The monumental moves just keep on coming with Chelsea breaking the goalkeeper record with the signing of Kepa
Neymar completed his move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a staggering fee of €222 million in the summer of 2017 and the big deals haven’t stopped since, with Kylian Mbappe joining him in Paris for €145m plus €35m in bonuses.
As a result of his move to the French capital, the Brazilian is now the most expensive player of all time, having smashed the previous record held by Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, who arrived at Old Trafford last summer from Juventus for €105m. Mbappe, meanwhile, moves to second on the list.
Philippe Coutinho’s move from Liverpool to Barcelona in January puts him third on the list, while Barca’s capture of Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for €105m plus add-ons sees him ahead of Pogba in the top five.
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Cristiano Ronaldo occupies positions seven and eight on the list, with his move to Juventus in the summer of 2018 eclipsing the cost of his transfer to Real Madrid from Manchester United nine years earlier.
Most expensive British player
As illustrated above, while Neymar and Pogba’s recent moves saw Gareth Bale slip to third in the all-time standings, the Wales international remains the most expensive British player of all time, thanks to his €100.8m move to Real Madrid in 2013.
The costliest English player in history, incidentally, is Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling, who joined from Liverpool in 2015 for €69.1m.
Most expensive teenager
After joining PSG, Mbappe not only became the second-most expensive player of all time, he also became the most expensive teenager ever.
The Monaco wonderkid joined PSG on a loan-to-buy deal that will be worth €180m after bonuses – not bad for a player who only turned 19 last December!
Most expensive defender
Virgil van Dijk became the most expensive defender of all time when Liverpool forked out a fee worth £84.5m to Southampton for the Netherlands international’s services in 2018.
His move from the Saints to Anfield completely blew the previous record – David Luiz’s €62.5m move to PSG from Chelsea – out of the water.
Most expensive goalkeeper
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 with a matter of weeks, the record was shattered twice. First Liverpool brought in Roma’s Alisson Becker for €73m, to temporarily take the mark as the world’s most expensive keeper.
Not to be outdone, Chelsea matched Kepa Arrizabalaga’s €80m release clause with Athletic Bilbao not even a month later, meaning the Spain international has quickly dethroned Alisson for the No.1 spot in transfer history.
Biggest transfer outside of Europe
The most a non-European club has ever paid for a player is €60.3m, which Shanghai SIPG handed over to Chelsea for Brazil midfielder Oscar in 2016.
However, with the way the market is going, who knows which record will be shattered next?!