The most expensive football transfers in history
The 2022-23 season is loaded with lucrative contracts, with Mykhailo Mudryk, Antony, Erling Haaland, and Darwin Nunez leading the way.
PSG stirred up the football world in the summer of 2017 by acquiring Neymar from Barcelona and then Kylian Mbappe from Monaco.
They remain the two most expensive players ever, but it cannot be denied that PSG’s extraordinary double swoop inflated the transfer market significantly.
Barcelona attempted to replace the void left by Neymar by signing players for nine-figure fees, including Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, and Antoine Griezmann.
Atletico Madrid spent €126 million on Benfica’s prodigious attacking potential Joao Felix, while Real Madrid paid €100 million to bring Eden Hazard to Santiago Bernabeu.
| Pos. | Player | Clubs | Year | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neymar | Barcelona – PSG | 2017 | €222m |
| 2 | Kylian Mbappe | Monaco – PSG | 2017 | €145m (+€35m) |
| 3 | Joao Felix | Benfica – Atletico Madrid | 2019 | €126m |
| 4 | Enzo Fernandez | Benfica – Chelsea | 2023 | €121m |
| 5 | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool – Barcelona | 2018 | €120m (+€40m) |
| 6 | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid – Barcelona | 2019 | €120m |
| 7 | Jack Grealish | Aston Villa – Manchester City | 2021 | €117m |
| 8 | Romelu Lukaku | Inter – Chelsea | 2021 | €115m |
| 9 | Ousmane Dembele | Borussia Dortmund – Barcelona | 2017 | €105m (+€45m) |
| 10 | Paul Pogba | Juventus – Manchester United | 2016 | €105m |
| 11 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham – Real Madrid | 2013 | €100.8m |
| 13 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid – Juventus | 2018 | €100m |
| 14 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea – Real Madrid | 2019 | €100m (+€40m) |
| 15 | Mykhailo Mudryk | Shakhtar Donetsk – Chelsea | 2023 | €100m |
| 16 | Antony | Ajax – Manchester United | 2022 | €95m (+€5m) |
| 17 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United – Real Madrid | 2009 | €94m |
| 18 | Gonzalo Higuain | Napoli – Juventus | 2016 | €90m |
| 19 | Harry Maguire | Leicester City – Manchester United | 2019 | €87.1m |
| 20 | Neymar | Santos – Barcelona | 2013 | €86.2m |
| 21 | Jadon Sancho | Borussia Dortmund – Manchester United | 2021 | €85m |
| 22 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton – Manchester United | 2017 | €84.8m |
| 23 | Virgil van Dijk | Southampton – Liverpool | 2018 | €84.5m |
| 24 | Luis Suarez | Liverpool – Barcelona | 2014 | €82.3m |
| 25 | Wesley Fofana | Leicester City – Chelsea | 2022 | €80.6m |
| 26 | Aurelien Tchouameni | Monaco – Real Madrid | 2022 | €80m (+€20m) |
| 27 | James Rodriguez | Monaco – Real Madrid | 2014 | €80m |
| 28 | Kepa Arrizabalaga | Athletic Club – Chelsea | 2018 | €80m |
| 29 | Lucas Hernandez | Atletico Madrid – Bayern Munich | 2019 | €80m |
| 30 | Romelu Lukaku | Manchester United – Inter | 2019 | €80m |
| 31 | Nicolas Pepe | Lille – Arsenal | 2019 | €79m |
| 32 | Alvaro Morata | Real Madrid – Chelsea | 2017 | €78.9m |
| 33 | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus – Real Madrid | 2001 | €77.5m |
| 34 | Darwin Nunez | Benfica – Liverpool | 2022 | €75m (+€25m) |
| 35 | Matthijs de Ligt | Ajax – Juventus | 2019 | €75m (+€10.5m) |
| 36 | Kevin De Bruyne | Wolfsburg – Manchester City | 2015 | €75m |
| 37 | Frenkie de Jong | Ajax – Barcelona | 2019 | €75m |
| 38 | Dusan Vlahovic | Fiorentina – Juventus | 2022 | €75m |
| 37 | Angel Di Maria | Real Madrid – Manchester United | 2014 | €74.6m |
| 38 | Alisson Becker | Roma – Liverpool | 2018 | €73m |
| 39 | Arthur Melo | Barcelona – Juventus | 2020 | €72m (+€10m) |
| 40 | Casemiro | Real Madrid – Manchester United | 2022 | €71m (+€11.8m) |
| 41 | Kai Havertz | Bayer Leverkusen – Chelsea | 2020 | €70m (+€9m) |
| 42 | Luka Jovic | Eintracht Frankfurt – Real Madrid | 2019 | €70m |
| 43 | Rodri | Atletico Madrid – Manchester City | 2019 | €70m |
| 44 | Mykhailo Mudryk | Shakhtar Donetsk – Chelsea | 2023 | €70m (+€30m) |
| 45 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Inter – Barcelona | 2009 | €69.5m |
| 46 | Raheem Sterling | Liverpool – Manchester City | 2015 | €69.1m |
| 47 | Ruben Dias | Benfica – Manchester City | 2020 | €68m (+€3.6m) |
| 48 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester City – Manchester City | 2019 | €67.8m |
| 49 | Matthijs de Ligt | Juventus – Bayern Munich | 2022 | €67m (+€10m) |
| 50 | Diego Costa | Chelsea – Atletico Madrid | 2018 | €66m |
| 51 | Marc Cucurella | Brighton – Chelsea | 2022 | €65.1m (+€8.2m) |
| 52 | Alexander Isak | Real Sociedad – Newcastle United | 2022 | €65m (+€5m) |
| 53 | Thomas Lemar | Monaco – Atletico Madrid | 2018 | €65m |
| 54 | Kaka | AC Milan – Real Madrid | 2009 | €65m |
| 55 | Aymeric Laporte | Athletic Club – Manchester City | 2018 | €65m |
| 56 | Joao Cancelo | Juventus – Manchester City | 2019 | €65m (inc. Danilo) |
| 57 | Edinson Cavani | Napoli – PSG | 2013 | €64.5m |
| 58 | Christian Pulisic | Borussia Dortmund – Chelsea | 2019 | €64m |
| 59 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Borussia Dortmund – Arsenal | 2018 | €63.75m |
| 60 | David Luiz | Chelsea – PSG | 2014 | €62.5m |
| 61 | Angel Di Maria | Manchester United – PSG | 2015 | €61.6m |
| 62 | Oscar | Chelsea – Shanghai SIPG | 2017 | €60.3m |
| 63 | Achraf Hakimi | Inter – PSG | 2021 | €60m (+€11m) |
| 64 | Miralem Pjanic | Juventus – Barcelona | 2020 | €60m (+€5m) |
| 65 | Erling Haaland | Borussia Dortmund – Manchester City | 2022 | €60m |
| 66 | Naby Keita | RB Leipzig – Liverpool | 2018 | €60m |
| 67 | Luis Figo | Barcelona – Real Madrid | 2000 | €60m |
| 68 | Tanguy Ndombele | Lyon – Tottenham | 2019 | €60m |
| 69 | Raphinha | Leeds United – Barcelona | 2022 | €59m (+€6m) |
| 70 | Fernando Torres | Liverpool – Chelsea | 2011 | €59m |
| 71 | Fred | Shakhtar Donetsk – Manchester United | 2018 | €58.9m |
| 72 | Jorginho | Napoli – Chelsea | 2018 | €58.9m |
| 73 | Hulk | Zenit – Shanghai SIPG | 2016 | €58.6m |
| 74 | Ben White | Brighton – Arsenal | 2021 | €58.6m |
| 75 | Benjamin Mendy | Monaco – Manchester City | 2017 | €58.2m |
| 76 | Richarlison | Everton – Tottenham | 2022 | €58m (+€12m) |
| 77 | John Stones | Everton – Manchester City | 2016 | €58m |
| 78 | Kyle Walker | Tottenham – Manchester City | 2017 | €56.7m |
| 79 | Raheem Sterling | Manchester City – Chelsea | 2022 | €56.2m |
| 80 | Ben Chilwell | Leicester City – Chelsea | 2020 | €55.8m |
| 81 | Lisandro Martinez | Ajax – Manchester United | 2022 | €55.3m (+€12.5m) |
| 82 | Bruno Fernandes | Sporting C.P. – Manchester United | 2020 | €55m (+€25m) |
| 83 | Hernan Crespo | Parma – Lazio | 2000 | €55m |
| 84 | Ferran Torres | Manchester City – Barcelona | 2021 | €55m |
| 85 | Alexandre Lacazette | Lyon – Arsenal | 2017 | €53m (+€7m) |
| 86 | Timo Werner | RB Leipzig – Chelsea | 2020 | €53m |
| 87 | Gabriel Jesus | Manchester City – Arsenal | 2022 | €52.3m |
| 88 | Gianluigi Buffon | Parma – Juventus | 2001 | €52m |
| 89 | Eliaquim Mangala | Porto – Manchester City | 2014 | €51.7m |
| 90 | Jules Kounde | Sevilla – Barcelona | 2022 | €50m (+€10m) |
| 91 | Alex Teixeira | Shakhtar Donetsk – Jiangsu Suning | 2016 | €50m |
| 92 | Bernardo Silva | Monaco – Manchester City | 2017 | €50m |
| 93 | Fabinho | Monaco – Liverpool | 2018 | €50m |
| 94 | Eder Militao | Porto – Real Madrid | 2019 | €50m |
| 95 | Aaron Wan-Bissaka | Crystal Palace – Manchester United | 2019 | €50m |
| 96 | Thomas Partey | Atletico Madrid – Arsenal | 2020 | €50m |
| 97 | Victor Osimhen | Lille – Napoli | 2020 | €50m |
| 98 | Anthony Martial | Monaco – Manchester United | 2015 | €49.3m |
| 99 | Gylfi Sigurdsson | Swansea City – Everton | 2017 | €49.2m |
| 100 | Leroy Sane | Manchester City – Bayern Munich | 2020 | €49m (+€11m) |
| 101 | Christian Vieri | Lazio – Inter | 1999 | €49m |
Some clubs, especially in England, appear to have recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic, with the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, Mykhailo Mudryk, Antony, Darwin Nunez, Matthijs de Ligt, Wesley Fofana, and Aurelien Tchouameni moving for astronomical sums.
More mega-deals are likely to follow, but you can view the current list of the most expensive footballers in the world below…
The most costly British player
Jack Grealish became the most expensive British footballer in history when Manchester City agreed to satisfy the €117 million buy-out clause in his Aston Villa contract.
The previous record holder was Welsh winger Gareth Bale, who joined Real Madrid from Tottenham for €100.8 million in 2013.
Prior to Grealish’s move to the Etihad, Harry Maguire’s 2019 transfer from Leicester to Manchester United made him the most expensive English player ever.
Most expensive teenager
Kylian Mbappe is the most expensive teenager in history, as he joined PSG in 2017 on a loan-to-buy agreement worth €180 million after bonuses.
Joao Felix is the second most costly teenager, as Atletico Madrid paid Benfica €126 million to acquire him in 2019.
Most expensive defender
In 2019, Manchester United paid €87.1 million for the services of England center-back Harry Maguire, making him the most expensive defender ever.
Maguire narrowly surpassed Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk in the process, as the Netherlands international cost the Reds €84.5m to acquire from Southampton the year prior.
Most expensive goalkeeper
Kepa Arrizabalaga is the world’s most expensive goalkeeper. In 2018, Chelsea spent €80 million to meet his Athletic Club release clause.
For a long time, former Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon held this mark, having joined the Turin outfit from Parma for €52m, which is a colossal fee when inflation is taken into account.
Then, within a short period of time, Buffon’s record was broken twice. First, Liverpool acquired Roma’s Alisson Becker for €73 million, temporarily becoming the most expensive goalkeeper in the world.
Not wanting to be outdone, Chelsea signed Kepa a month later, elevating the Spain international to the top position.
Biggest transfer outside of Europe
The most a non-European club has ever paid for a player is €60,3 million, paid by Shanghai SIPG to Chelsea in 2016 for Brazil midfielder Oscar.
The most expensive football transfers in history