The trading model
What is Aberdeen getting for its money? The club buys cheap from overlooked markets, develops players and sells at a profit — here measured against what each signing actually delivered, and the rules that separate a good window from a bad one.
Net spend, year on year
Sales minus fees each summer. Green = net income (a selling year), red = net outlay.
Buy low, sell high
Profit on each sale — sale fee minus what Aberdeen paid. Academy products are pure profit.
The rules, and how Aberdeen score
Data-led recruitment principles (after Ian Graham’s How to Win the Premier League), measured against how Aberdeen operate.
Shop in inefficient markets
YesMiovski and Ramadani from MTK Budapest, Duk from Benfica B, Nilsen and Keskinen from Scandinavia — average arrival fee under £0.4m.
Buy potential, sell at peak
YesIn on the upswing, out after the breakout. Miovski: 22 for £0.55m, sold at 24 for £5.6m. Ramsay and McKenna academy-to-millions.
A signing that plays is a signing that worked
MostlyIan Graham's test: do they become a regular? Nine of sixteen fee signings cleared 50% of minutes — but last summer's Tobers (23%) and Ambrose (9%) did not.
Reinvest the windfalls
Watch£19m of trading profit funds the club — but a net +£15m banked asks whether enough goes back in to climb, or just to stand still.