List of most expensive association football transfers
The following is a list of most expensive men's association football transfers, which details the highest transfer fees ever paid for players.
As well as the most expensive transfers of all time, the page also lists transfers which broke the world transfer record. The first recorded record transfer was of Willie Groves from West Bromwich Albion to Aston Villa for £105 in 1893 (equivalent to £11,000 today). This occurred just eight years after the introduction of professionalism by The Football Association in 1885.[1] The current transfer record was set by the transfer of Neymar from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for €222 million (£198 million) in August of 2017.[2][3][4][5]
Contents
Highest fees[edit]
Most of the transfers on this list are to clubs under UEFA's jurisdiction, and most of the purchasing clubs are from England, France, Italy and Spain.
Three players appear on the list twice: Romelu Lukaku, Ángel Di María and Cristiano Ronaldo. All of the players on the list are of European (UEFA), South American (CONMEBOL), North America (CONCACAF) and African (CAF) origin. Following the transfer of American Christian Pulisic of the CONCACAF confederation in 2019, there are currently no players on the list from the remaining regions; Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC).
As of 7 August 2019
Fee broke the world football transfer record at the time of the transfer
Fee broke the record for a teenager at the time of the transfer (at most at the age of 20 years old)
Fee broke the national league record at the time of the transfer
Fee broke the record for a South American player at the time of the transfer
Fee broke the record for an African player at the time of the transfer
Fee broke the record for a North American player at the time of the transfer
Fee broke the record for a goalkeeper at the time of the transfer
Fee broke the record for a defender at the time of the transfer
Notes
- ^ Neymar paid his own termination clause, as is mandatory in Spain, making him a free agent.
- ^ Initial €135 million plus reported €45 million bonuses
- ^ On loan since 2017, permanent move in July 2018
- ^ Initial fee of €126m plus €1.2m of solidarity contribution
- ^ Initial £105 million plus reported £37 million bonuses
- ^ Initial €105 million plus reported €40 million bonuses
- ^ Fee was to be paid over time with an initial €105 million, plus another €5 million in additional bonuses; Pogba's agent Mino Raiola also received a reported €27m from Juventus, from a portion of aforementioned transfer fee from Manchester United.
- ^ Initial £89 million plus reported £60 million bonuses
- ^ €100m plus €5m of solidarity contribution and €12m broker fee
- ^ Fee was to be paid over time with an initial £75 million, plus another £15 million in additional bonuses.
- ^ Kepa paid his own termination clause, as is mandatory in Spain, making him a free agent.[50] He subsequently signed for Chelsea.[51]
- ^ fee originally in 150 billion lire; the fixed exchange rate between euro and lire was 1:1936.27. The fee was paid in 4 annual installments;[53] on accounting purpose, the fee was listed as approx. €75m[53]
- ^ Initial €75 million, payable in 5 financial years, plus additional €10,5 million costs
- ^ Initial €75 million plus reported €11 million bonuses
- ^ Initial transfer fee for Ibrahimović is indeterminable. According to Barcelona's press release, Ibrahimović signed a 5-year contract, for €46 million fee in installments and the exchange of Eto'o (valued at €20 million) and the loan of Alexander Hleb (with an option to buy for a €10 million fee), with a €250 million release clause, making Ibrahimović worth €66 million plus the undisclosed loan fee of Hleb. However, the Hleb deal collapsed. Eventually Ibrahimović cost Barcelona €69.884 million according to their financial report, which included other fees. As per the Inter book the fee was €69.5 million, but part of the Inter fee (max. 5% according to FIFA regulation) were deducted and distributed by Barcelona to youth clubs of Ibrahimović: Malmö FF and AFC Ajax as solidarity contribution.
- ^ The fee broke the world record in pound sterling, but not in euro (Zinedine Zidane was the most expensive in euro at that time); as the fee was paid in installments, the accountant that prepared the financial report adjusted the value to €66.073 million as the present value to reflect the loss in interest
- ^ Fee was to be paid over time with an initial £58 million, plus another £12 million in additional bonuses.
- ^ Cancelo's transfer equates to €65 million as part-exchange deal, where Danilo would be sent to Juventus.
- ^ Initial fee of £56 million with reported performance related bonuses of £9 million.
- ^ Fee was to be paid over time with an initial £44 million, plus another £5 million in additional bonuses.
- ^ Estimated figure. The transfer fee has not been disclosed.
- ^ Initial €60 million plus reported €10 million bonuses
- ^ Estimated figure. The transfer fee has not been disclosed.
- ^ Lazio broke the then-world transfer record by paying £35 million (£16 million upfront and transferred Matías Almeyda and Sérgio Conceição) to acquire Crespo. The total transfer fee later amounted to £40 million.
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