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Ligue 1 side Monaco registered a return on investment of 631% from the sales this summer of Kylian Mbappé, Bernardo Silva, Tiemoué Bakayoko and Benjamin Mendy, according to L’ÉQUIPE. In ’14, Monaco had to “change its economic model.” After spending €45M for James Rodriguez, €43M for Radamel Falcao, €25M for Joao Moutinho and €20M for Geoffrey Kondogbia during the ’13 summer transfer window, the club was “facing the threat of financial fair play sanctions” and had to find a new source of revenue. Monaco adopted a system of “trading players.” The club would “train young players or recruit them post-academy, give them important roles on the first team and sell them to big European clubs.” The system “bore its fruits” for the first time in ’15, when young Monaco players took the club to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The club then sold Anthony Martial (€80M), Kondogbia (€37M), Layvin Kurzawa (€25M) and Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco (€20M) to become “one of the biggest selling clubs in Europe.” Last season, Monaco won Ligue 1 and got to the semifinals of the Champions League “with one of the youngest clubs in Europe.” Monaco then made “four of the biggest sales” of this summer: Silva for €50M ($60M) and Mendy for €57.5M ($68.6M) to Man City, Bakayoko for €45M ($53.7M) to Chelsea and Mbappé to Paris St. Germain for €180M ($215M). Monaco spent less than €39M to recruit the four players (none for Mbappé, who was trained at the club), spent little more than €10M ($12M) on their salaries since their arrivals and “pocketed” €333M ($397.5M) from their sales -- a net profit of €283M ($338M), creating a return on investment of 631% (
L’ÉQUIPE, 9/6).
