Swansea City
Swansea City spent seven of the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 in the Premier League and two in the Championship. Their best finish was 8th, in 2014/15. They won one major trophy: the League Cup. Over those nine summers they paid £133.9m in transfer fees and took in £137.4m, a net profit of £3.5m.
Swansea City became the first Welsh club to play in the Premier League when they won the play-offs in 2010/11. They did not just survive; they thrived. Eleventh, then ninth with the League Cup in 2012/13, then eighth in 2014/15, all while playing football that won admirers well beyond south Wales.
The good times were funded partly by sales. Joe Allen went to Liverpool in 2012, Ben Davies to Tottenham in 2014, Ashley Williams to Everton in 2016 and Gylfi Sigurðsson to Everton for £45m in 2017. Expensive replacements like Borja did not fill the gaps, and 2017/18 ended in 18th and relegation.
On 115.football Swansea's whole timeline shifts. Start in the Championship in 2009 with £900m, keep Allen, Williams and Sigurðsson, and that League Cup could be the first trophy of several rather than the club's high-water mark.
Trophies
Season by season
Biggest signings
Biggest sales
Fees are those reported at the time, some estimated, for moves in the summer window. Trophies counted: the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup.