Youssef Chermiti is unveiled by Rangers

Rangers have outspent rivals Celtic over the last two transfer windows, despite the Hoops banking £53million from transfers over the previous five years.

The common Celtic fan complaint that the board are hoarding money they could be spending is given added weight when you look at the numbers.

New research from the CIES Football Observatory has ranked clubs worldwide on the financial results of their transfer operations over the last year (two transfer windows) and last five years (ten transfer windows).

The figures include transfer add ons and sell ons, with Rangers coming in at 35th on the global list with a net spend of -£22.6m.

That’s more than the likes of Chelsea, Brentford, Bayern Munich, Juventus and AC Milan. Of course, the caveat is the far bigger fees these clubs tend to command when selling players.

According to the data, the Ibrox club have splashed out £43.5million on transfers over the last two windows, while recouping just under £21m.

The likes Youssef Chermiti, Ryan Naderi, Tochi Chukwuani and Oliver Antman have all bumped up this season’s spend following the American takeover by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises, while fees for Hamza Igamane, Jefte, Cyriel Dessers and Ridvan Yilmaz are taken into account.

Celtic fans protest against the board outside the ground

Celtic didn’t make the rankings list for the last two windows, but do feature when analysing the last ten.

They are 67th in the list for net spend over that period, having brought in £53million more than they’ve shelled out.

£180m has flowed into the Parkhead coffers from transfers, with just under £127m being reinvested in the team.

Significant fees for the likes of Oddsone Edouard, Kris Ajer, Josip Juranovic, Jota, Liel Abada and Matt O’Riley’s mega move to Brighton are included in the takings.

English Championship clubs such as Sheffield United and Norwich are ahead of them on cash spent, with Brendan Rodgers’ Al-Qadsiah well up the list.

Overall, Celtic have made 83 fee paying transfers both in and out over five years.