Olympique Lyonnais and AS Saint-Etienne are among the top 10 in the ranking of the biggest capital gains on the transfer market in Europe since 2016 according to the Football Observatory.
Lyon and Saint-Etienne lead the biggest capital gains between player purchases and sales since 2016. With a positive balance of 151 million euros, OL are 2nd in the Football Observatory standings after Lille and ASSE 6th: 78 million euros in the green …
The first version published this morning did not take into account the sums paid to the previous clubs of the transferred players 🥴 The figures corrected here ➡️ https://t.co/1Qz0DJ9yfE with @losclive always 🥇 ahead @ol 🤑 https://t.co/p54nzfrVxy
– CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) February 8, 2021
At the back of the pack in this ranking of the football observatory, we find the big teams who have the means to buy the best players at a high price: Paris St Germain, FC Barcelona and the 2 teams of Manchester, City and United.
Second source of income
For Lyon and St Etienne, trading has become a key element of strategy, it is their second source of income behind TV rights. Last season alone, the sale of players allowed OL Groupe to collect nearly 91 million euros, 2.5 times more than the ticket office.
For its part, St Etienne does not communicate these financial data. But the club claims to be attentive to these figures. The millions announced don’t mean “Cash in the cash registers”. Most of the time, payments are made over several years.
In both cases: this good financial performance is based on solid training centers. When it comes to trading, the training center is the crux of the matter, an expensive but profitable investment.
The training center: a machine with added value
Amine Gouiri, during the 8th day of the French Ligue 1 championship. His transfer from Lyon to Nice for 7 million euros plus 15% on the capital gain of a future transfer, is equivalent to the price of a year of center training for OL.
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© PHOTOPQR / NICE MATIN / MAxppp OGC Nice faces Lille at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice. Amine Gouiri
The strategy is simple: we bet on very young players. Rough diamonds that the center shapes. Then you have to make them shine, display them in a few key matches – to generate interest and sell them at a high price.
“For a player, you have the training center, the Grand stadium in which he can express himself and the level of competition. It’s all that will make his value. When there is one that comes out, like Gouiri for example at the Olympique Lyonnais, (sold 7 million euros in Nice plus 15% on the capital gain of a possible future transfer editor’s note), it reimburses a year of training center ” decrypts FrĂ©dĂ©ric Guerra, internationally renowned player agent.
Find the right timing
Thanks to their respective training centers, Lyon and Saint-Etienne also benefit from “active players”, a kind of human heritage, on which to draw in the event of difficult times. Finally, there’s the buy-in strategy this time around: feeling the players have high potential but not too expensive yet. The key is to be in the right timing.