Benfica already has one foot in the quarter-finals, while FC Porto are looking forward to reaching the last 16 in the Champions League. Portuguese clubs are once again defying their business model.
Pepe, the rough central defender, turns 40 on Sunday (02/26/2023). He joined FC Porto in 2004, just after the club won the most important trophy in European club football under coach José Mourinho. Three years later, the Brazilian-born Portuguese moved to Real Madrid, only to later win the Champions League three times with the “Royals”. Real paid €30m for Pepe to FC Porto, who in turn transferred €2m to CS Marítimo in 2004.
This is how the business model of FC Porto has already been described, which has worked for decades, not only in Porto. Since the start of the 2017/18 season, the clubs in the top Portuguese league have generated a transfer surplus of around 1.4 billion euros. According to the “transfermarkt.de” portal, the pure income was almost 2.4 billion euros.
Billions of deficits in England and Italy
The biggest minus in this period has, unsurprisingly, the premier league made. The deficit is more than six billion euros. The Italian Serie A is second to last with a loss of a good one billion euros. Inter Milan contributed a good 100 million euros.
Romelu Lukaku ensured high sales, because Inter 2021 sold him for well over 100 million euros to the Chelsea FCafter offering around €75m for the Belgian striker two years earlier Manchester United had paid.
Lukaku is now back at Inter, on loan from Chelsea. On Wednesday (February 22, 2023, in the live ticker at Sportschau.de), he and the Milanese will meet FC Porto, who in the club’s history have never spent more than 20 million euros on a player, but have often conceded significantly more.
| Year | player | Transfer fee in million euros |
|---|---|---|
2019 | Eder Militao | 50 (Real Madrid) |
2021 | Luis Diaz | 47 (Liverpool) |
2014 | Eliaquim Mangala | 45 (Manchester City) |
2013 | James Rodriguez | 45 (AS Monaco) |
2022 | Vitinha | 41.5 (Paris St Germain) |
Source: transfermarkt.de
For example, Brazilian Eder Militao brought in €50m when he joined Real Madrid in 2019. A year earlier he had come from FC Sao Paulo for seven million euros. Colombian Luis Diaz, at Liverpool FC currently sorely missed due to an injury, was also sold in 2021 with a plus of around 40 million euros. Despite the constant bloodletting of top players, FC Porto have reached the knockout phase of the Champions League four times since the 17/18 season and even reached the quarter-finals twice.
Benfica with two €100m transfers
Another top Portuguese club can already start planning for the round of the top eight teams. Under German coach Roger Schmidt, Benfica won the first leg of the round of 16 2-0 at Club Brugge. The club from the capital Lisbon is one step ahead of FC Porto when it comes to the transfer surplus. Benfica’s list includes 14 professionals who were sold for 30 million euros or more. Two players who now play together at Chelsea even earned more than 100 million euros each: Joao Felix and Argentine world champion Enzo Fernandez.
| Year | player | Transfer fee in million euros |
|---|---|---|
2019 | Joao Felix | 127.2 (Atletico Madrid) |
2022 | Enzo Fernández | 121 (Chelsea) |
2022 | Darwin Nunez | 80 (Liverpool) |
2020 | Ruben Dias | 71.6 (Manchester City) |
2019 | Ederson | 40 (Manchester City) |
Source: transfermarkt.de
Together, the five record departures brought in 440 million euros. Benfica paid less than 80 million euros for them. Felix and Dias are on the books with zero euros because they were trained in their own academy.