Only Monaco and Ajax make higher transfer profits than RB Salzburg
With the sale of Maximilian Wöber, Red Bull Salzburg has achieved transfer income of more than 100 million euros for the second time in a season. With a plus of 76 million, the Mozartstadt-based club is the club with the third-highest transfer profit worldwide.
Salzburg mastermind Christoph Freund.
FC Red Bull Salzburg via Getty Images
the Twelve million transfer from Maximilian Wöber to Leeds War Red Bull Salzburg fifth in the double-digit million range. He has increased the transfer income of the Austrian subscription champions to 105.6 million euros this season. The “bulls” only take in a higher amount once, in the 2019/20 season, when the cashier was even able to enjoy over 113.75 million in income. With such sums, the Salzburgers no longer only play in their own league in Austria. They are now moving into spheres around the world that only old football nobility would otherwise penetrate.
In the season ranking of the clubs with the highest income from player sales, sports director Christoph Freund has lifted his club to ninth place. Behind Juventus Turin (108.3 million) and just ahead of Bayern Munich (104.1). Unrivaled in first place this season is Ajax Amsterdam, which raked in 216 million for the sales of (amongst others) Antony, Lisandro Martínez (both Man United), Sebastian Haller (Dortmund) and Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern).
Third highest transfer win
It is even happier for the Salzburg managing directors when they look at the ranking list with the highest transfer profits. In this they even find their club in third place with a plus of 76.1 million euros. Only behind AS Monaco, which generated a plus of 111.5 million, and Ajax, whose expenses of 113 million pushed the profit down to 103 million. Sporting Lisbon (73.85 million), OSC Lille (73.5 million) and Benfica (70.2 million) follow in the places behind Salzburg. FC Porto, which has practiced for many years how to make high transfer profits, is only in 16th place with a transfer plus of 38 million.
Unlike many of their competitors, the people of Salzburg can still buy cheaply – also because of their superiority in the league. The departures of Adeyemi, Aaronson, Camara & Co. could be compensated for with expenses of 29.5 million euros (which means that RBS is not even in the top 50). Most of the new acquisitions don’t have to be direct successors, but first come to FC Liefering’s talent factory, where they will later be. The resulting gaps are usually filled by players who were signed years ago and have already completed their development in Liefering. This model has been able to make millions in profits on the transfer market for years.
The friend record
The accuracy with which Christoph Freund has been operating since he took over from Ralf Rangnick as head of sport at Salzburg in the 2015/16 season is almost astounding. During this time, the 45-year-old has sold 23 players in the tens of millions and flushed a total of 516 million euros into the club’s coffers. He spent 147 million in the same period. Transfer flops hardly ever occur. For example, while Patson Daka, who arrived from Zambia in 2017 for €250,000 before being sold to Leicester in 2021 for €30m (and top scorer twice in between), provided the biggest winning margin of Freund’s era and virtually every player (e.g. Upamecano, Dabbur, Adeyemi, Aaronson, Haaland, Pongracic etc.) were sold for a multiple or even a multiple (e.g. Haidara, Mwepu, Lainer) of the purchase price, there were hardly any players where the “bulls” paid more . The biggest “minus deals” were Marc Rzatkowski and Stefan Stangl from the beginning of the Freund era, which cost two and 1.65 million respectively, but soon left the club on a free transfer.
With Freund’s success rate, it’s no wonder that Chelsea, who have lost their biggest transfer loss of the season at 290 million, wanted to bring him to Stamford Bridge in the summer.