FootBiz newsletter #199: Milan lost €24m without Europe. Revenue still reached €465m.

Milan lost €24m without Europe. Revenue still reached €465m.

AC Milan generated almost €465 million without European football. Sevilla's shareholders are working through a potential sale. Porto is using player trading to repair its finances. UEFA's latest data shows England was involved in 52% of global transfer value. And Serbia is giving European and MLS recruitment departments more reasons to look beyond Croatia for young Balkan talent.

Milan revenue held up without Europe

AC Milan generated €464.6 million of revenue in 2025/26 despite having no European football. Revenue fell 6% from the previous season but remained 1.7% above the figure reported in 2023/24.

The club recorded a net loss of approximately €24 million, ending three consecutive profitable financial years, while net financial debt increased from approximately €92 million to €145.3 million. Milan ended the year with €176.4 million of shareholders' equity.

Commercial income helped offset some of the lost European revenue. Sponsorship income exceeded €100 million for the first time, while Milan averaged more than 72,000 spectators at San Siro, the highest average attendance in Serie A for a second consecutive season.

The figures are also a measure of how Milan's revenue mix has changed since RedBird Capital Partners acquired the club from Elliott in 2022. Champions League football remains enormously valuable, but Milan has now generated close to €465 million in a season without any UEFA competition.

The club said the increase in financial debt partly reflected the use of credit facilities for investment and development projects. Milan and Inter also completed the acquisition of San Siro and the surrounding area from the City of Milan in November 2025, with the clubs working towards the development of a new stadium on the site.

Sevilla's owners are working through a sale process

Sevilla's shareholders are continuing to explore a sale of the club, with Goldman Sachs advising on the process. According to reports in Spain, representatives of the bank were in Seville this month as work continued on assessing prospective buyers.

The process follows months of interest in a club whose ownership is divided between several shareholder groups. Former Real Madrid and Sevilla defender Sergio Ramos has previously been involved with a group interested in acquiring the club, while Mondo Sport Capital has more recently emerged with a proposal.

Goldman Sachs was brought in by Sevilla's major shareholders to organise the process and assess prospective buyers. Its involvement gives the shareholders an adviser with extensive experience of transactions across sport.

Any buyer would inherit a club whose financial position has been changing quickly. President José María del Nido Carrasco said Sevilla entered the summer with approximately €90 million of net debt and finished the transfer window at around €60 million.

Player trading contributed to that reduction. Sevilla spent approximately €15.5 million on incoming players while completing four sales worth around €41 million.

The club has been dealing with the financial consequences of falling away from the Champions League places after qualifying for the competition in three consecutive seasons between 2020/21 and 2022/23.

Sevilla's model during much of its most successful period relied heavily on recruitment and trading. Players were acquired before reaching their peak valuations, developed and frequently sold at significant profits, with the proceeds recycled into the squad.

More recent seasons have been harder. Lower league finishes reduced UEFA income at the same time as the club carried a squad built for a considerably higher revenue base.

A reduction of around €30 million in net debt would leave prospective buyers looking at a different balance sheet from the one Sevilla carried into the summer, although considerable work remains.

Goldman Sachs is now assessing the market while Sevilla continues operating under its existing shareholders.

Porto is using player trading to rebuild its finances

André Villas-Boas has provided an unusually detailed account of the financial position he inherited after becoming Porto president in 2024.

According to Villas-Boas, Porto had just €8,000 in its bank account when his administration arrived. Around €15 million was due within 15 days and €100 million within four months.

More than two years later, player trading has become central to the club's attempt to repair that position.

Villas-Boas specifically pointed to the €50 million sale of Galeno to Al-Ahli and Nico González's €60 million move to Manchester City as deals that helped Porto meet its financial requirements.

The club has not simply used the proceeds to pay down liabilities. Villas-Boas said Porto has subsequently invested approximately €110 million and assembled a squad valued at around €425 million, which he described as the most valuable in the club's history.

Porto's summer activity shows the scale of the turnover. The club completed 32 player movements, comprising 13 arrivals and 19 departures, while finishing the window with a positive transfer balance of more than €10 million.

Villas-Boas identified several players whose values could become important to Porto's finances in future, including William Gomes, Samu Aghehowa, Victor Froholdt and goalkeeper Diogo Costa.

It is a familiar model at Porto, although the financial circumstances behind the latest version are different.

For years, the club has generated substantial transfer profits by recruiting in Portugal, South America and elsewhere, developing players in the first team and selling them into Europe's richest leagues. Porto's list of major departures over the past two decades includes some of the most profitable trades in European football.

The current administration is trying to restore that mechanism while also addressing the liabilities it inherited.

The Galeno and Nico González sales generated €110 million between them. Porto has then committed significant money to another group of players who can contribute immediately but, in several cases, could also be sold later for substantial fees.

Porto needs a competitive team, particularly given the importance of Champions League revenue, but it also needs the squad to contain assets capable of producing the next round of transfer profits.

England was involved in 52% of global transfer value

European clubs spent more than €10 billion during the summer transfer window for the first time, according to UEFA's latest European Club Talent and Competition Landscape report. Spending increased 8% from 2025 and was 43% above the previous pre-pandemic peak in 2019.

The number of transfers increased by only 0.3%, while there were 35 transfers worth more than €50 million compared with 23 last year. More money was therefore spent without any meaningful increase in the number of deals.

England accounted for a huge proportion of it. English clubs were involved in 52% of global transfer deal value during the summer, with around €2.2 billion spent on transfers directly between English clubs.

England also accounted for 60% of domestic transfer activity worldwide by value. Premier League clubs have long been the biggest buyers internationally, but the amount of money now circulating within the English market is becoming a major component of global transfer spending in its own right.

€1.2bn was spent on teenagers

Clubs spent a record €1.2 billion on teenage players during the summer, while players aged 23 and under accounted for 56% of all transfer spending.

Premier League clubs have paid transfer fees for 100 teenage recruits over the past five years. Serie A is next among Europe's five largest leagues with 80, followed by the Bundesliga with 62, Ligue 1 with 47 and La Liga with 29.

The difference becomes larger when the value of those deals is considered. The Premier League's 16 teenage recruits this season cost an average of approximately $32 million, compared with approximately $8.2 million in Serie A.

UEFA estimates that European clubs generated €10.3 billion from player sales this summer and expects €6.8 billion of transfer profits from those deals to appear in clubs' 2026 and/or 2027 accounts. With fees for young players continuing to rise, recruitment of teenagers is carrying greater financial significance alongside the sporting calculation.

Is Serbia catching Croatia in the player-trading market?

Croatia has been one of European football's great talent producers for years. A country of fewer than four million people reached the 2018 World Cup final, finished third four years later and has continued to send players into Europe's biggest leagues. Dinamo Zagreb has been central to it, developing players for its own first team while generating substantial transfer income.

Serbia is producing another strong group of young players, with several moving abroad earlier.

Red Star Belgrade sold several teenagers into major European leagues during 2025/26. Centre-back Veljko Milosavljević joined Bournemouth for a reported €15 million, Andrija Maksimović moved to RB Leipzig for €14.1 million and Lazar Jovanović also left Red Star for Stuttgart in 2025, although that move proved less successful. He made six competitive appearances before joining Udinese this month. Strahinja Stojković, another teenager, joined Saint-Étienne.

Those departures underline how quickly Red Star's latest generation has moved into major European leagues. Vasilije Kostov could eventually command a considerably larger fee. Red Star chief executive Zvezdan Terzić said earlier this year that the club had received a €20 million offer for the midfielder, who has also been linked with Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

Partizan has its own long record of developing players, while Čukarički, OFK Beograd, TSC and IMT have become familiar names to recruitment departments looking at Serbia. Young players can get senior football early and prices remain accessible enough for overseas clubs to buy before a player's value has been established in one of Europe's larger leagues.

That market is beginning to extend to MLS. Vancouver Whitecaps signed 21-year-old midfielder Aleksa Cvetković from OFK Beograd in August, using a U22 Initiative slot on him. He had previously been in Red Star's academy before establishing himself at OFK. Real Salt Lake signed 19-year-old winger Dašan Žagar directly from IMT Belgrade this year, with the MLS club saying it had faced competition from European teams for his signature.

Chicago Fire took Viktor Radojević from TSC as a U22 Initiative signing in 2025 after he had come through Red Star's academy. He is currently on loan at CF Montréal.

Dejan Joveljić represents a different part of the market. The former Red Star striker was already established in MLS when Sporting Kansas City paid the LA Galaxy $4 million for him in early 2025, the first cash-for-player trade in league history. Seattle Sounders paid Sporting $6 million for him this summer and signed him to a new contract running through 2029/30.

Croatia is hardly disappearing from the market. Dinamo sold Martin Baturina to Como for €18 million and Petar Sučić to Inter for €14.6 million in 2025. Hajduk Split developed Luka Vušković, whose move to Tottenham was agreed when he was 16 before Brighton acquired him this summer following his loan spell with Hamburg.

MLS clubs have also spent significant money on Croatian players. Orlando City signed Marco Pašalić from Rijeka as a Designated Player in 2025, while FC Dallas brought Petar Musa from Benfica. Both subsequently made Croatia's 2026 World Cup squad.

The broader export numbers still favour Croatia. CIES ranked it 11th globally this year by number of expatriate players, an extraordinary position for a country of its size. Serbia's expatriate population, by contrast, has fallen – CIES recorded 53 fewer Serbian-developed players abroad than in 2021, a decline of 12%.

The recent Serbian numbers are more striking when the focus is narrowed to young players being sold at significant valuations. Red Star has moved teenagers directly into the Premier League and Bundesliga for eight-figure fees, while MLS clubs are recruiting prospects from elsewhere in the Serbian league before they have moved through an intermediate European market.

Croatia still has Dinamo, Hajduk and a longer recent record of producing players who reach the highest level. Serbia, however, is giving overseas recruitment departments more reasons to look there early.

Inter made €22.7m

Across San Siro, Inter recorded a second consecutive annual profit. Revenue for 2025/26 was €518 million, with net profit of €22.7 million.

Revenue fell from the previous season's record €567 million, when Inter reached the Champions League final and participated in the FIFA Club World Cup. Commercial revenue nevertheless increased 7%, helped by merchandising growth under the club's arrangement with Fanatics.

Revenue from player trading increased by €11 million, while player amortisation and impairment costs fell by €8 million. Operating costs were reduced by approximately €20 million and finance costs fell to approximately €19 million following the club's refinancing.

Inter's shareholders' equity moved from negative €12 million to positive €10.4 million. Between them, Milan and Inter generated €982.6 million of revenue during the financial year, before either has begun to realise the potential benefits of a new stadium.

Julian Ward is Liverpool's sporting director again

Liverpool has appointed Julian Ward as sporting director following Richard Hughes's departure for Al-Hilal. Ward had been working as technical director for Fenway Sports Group and now returns to a position he previously held during the 2022/23 season.

A native of the city, Ward first joined Liverpool in 2012 and went on to work as European scouting manager, director of loan player management, assistant sporting director and sporting director. He left the club in 2023 before returning to FSG as technical director the following year.

Hughes joined Liverpool from Bournemouth in 2024 and left earlier this month after informing FSG that he wanted to pursue another opportunity. FSG president Mike Gordon led the process to appoint his replacement.

Liverpool has therefore replaced Hughes without going outside FSG. Ward has spent much of the past 14 years working either for Liverpool or its ownership group and starts in the role immediately.

Dortmund made €59m from player trading and still lost €21.7m

Borussia Dortmund published its full 2025/26 annual report on Monday, putting more detail around a season in which lower Champions League income pushed the club back into the red.

Revenue fell from €526 million to €460.5 million, with the biggest reduction coming from television and competition income. That dropped from €227.2 million to €168.5 million after Dortmund failed to reach the Champions League round of 16, having reached the quarter-finals the previous season. The timing of income from the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup also affected the comparison.

Dortmund nevertheless generated €59.3 million of net income from player trading, up from €37.8 million a year earlier. That figure is calculated after the remaining book values of departing players and associated transfer costs have been deducted.

The club's total operating proceeds, which include gross transfer fees, were €537.2 million. Even with the contribution from player sales, Dortmund finished the year with a €21.7 million net loss, compared with a €6.5 million profit the previous year.

Costs came down in several areas. Personnel expenses fell by €8.4 million to €259.9 million and other operating expenses dropped from €162.3 million to €145.4 million. Depreciation, amortisation and write-downs moved in the opposite direction, increasing by €6.1 million to €111.4 million.

Commercial income was more resilient than media revenue. Advertising revenue increased from €153.6 million to €157.9 million, while match operations brought in €50.3 million and merchandising €38.7 million.

The club has spent years buying young players, giving them first-team minutes and selling some of them into richer markets. Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho, Christian Pulisic and Ousmane Dembélé are among the most prominent examples from the past decade.

That model produced another €59.3 million of net transfer income last season, but it could not fully compensate for a fall of almost €59 million in media revenue.

Dortmund is now forecasting a return to profit in 2026/27, with expected net income of between zero and €10 million. The club makes clear that the forecast remains dependent on transfer activity and sporting performance.

There will also be no dividend proposed for 2025/26 as a result of the annual loss.

Premier League shirt deals are worth £444m

Premier League clubs are generating more money from front-of-shirt sponsorship despite the removal of betting companies from that inventory. Combined front-of-shirt sponsorship revenue is approximately £444 million this season, according to Ampere data reported this week, an increase of around 8% from last season.

Eight clubs that remained in the Premier League and replaced betting sponsors moved from agreements worth a combined £67 million to new deals worth approximately £75 million. Most of the money remains concentrated among the largest clubs, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham accounting for an estimated £328 million of the £444 million total.

Betting companies have not left Premier League sponsorship altogether. Some of that spending has instead moved towards other inventory, including sleeve and training-kit sponsorship.

The first season without betting companies on the front of Premier League shirts has coincided with an 8% increase in the value of the inventory.