Only 1 in 5 transfers involves a fee. We dig into what happens to the other 80%.
In our first post, we found that only about 1 in 5 transfers involves a cash payment. The other 80% — loans, free agents, contract expirations — move without a fee changing hands. But that doesn't mean they're worth nothing. Across 13 seasons (2013–2025) and 8 top leagues — Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Eredivisie, Super Lig, and Saudi Pro League — we tracked over 5,700 free transfers with known market valuations. The total? Over €11 billion in talent that moved for free.
The number that never makes headlines: ~80% of transfers involve no cash payment. Loans, free agents, expired contracts — they dominate the market, quietly, every single window.
But not all of that 80% is the same — and one slice of it tells a story nobody's tracking.
Split that 80% open and you find:
~28% undisclosed — the fee simply wasn't reported.
~39% loans — temporary moves, player returns, club-to-club arrangements.
~13% true free agents — contract expired, no fee owed.
Let's focus on the free agents this time. The players who walked out the door — and into someone else's squad — for nothing. Just how common is this?
Across 8 top leagues and 13 seasons, the share of free agent signings has held almost perfectly steady at around 29–35% of all incoming transfers.
The surface looks radically different — more volume, bigger fees. But dig deeper and the free transfer proportion barely moves. It's a structural feature of football, not a trend.
The number of free transfers stays flat — but the market value of the players moving for free is a different story.
€1.4Bpeak in 2022
From €600M in 2013, total free agent market value more than doubled before peaking in 2022. Since then it's retreating — but the era of the "cheap" free transfer is long gone. So who are these increasingly expensive free agents?
Who actually moves for free — and what are they worth?
Each logo is a free transfer — the top 5 by market value per season.
One crest keeps appearing: Juventus. 7 times in the top 5 — €236M in free talent accumulated. They didn't just use the free transfer market — they built their squad around it.
But by total market value captured? That crown goes to Real Madrid — €275M across just three free transfers. One of them alone accounts for €180M. Who made the full list?
The 20 biggest free transfers by market value since 2013.
Mbappé to Real Madrid — €180M of talent, zero fee. The single most valuable free transfer in the data.
But look further down the list: Messi €80M, Donnarumma €60M, Alaba €55M, Lewandowski €50M, Pogba €48M — all for free. But where do they all end up?
Which leagues and clubs win the free transfer market?
This chart shows free transfer flows between the 8 leagues in our dataset — sized by number of transfers.
The Super Lig is the biggest receiver by far — 302 free transfers in. The Premier League is the opposite: 235 players out, only 76 in.
Note: ~32% of flows are excluded where the source club belongs to a league outside these 8.
Now sized by combined market value (€M) instead of headcount.
The story shifts. The Premier League exports €446M to La Liga alone — and another €318M to Serie A. The volume story and the value story are not the same.
La Liga is the biggest winner — €1,041M in free talent received in total, €411M more than it sends out. And at club level, the same pattern sharpens further.
Real Madrid collected €275M in free talent — the biggest haul of any club. PSG sent out €180M in a single move.
Juventus is the most connected node — 4 of the top flows pass through them, both in and out.
And at the receiving end of almost every flow: La Liga and Serie A clubs.
Free transfers are not a footnote. Over 13 seasons, more than €11 billion in player market value changed hands without a single euro in fees.
The share of free transfers has barely budged — but the players moving for free have changed completely. Mbappé €180M, Messi €80M, Lewandowski €50M. These aren't footnotes. They're the headline.
And the flows reveal a structural imbalance: the Premier League exports €1,422M in free talent — receiving only €489M back. No other league comes close to that gap.
Data Sources — Transfer records: Transfermarkt (2013–2025, 8 leagues). Bridge chart: footballdatabase.eu (also used in 13 Years of Transfer Data). Market values at time of transfer. Club logos sourced from Wikimedia Commons.