No club came out of the 2026 transfer market worse off than Al-Hilal, while Spurs were the biggest financial losers in the Premier League, according to Sportingpedia.
The Saudi side spent €308 million on incoming players while recovering just €21 million from outgoing ones, a net deficit of €287 million, the largest in football.
Three Premier League forwards accounted for the bulk of that spending. Gabriel Martinelli arrived from Arsenal for around €70 million, Crysencio Summerville cost €64.5 million from West Ham, and Ollie Watkins joined from Aston Villa for approximately €58.4 million, with those three deals alone totalling almost €193 million.
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Unlike clubs such as PSG or Chelsea, who offset heavy spending with major sales, Al-Hilal had little coming the other way, their €21 million in income representing less than a tenth of what they committed to new arrivals.
Tottenham sit next on the loss table at €257 million. Spurs brought in €261 million from departures but spent €518 million, with Sandro Tonali (€108m), Mateus Fernandes (€99m), Savinho (€87m) and Jan Paul van Hecke (€60m) accounting for €354 million of that outlay between them.
It’s a clear illustration of how a healthy sales figure doesn’t guarantee a positive balance once spending is factored in.
Liverpool are close behind on €254 million, just €3 million off Tottenham’s total, but arrived there very differently.
They spent far less than Spurs, at €294 million, but recovered only €40 million in sales. Bradley Barcola, Jérémy Jacquet (€63.6m) and Víctor Muñoz (€40m) made up €228.6 million of that spending on their own.
Manchester City recorded the biggest transfer turnover of any club in the analysis. They generated €500 million in sales, the second-highest figure of any club, but spent €651 million, leaving them €151 million in deficit.
Enzo Fernández (€145m), Elliot Anderson (€136m) and Ayyoub Bouaddi (€96m) made up the bulk of a major midfield rebuild, while a €87 million sale of Savinho to Tottenham helped offset some of the outlay, though not nearly enough.
The gap with Chelsea, who finished €192 million in profit while spending €303 million less than City, stands at €343 million.
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English clubs dominate the loss rankings overall, making up 11 of the 20 largest deficits, including Ipswich, Hull, Coventry, Brentford, Fulham, Manchester United, Leeds and Bournemouth alongside Tottenham, Liverpool and City.
England is also represented on the profit side, though less heavily, with Chelsea, West Ham, Burnley, Wolves, Southampton and Leicester all featuring among the biggest gains.
At the extremes, PSG’s €207 million profit and Al-Hilal’s €287 million loss leave a gap of €494 million between the two, a reminder that neither heavy spending nor big sales alone determine where a club ends up, but the balance between the two.
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