Following Rutter sale 

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On Monday, Leeds United confirmed that 22-year-old forward Georginio Rutter had joined Brighton for an undisclosed fee. “We wish him all the very best for the future,” concluded a club statement on their website, following a clear indication that the Championship club had intended to keep the young player for the new season, only for their Premier League rivals to trigger his release clause. “Every effort was made to keep Georginio at Elland Road despite his exit clause being activated,” read the statement. “But he was persistent and adamant in his desire to leave and we respect his decision.” Such a remark may have been for the benefit of fans of the club, who’ve had to quickly get used to star players departing Elland Road this summer. Because not only have Leeds sold some of their key players over the course of the last few months, but have also made a remarkable amount of money in doing so. 

Indeed, to date the Championship side have made an incredible €162.9m from selling players like Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville, Luis Sinisterra and Rutter, who made the move to Brighton for a club record €46.7m. In total, Leeds have received transfer fees for eight first team players, as well as allowing a further six to leave on free transfers. That figure, unsurprisingly, is one of the highest in English football history for a club’s total income from transfer fees in a single season. With just four other clubs claiming a higher windfall from player sales. However, should Leeds look to sell other key players – such as highly regarded winger Wilfried Gnonto, young defensive midfielder Ethan Ampadu or even star goalkeeper Illan Meslier – before the end of the transfer window they could find themselves quickly moving into second place. 

The clubs to beat for Leeds United’s accountancy team areWolves, Southampton, Brighton and Chelsea. Coincidentally, all four clubs made their record sales in last summer’s transfer window, with Wolves cashing in on Matheus Nunes and Rúben Neves, the Saints bagging €178.3m from player sales, Brighton picking up €189.5m from the sale of Moisés Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sánchez, while Chelsea made a record amount of money from selling no less than nine first team players, such as Kai Havertz, Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic. As the graph above shows, Chelsea are no strangers to making substantial sums of money in the transfer window and make up three of the top 10 most profitable transfer windows. And having already earned €103m from player sales this summer alone, there’s every chance that they could add a fourth entry into the top 10 if the Stamford Bridge side are capable of moving on a handful of unwanted stars before the end of this window. The gallery below shows where Leeds, Wolves, Southampton and Chelsea rank among all European clubs for the highest income from player sales in a single summer window.