoral brought in €136.8 million, then the club's best figure of the century, but the deficit exceeded €200 million. The returns were mixed: Militao, Mendy and Rodrygo contributed to numerous successes, while Hazard and Jovic consumed €183 million for minimal impact.

Diomande becomes the most expensive signing in Real Madrid history

Yan Diomande was the headline move of the summer. Real Madrid paid €125 million fixed to Leipzig, and the operation could reach €140 million if all variables are met. No player had ever cost the club as much: behind him are Hazard at €120 million, Jude Bellingham at €103 million plus variables, Gareth Bale at €101 million and Cristiano Ronaldo at €94 million.

The rest of the budget allowed Madrid to reshape every line of the team. Cucurella cost €55 million, Espi €25 million and Dumfries €20 million. Konate and Bernardo Silva arrived on free transfers, although their contracts included salaries and bonuses that do not appear in the transfer chapter. With that map of arrivals and departures, Madrid assembled a renewed squad without selling Vinicius, Bellingham, Valverde, Mbappe or any of their main starters.

An unprecedented balance between spending, income and savings

The resulting combination has no precedent. This window was the club's third-largest in spending this century, the first in real income and the one featuring the most expensive signing in the club's history. In 2009 Madrid put up €170 million net and in 2019 more than €200 million, while this time they needed around €25 million and also cut almost €50 million from the wage bill.

The academy once again worked as a steady source of liquidity: the club sold percentages, retained rights over several players and kept buy-back options. The outcome was a window that was ambitious on the sporting side and restrained on the financial side, capable of renewing the squad without emptying the cash box or putting its stars at risk.