With the transfer window now mostly behind us – save for a few leagues that are yet to shut – it's always a good time to reflect on the ridiculous amount of money that has been spent over the past few months. For instance, Premier League clubs spent over £2bn combined between them this summer...

However, not every club can spend, spend, and spend. Many have to be careful with what they do, making sure more money is going in than going out. With that in mind, GIVEMESPORT has decided to take a look at which teams has made the most money in the transfer window over the past decade.

We've worked this out by looking at the total balance left after we take into account how much a team has spent on new singings and then made on player sales across the last 10 years (as per Transfermarkt).

13 Atalanta BC - £151.36m

In 13th place, we have Atalanta who have made a grand total of €176.89m (£151.36m) profit over the last ten years. They have done so by spending £471.40m on 703 new signings but then selling 711 players for £622.76m in that time. Over the course of the decade, the Serie A outfit has managed to establish itself as one of the more exciting teams in Italy, finishing inside the top ten in the last seven consecutive seasons.

They were perhaps at their best from 2018-19 to 2021/22 when they finished third in the league three times on the bounce under iconic manager Gian Piero Gasperini who has no doubt played a vital role in the club's success on the pitch and profitability off it over the past number of years. Although the notable fee of £72m from Manchester United for Rasmus Hojlund this summer also would have bumped them up the list.

12 SC Braga - £174.94m

It's a show of how well clubs in Portugal have bought and sold over the last decade that Braga are not the only club from that country to make this list. Indeed, they are joined by three others who will feature later on. The Liga Portugal side are up £174.94m after all their transfer business of late.

In this period they have bought nearly as much as they have sold, with 296 incomings and 297 outgoings. Notable sales include deals such as Pedro Neto to Lazio, Vitinha to Marseille and Trincao to Barcelona. But they are yet to spend more than £10m on a new player, with Brazilian defender Wallace arriving from Cruzeiro Brazil in 2014/15 for a club-record £8.12m.

11 AZ Alkmaar - £175.50m

With £175.50m profit in the bank over the past decade, AZ Alkmaar certainly have been shrewd operators in the transfer market. And while they haven't been able to win Eredivisie in that time – their last triumph came under Louis van Gaal in 2009 – they are currently first (albeit with just three games played this season).

Tottenham fans might not think of them too kindly, however, having paid £18.81m for Vincent Janssen back in 2016/17 as part of the notoriously ill-spent Gareth Bale money. Although Mousa Dembélé did end up at Spurs eventually, via Fulham, having been at AZ Alkmaar (though he was sold more than a decade ago so that deal isn't taken into account here).

10 Santos FC - £186.01m

Of course, the Brazilian talent factory is responsible for producing icons such as Pele, Neymar and... FIFA legend Ganso. They've made €217.52m (£186.01m) after the balance is revealed over the last ten years, with one deal in particular helping that.

Indeed, Neymar's move to Barcelona in 2013 brought in roughly £75.25m alone, while Rodrygo's switch to Real Madrid and Gabriel Barbosa's to Inter Milan also made the bank account look a lot healthier. With a track record such as theirs, Santos are never too far away from cashing in on the next big thing.

9 Dinamo Zagreb - £198.84m

Most notable in the modern game for helping produce Luka Modric, Dinamo Zagreb have netted a tidy profit of £198.84m over the last ten years. While the Real Madrid star's initial move to Tottenham isn't included as part of that (as the sale happened in 2008/09), they have made money on other high-profile deals.

For instance, Josko Gvardiol was sold to RB Leipzig for around £35m and Dani Olmo also followed the same path to Germany for about £5m less. In total, over the decade, they've spent £64.30m on 362 new players, which is nothing compared to the £263.14m made on 345 sales.

8 PSV Eindhoven - £232.08m

The second Dutch club to make the list so far, PSV Eindhoven have been careful with their cash, as their biggest arrival was €15m (£12.8m) spent on Hirving Lozano this summer. The fact that they sold him to Napoli for €45m (38.49m) in 2019/20 gives you an indication of how well they operate in the market.

This certainly helps explain why they've made a profit of £232.08m over the past decade with a whole host of stars offloaded in that time, such as Cody Gakpo, Ibrahim Sangaré, Noni Madueke, Memphis Depay, Steven Bergwijn and Georginio Wijnaldum. No doubt, their reputation as a selling club was helped by the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben who left PSV in the decade prior.

7 LOSC Lille - £293.86m

Ligue 1 has become a real hotbed of talent over the past decade or so and LOSC Lille have been one of the French clubs to benefit from this the most. After all, not only have they made £293.86 profit in this time, but they've also managed to win the league. Indeed, in 2021 under Christophe Galtier, they won the division, which was exactly ten years on from when they last managed that feat.

Nicolas Pépé's move to Arsenal for around £72m is a brilliant example of the club getting the absolute best value out of their asset, while they've also moved on other big names who've had more success elsewhere such as Victor Osimhen, Sven Botman and Rafael Leão. Chelsea fans may be wondering why Eden Hazard hasn't been mentioned yet but his move was now 11 years ago – aren't we all getting old...

6 Olympique Lyon - £308.57m

The first club to break the £300m mark with their total balance of £308.57 after ten years of transfer business, Olympique Lyon have unfortunately not been able to turn that profit in Ligue 1 triumph like rivals Lille. In fact, they have not won any major silverware in this time. At least they've made this list then...

With £360.64m pent on 176 signings, and a whopping £669.21m made on 174 sales, the most notable departure has been Tanguy Ndombélé move to Tottenham. This certainly didn't work out well as the £55m man appears likely to leave North London for a fraction of the fee after joining Galatasaray on loan for the season, with an option to make the deal permanent next summer for £12.8m.

5 Sporting CP - £347.21m

Having helped produce Cristiano Ronaldo, Sporting CP will always be able to reference that success when looking to sell any young talents they have coming through the academy. And this may go some way to explaining why they've managed to make £347.21m profit over the past decade.

Of course, CR7 isn't the only big name to come out of the club though with the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Manuel Ugarte, Matheus Nunes, Pedro Porro, Nuno Raphinha and Mendes all making big moves in the past four years alone.

4 FC Porto - £364.67m

It's coming up to 20 years since José Mourinho and Porto stunned Europe to win the 2004 Champions League. And while they've unsurprisingly not managed to scale those exact heights again, this last decade has still been full of silverware with the club winning Liga Portugal three times.

They've made £747.02m on sales alone in that time – only bettered by three other clubs in the world – with Porto causing in on a whole host of familiar names over the years. The likes of Éder Militão, Luis Díaz, Alex Sandro, James Rodríguez, and Fabio Vieira immediately spring to mind.

3 Red Bull Salzburg - £371.86m

Perhaps what is most notable about Red Bull Salzburg is that they only spent £168.35m on new signings, to get their total profit value of £371.86 – with a jaw-dropping £540.21m made on sales. What's the club's secret, you ask? Buy young and cheap...

Indeed, the club have sold the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Karim Adeyemi, Naby Keïta, Benjamin Sesko, Sadio Mané, and of course Erling Haaland for notable profit all before they were older than 23. That's some business model.

2 Ajax - £407.29m

It will come as little surprise to most football fans that Ajax rank high up on this list. After all, they may well be the most famous and revered talent-producing factory in the game. Notable alumni include Johann Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Marco Van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp and so many others.

More recently, the club have managed to sell on star names for huge fees such as Antony, Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Jurrien Timber, Lisandro Martínez Centre-Back, and Mohammed Kudus, and Hakim Ziyech. The Eredivisie outfit have managed to turn out £407.29m in profit in that time, only bettered by one other club.

1 Benfica - £550.43m

First on the list, and way out ahead with £550.43m in the bank, Benfica have had a remarkable decade when it comes to player sales. Indeed, they are the only club to have made more than a billion pounds from selling their talent with a mammoth £1.07bn (€1.25bn) raised over the last ten years spread across 343 exits.

The most notable of those departures will of course have to Joao Felix who was sold to Atletico Madrid for around £108m. Though Enzo Fernández isn't far off him following his move to Chelsea last winter. Take into account other players to have been sold to Premier League clubs by Benfica – like Darwin Núñez, Rúben Dias, and Ederson – and it's easy to see why they top this list.

The top 13 clubs that have made the most money in the transfer market