Европын хөлбөмбөгийн зах зээлд хүч түрэн орж ирж буй гурван клуб

Six clubs have dominated the flow of talent into Europe’s top five leagues since the introduction of the summer transfer window in 2002.

Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Porto, Benfica and Sporting CP have long attracted buyers from the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1.

But the food chain is shifting.

Since 2020, Club Brugge, AZ and Red Bull Salzburg have consistently sold upcoming talents to the big five leagues.

According to Transfermarkt, Austria’s Salzburg have made the second-most summer sales (28) to these elite divisions during that period.

Belgians Club Brugge have received, on average, €17.2million for their summer sales to the same clubs — the sixth-highest rate among teams outside the top tiers to have made a minimum of five sales to the leading five European leagues.

Christos Tzolis’ €40million move to Arsenal this July follows Ardon Jashari’s €36m sale to Milan in August 2025 and Igor Thiago’s €33m transfer to Brentford the previous summer — a trend of Club Brugge unearthing talent, developing them while helping the team win trophies, and selling them for a profit.

For a combined €23.5million, the Belgian side bought Tzolis, Jashari and Thiago from Fortuna Dusseldorf, FC Luzern and Ludogorets, respectively. The scale of the profit made is a testament to their scouting and recruitment.

According to the club’s sporting director, Maarten Dedobbeleer, Club Brugge seek out clear playing profiles that fit their eight football principles, which helps the scouting department as it tries to unearth new talent.

“It’s perfectly fine with me when I look at the transfers some teams make and say, ‘Yeah, we knew him, but we turned him down’. Not because he can’t play in Belgium, but because he doesn’t quite fit Club Brugge’s profile,” Dedobbeleer told De Klokke Podcast in June.

Scouts are instructed not to judge players on physical attributes alone, but also on their ability to perform specific tasks in relation to the Bruges club’s playing style. For example, a short midfielder can be a good header of the ball because of his leap or the timing of his jumps.

Scouting is only one half of the coin: Club Brugge develop their own talent at academy level, Club NXT, with their under-23 team competing in the Belgian second division. This offers their youth talents a taste of senior football before promotion to the first team.

Charles De Ketelaere, Chemsdine Talbi and Maxim De Cuyper are recent academy success stories. They helped Club Brugge triumph in Belgium’s top flight before being sold to Milan, Sunderland and Brighton & Hove Albion, respectively.

Another reason behind Club Brugge’s rise as a shopping destination for the top five European leagues is their insistence on a “dominant” style of play, which is attractive to elite teams who want their recruits to be able to play that way.

The appeal of Club Brugge’s talents to the elite leagues has increased since the summer of 2019, as seen in the illustration below.

With so much talent flowing out the door, the club must maintain a strict succession plan in order to compete at the highest level themselves.

“In early February, we immediately held a meeting (after the winter transfer window had ended) where we decided that we always try to look two transfer windows ahead,” said sporting director Dedobbeleer in that June interview.

“Of course, that gets very specific for the next transfer window. So in February, you’re already looking at the upcoming (summer) transfer window, and based on what we know about our own players (we decide) who we would like to keep, who we will likely have to say goodbye to, or who we want to say goodbye to.

“Then we look at how we can best match our ideal squad composition — our squad of X number of players with the profiles we’re looking for.”

As in Bruges, succession planning is vital to the operations in Salzburg and Alkmaar, Dutch side AZ’s home city.

Young talents who join the first team may end up being sold into the top five European leagues, which further emphasises the importance of constantly developing more players.

“There is a clear methodology running through our academy, from the younger age groups through the middle phase and into the older age groups, ultimately leading to Jong AZ — our second team that plays in the second tier of Dutch football — and the AZ first team,” Paul Brandenburg, AZ’s academy director, tells The Athletic. “As players progress, the emphasis gradually shifts from ‘learning how to win’ to ‘having to win’.

“From AZ Under-17s onwards, international experience forms part of the programme. The UEFA Youth League is extremely valuable. We approach those campaigns in the same way the first team approaches European fixtures: travelling, playing several matches in a short period of time and deliberately learning to deal with uncomfortable situations. In this way, players gradually expand their comfort zone.”

AZ’s academy has been the cornerstone of the club in recent years. Six of its graduates were in the starting line-up when the first team lifted the Dutch Cup last season, thrashing NEC ​Nijmegen 5-1 in the final.

Young players at AZ are given opportunities in the first team; it is an integral part of the club’s sporting and economic model. Indeed, the academy and senior squad share a training complex, allowing for a constant exchange of knowledge.

The success of AZ’s academy has also made the club a trusted destination in the market. Ernest Poku, Tijjani Reijnders (who was signed at 19 from fellow Dutch side PEC Zwolle) and Teun Koopmeiners progressed from the academy to the first team before being sold to Bayer Leverkusen, Milan and Atalanta, respectively.

“We have a clear understanding of the level we want our players to reach and what it takes to get them there. We continuously adapted our development programme. Players need to be good enough not only for our first team, but also to cope with playing several matches a week at a high level,” Brandenburg says.

“Our foundation is regional. We want to give players from our own area a pathway into professional football. Only when we cannot find certain player profiles within the region do we start looking further afield, from AZ Under-17 onwards.”

At AZ, players from other countries are deliberately brought in at a young age. Initially, scouted players live with a host family. After that, they can move into supported accommodation and eventually live independently, while mentors help them with the language, the culture, and with finding their place within the group.

“Young talents can first spend two years in our ‘football school’. This means that they continue to live at home, play for their own club and attend their own school, but train once a week under the guidance of AZ in addition to their normal training,” adds Brandenburg.

“After two years, we know far more about them than we could ever learn from a handful of scouting visits. We understand their physical and cognitive qualities, functional technique, game intelligence, attitude and home environment, and above all their ability to learn and their intrinsic motivation.”

As Brandenburg explains, “youth development is the core business of AZ”, so it is not surprising that clubs in the top five European leagues harvest their talent once it’s ripe.

Since 2010, the average age of AZ’s summer sales to the top five European leagues has never risen above 26.

The focus on the academy is also shared by Salzburg, as Marcus Mann, their sporting director, tells The Athletic.

“Our preferred scenario is to bring the players into the academy at a young age, from where they can then make the step up to FC Red Bull Salzburg,” he says. “Our aim is for around two-thirds of players to follow this route.”

Salzburg’s goal is to use their academy and scouting at youth levels to strengthen the first team, but if good offers come in for their players, they are “happy to take them”.

“We have a state-of-the-art academy, generally work with players on an individual basis and allow them to gain playing time at a relatively high level, both nationally and internationally, at a young age,” says Mann. “That is something many clubs appreciate and recognise, which is why we continue to be active in the transfer market.”

Summer sales to RB Leipzig, with whom Salzburg share an obvious connection, only account for 19 per cent of their business since 2016 — which was Leipzig’s first season in the German Bundesliga.

Salzburg are prepared to lose their top talents — but do their best to ensure the first team remains unaffected.

“This is a desirable scenario, and we are pleased about it because it confirms our path,” Mann tells The Athletic. “We also prepare for it at an early stage by ideally already having the successors with us in the academy or at our cooperation club, FC Liefering.”

When striker Patson Daka moved to Leicester City in the summer of 2021, an 18-year-old named Benjamin Sesko was brought back from Liefering — effectively Salzburg’s reserve team, who play in the second tier of Austrian football — to join the first team.

“We always try to keep a close eye on talent and sign the right players early enough so that we are prepared when departures occur,” adds Mann.

Brenden Aaronson joined from Philadelphia Union of MLS in January 2021, and played a vital role in Salzburg securing a domestic double in 2020-21 and 2021-22. He was later sold to Leeds United for a profit in the summer of 2022.

Salzburg, AZ and Club Brugge have broken the existing oligopoly of clubs exporting players into the top five European leagues.

The hard part is maintaining their place in the food chain.