2017 saw clubs shatter last season’s record by €1.4 billion! The summer transfer window alone saw €5.1 billion spent and the overall spending in 2017 stands at €5.9 billion. Such was the carefree spending that football saw as more money was poured into the game.

With this kind of manic spending, a number of clubs saw their balance go into the negative as their buys far outweighed the sales. However, a select few clubs did manage to make a profit for a number of reasons.

1) Arsenal

Money spent: €53mMoney received: €68. 7mBalance: +€15. 7m

Ever since their move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, Arsenal have been a selling club for the majority of those years. They didn’t have a choice with the club saddled with debt, selling players to make a profit.

But that is no longer the situation and fans have a right to be angry with the club for not spending enough in the market when the team clearly needs improvement in several areas. This squad finished fifth last season and missed out on the Champions League for the first time in years.

And the only business Wenger did was to bring in a forward and a left-back. While signing Alexandre Lacazette (€53m) was a welcome move and Sead Kolasinac came for free, fans were left disappointed as the Gunners failed in the €100m pursuit of Monaco’s Thomas Lemar.

There were also reports that there was no cash left over for major signings (not in terms of transfer fees but wages). This made it all the more difficult to get big-name signings towards the end of the window unless they trimmed the squad.

But they did sell first-team players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wojciech Szczesny, Gabriel and Kieran Gibbs which saw them make a healthy profit - one that could condemn them to another finish outside the top four judging by their start to the season.

2) Borussia Dortmund

Money spent: €82. 7mMoney received: €166. 5mBalance: +€83. 8m

Last season saw Borussia Dortmund overhaul their squad in a quest to end Bayern Munich’s dominance in the Bundesliga. They sold or loaned seven key players for €111m but also bought nine new players for a total of €121.1m.

The plan was audacious but it never came to fruition. They struggled under Thomas Tuchel and eventually finished third behind newly-promoted RB Leipzig. Tuchel soon lost his job and Peter Bosz was put in charge.

This summer actually saw Dortmund in the red following a number of new signings. Signings such as Andrey Yarmolenko (€25m), Maximilian Philipp (€20m) and Mahmoud Dahoud (€12m) headed the list that eventually saw the club spend €82.7m in total.

However, a protracted transfer saga saw Barcelona eventually capture the signing of Ousmane Dembele for a club-record fee of €105m. The club had been adamant that the sensational 20-year-old was not for sale following a stellar season in 2016/17 but it was the young Frenchman who eventually forced a move through.

It saw the Bundesliga club make a huge profit in the window. The only question is whether it will hurt them in the league and Champions League.

3) Olympique Lyon

Money spent: €50. 5mMoney received: €119. 5mBalance: +€69m

Olympique Lyon have been struggling for prominence ever since their French dominance in the 2000s. Paris Saint-Germain’s recent dominance actually pales in comparison to Lyon’s seven consecutive league title wins between 2000/02 and 2007/08.

But the last six seasons have seen Lyon finish second, third and even fourth on one occasion. They simply have not had the squad to go all the way.

Whether Bruno Genesio can do so this season remains to be seen. But having sold two of their best players will make things difficult.

Alexandre Lacazette, who scored 129 goals for the club (113 goals in the last four seasons alone) was sold to Arsenal for €53m while Bayern Munich snapped up midfielder Corentin Tolisso for €41.5m. They also lost Emmanuel Mammana to Zenit St. Petersburg and Maxime Gonalons to AS Roma.

Among their major arrivals are Bertrand Traore (€10m) from Chelsea, Pape Cheikh (also €10m) from Celta Vigo and Mariano Diaz (€8m) from Real Madrid.

4) Real Madrid

Money spent: €92. 5mMoney received: €123mBalance: +€30. 5m

Yes, you read that right. For a second consecutive season, Real Madrid received more money than they spent in the transfer market.

Zinedine Zidane has done everything right so far ever since taking over the club in the second half of the 2015/16 season. He has abandoned president Florentino Perez’s Galacticos policy and set about creating a healthy mixture of youngsters who deserved to make the step up and established stars alike.

Last summer, they only re-signed Alvaro Morata. This summer? Just two youth players who have a long career ahead of them - 19-year-old Theo Hernandez (€30m from Atletico Madrid) and 20-year-old Dani Ceballos (€16.5m from Real Betis).

They did spend €46m for Flamengo’s 16-year-old Vinícius Júnior too but he will move across the Atlantic only when he turns 18, staying with the Brazilian club till July 2019.

While the rest of the clubs inflated the market to sign players who could make an instant impact, Real quietly signed three players who will play a crucial role in the future.

But they also sold key backup players such as Morata (sold to Chelsea for €62m) and Danilo (sold to Manchester City for €30m) while James Rodriguez was loaned to Bayern Munich.

All in all, it was strange to see Real not spending big but who is one to argue with a manager who has already won two consecutive Champions League titles?

Also read: Why the gap between Real Madrid and Barcelona is the biggest it has been in years

5) AS Monaco

Money spent: €105mMoney received: €394mBalance: +€289m

As expected, the vultures circling AS Monaco after their successful 2016/17 season - where they won the Ligue 1 title and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League - swooped in and tore away players left, right and centre. For a hefty price, of course.

Benjamin Mendy (€57.5m) and Bernardo Silva (€50m) moved to Manchester City while Tiemoue Bakayoko (€40m) moved to Chelsea - three first-team players gone in the blink of an eye.

But their biggest ‘sale’ of all was Kylian Mbappe to rivals Paris Saint-Germain. The 18-year-old who set the French Ligue 1 on fire in the final six months of the 2016/17 season was signed by the Parisian club on an initial season-long loan deal (to avoid Financial Fair Play sanctions).

However, the club must sign him for approximately €180m next season, effectively making him the second-most expensive player in history in 12 months’ time. Nobody can blame him for moving to Paris either; he did grow up there after all.

But Monaco acted swiftly in the transfer market to sign replacements after losing their stars. Winger Keita Balde (€30m), central midfielder Youri Tielemans (€25m) and centre-forward Stevan Jovetic (€10m) have were brought on board while centre-back Terence Kongolo (€15m) was also signed to shore up the defence.

Will it be enough for Leonardo Jardim to challenge for the league title, though? They’ve made a promising start with a perfect record so far after four games (the same as PSG). Only time will tell.

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