How 6 fringe players sonehow made a profit to raise £40m+

Manchester City have become masters of selling fringe players in recent years to boost their coffers.

But there are some fees that make you step back and wonder: how have they managed that?

Their deal with Leeds for the sale of James Trafford is just the latest example of them making a profit on a player who wasn’t a regular starter.

We’ve taken a look at a few players they sold for more than they paid – despite them not being obvious first-choice starters.

James Trafford – £31m to £40m – £9m profit

When City re-signed Trafford last summer from Burnley, it was for £31m. Thanks to a sell-on clause, they effectively only had to pay £27m for him.

It’s impressive business, then, for City to be able to sell Trafford for £40m this summer.

We say impressive not because of any doubts over Trafford’s ability, but because he didn’t even end up being their regular starter last season.

City jumped on the chance to sign Gianluigi Donnarumma later in the summer, denying Trafford the chance to start regularly in Pep Guardiola’s farewell season.

Leeds have now broken their transfer record to sign Trafford as an upgrade on Lucas Perri and the departed Karl Darlow and Illan Meslier.

He might well be worth the money for them, but having to pay £9m – or effectively £13m – more than City did a year ago is a bit head-scratching.

Maximo Perrone – £8m to £13m – £5m profit

One of the swathes of young talents that City have put their faith in for the future recently, Perrone joined from Velez Sarsfield for £8m in January 2023.

The midfielder made only two appearances for City before being loaned out to Las Palmas and Como.

He impressed the Italians enough for them to commit to spending up to £13m on his permanent transfer, thus ending his City career in 2025.

Perrone was a worthwhile investment for Como, playing 36 times in the league and scoring three goals to help them qualify for the Champions League.

But that’s besides the point. Perrone’s performances for City were so minimal in number that it’s hard to say they alone warranted a £5m uptick in his value.

Angelino – £5.3m to £16.3m – £11m profit

City were able to activate a buyback clause to re-sign Angelino from PSV in 2019, but his return only lasted half a season.

In January 2020, off went the left-back to RB Leipzig on loan after making 12 appearances back with City.

Leipzig managed to make that loan deal last 18 months, rather than the initially planned six, before buying Angelino for £16.3m.

City had originally set up a €30m option to buy after his initial loan exit, which would have been an even more exorbitant rise in his value.

All in all, the £11m profit they got from Angelino was almost £1m for each appearance he made after his return.

Enes Unal – £2m to £12m – £10m profit

You probably recognise Unal as someone who’s been at Bournemouth for the past two-and-a-half years. We’ll let you off if you had no idea he was once on City’s books.

At the time, back in 2015, Unal was unable to get a UK work permit after his £2m move from Bursaspor.

Thus, he spent his whole City career out on loan, playing for Genk, NAC Breda and FC Twente.

With 29 goals to his name across those loan spells, City were able to net a useful £10m profit when Villarreal bought him in 2017 for £12m.

When he returned to the Premier League with Bournemouth in 2024, the fee was only slightly greater at £13m.

Fabian Delph – £8m to £10m – £2m profit

Now, we’re not knocking Delph, who had a respectable career including a four-year spell with City. But over that time, even his closest allies wouldn’t have said he was among their key players.

Guardiola admired Delph’s dutiful versatility, but the former Aston Villa man only averaged 14 Premier League appearances per season in his spell with the club.

By the time he was ready to leave the club in 2019, Delph was a few months away from his 30th birthday and had failed to start a league game across the entire second half of his final season.

And yet, with add-ons included, City agreed to bank £10m from Everton, giving them a £2m profit on the price they paid Villa for his services in 2015.

Alvaro Negredo – £20m to £23.8m – £3.8m profit

Negredo had a fairly promising start to his City career after joining for up to £20m from Sevilla in 2013.

His goal tally swelled with efforts in cup competitions, but his impact tailed off and he only started one of City’s last 10 league games of the 2013-14 season, being no match for Edin Dzeko or Sergio Aguero.

City sent the Spanish striker on loan to Valencia for the following season and the move later became permanent via a clause worth £23.8m – despite Negredo scoring far less frequently for Los Che than he did for City.

READ MORE: An Xl of Man City academy graduates sold for £478m, including four current Chelsea stars

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Man City’s most expensive signing from every year since 2000?