Paris Saint-Germain shook up the football world in the summer of 2017 when they signed Neymar from Barcelona for a staggering €222 million and then promptly prised Kylian Mbappe away from Monaco for €145m plus €35m in bonuses.
They remain the two most expensive players of all time but there is no denying that PSG's sensational double swoop greatly inflated the transfer market.
Indeed, a number of massive moves quickly followed, with Barcelona looking to try to fill the void left behind by Neymar by signing the likes of Ousmane Dembele ($105m), Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann (both €120m).
Also in Spain, Atletico Madrid splashed €126m on Benfica's prodigious attacking talent Joao Felix, while Real Madrid finally brought Eden Hazard to the Santiago Bernabeu for €100m.
The pandemic has since had a massive impact on the transfer market but some clubs remained largely unaffected, as underlined by Manchester City signing Jack Grealish for a British-record €117m in August 2021.
That came hot on the heels of neighbours Manchester United finally managing to land Grealish's compatriot, Jadon Sancho, at a cost of €85m, while Chelsea also splashed out €115m to bring Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge from Inter ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.
More massive deals now look certain to follow but you can see the current list of the world's most expensive footballers below...
On this page
- Most expensive British player
- Most expensive teenager
- Most expensive defender
- Most expensive goalkeeper
- Biggest transfer outside of Europe
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 | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool - Barcelona | 2018 | €120m (+€40m) |
=4 | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid - Barcelona | 2019 | €120m |
6 | Jack Grealish | Aston Villa - Manchester City | 2021 | €117m |
7 | Romelu Lukaku | Inter - Chelsea | 2021 | €115m |
=8 | Ousmane Dembele | Borussia Dortmund - Barcelona | 2017 | €105m (+€45m) |
=8 | Paul Pogba | Juventus - Manchester United | 2016 | €105m |
10 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham - Real Madrid | 2013 | €100.8m |
=11 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid - Juventus | 2018 | €100m |
=11 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea - Real Madrid | 2019 | €100m (+€40m) |
13 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United - Real Madrid | 2009 | €94m |
14 | Gonzalo Higuain | Napoli - Juventus | 2016 | €90m |
15 | Harry Maguire | Leicester City - Manchester United | 2019 | €87.1m |
16 | Neymar | Santos - Barcelona | 2013 | €86.2m |
17 | Jadon Sancho | Borussia Dortmund - Manchester United | 2021 | €85m |
18 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton - Manchester United | 2017 | €84.8m |
19 | Virgil van Dijk | Southampton - Liverpool | 2018 | €84.5m |
20 | Luis Suarez | Liverpool - Barcelona | 2014 | €82.3m |
=21 | James Rodriguez | Monaco - Real Madrid | 2014 | €80m |
=21 | Kepa Arrizabalaga | Athletic Club - Chelsea | 2018 | €80m |
=21 | Lucas Hernandez | Atletico Madrid - Bayern Munich | 2019 | €80m |
=21 | Romelu Lukaku | Manchester United - Inter | 2019 | €80m |
25 | Nicolas Pepe | Lille - Arsenal | 2019 | €79m |
26 | Alvaro Morata | Real Madrid - Chelsea | 2017 | €78.9m |
27 | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus - Real Madrid | 2001 | €77.5m |
=28 | Matthijs de Ligt | Ajax - Juventus | 2019 | €75m (+€10.5m) |
=28 | Kevin De Bruyne | Wolfsburg - Manchester City | 2015 | €75m |
=28 | Frenkie de Jong | Ajax - Barcelona | 2019 | €75m |
31 | Angel Di Maria | Real Madrid - Manchester United | 2014 | €74.6m |
32 | Alisson Becker | Roma - Liverpool | 2018 | €73m |
33 | Arthur Melo | Barcelona - Juventus | 2020 | €72m (+€10m) |
=34 | Kai Havertz | Bayer Leverkusen - Chelsea | 2020 | €70m (+€9m) |
=34 | Luka Jovic | Frankfurt - Real Madrid | 2019 | €70m |
=34 | Rodri | Atletico Madrid - Manchester City | 2019 | €70m |
37 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Inter - Barcelona | 2009 | €69.5m |
38 | Raheem Sterling | Liverpool - Manchester City | 2015 | €69.1m |
39 | Ruben Dias | Benfica - Manchester City | 2020 | €68m (+€3.6m) |
40 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester City - Manchester City | 2019 | €67.8m |
41 | Diego Costa | Chelsea - Atletico Madrid | 2018 | €66m |
=42 | Thomas Lemar | Monaco - Atletico Madrid | 2018 | €65m |
=42 | Kaka | AC Milan - Real Madrid | 2009 | €65m |
=42 | Aymeric Laporte | Athletic Club - Manchester City | 2018 | €65m |
=42 | Joao Cancelo | Juventus - Manchester City | 2019 | €65m (inc. Danilo) |
46 | Edinson Cavani | Napoli - PSG | 2013 | €64.5m |
47 | Christian Pulisic | Borussia Dortmund - Chelsea | 2019 | €64m |
48 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Borussia Dortmund - Arsenal | 2018 | €63.75m |
49 | David Luiz | Chelsea - PSG | 2014 | €62.5m |
50 | Angel Di Maria | Manchester United - PSG | 2015 | €61.6m |
51 | Oscar | Chelsea - Shanghai SIPG | 2017 | €60.3m |
=52 | Achraf Hakimi | Inter - PSG | 2021 | €60m (+€11m) |
=52 | Miralem Pjanic | Juventus - Barcelona | 2020 | €60m (+€5m) |
=52 | Naby Keita | RB Leipzig - Liverpool | 2018 | €60m |
=52 | Luis Figo | Barcelona - Real Madrid | 2000 | €60m |
=52 | Tanguy Ndombele | Lyon - Tottenham | 2019 | €60m |
57 | Fernando Torres | Liverpool - Chelsea | 2011 | €59m |
=58 | Fred | Shakhtar Donetsk - Manchester United | 2018 | €58.9m |
=58 | Jorginho | Napoli - Chelsea | 2018 | €58.9m |
=58 | Hulk | Zenit - Shanghai SIPG | 2016 | €58.6m |
=58 | Ben White | Brighton - Arsenal | 2021 | €58.6m |
62 | Benjamin Mendy | Monaco - Manchester City | 2017 | €58.2m |
63 | John Stones | Everton - Manchester City | 2016 | €58m |
64 | Kyle Walker | Tottenham - Manchester City | 2017 | €56.7m |
65 | Ben Chilwell | Leicester City - Chelsea | 2020 | €55.8m |
=66 | Bruno Fernandes | Sporting - Manchester United | 2020 | €55m (+€25m) |
=66 | Hernan Crespo | Parma - Lazio | 2000 | €55m |
=66 | Alexandre Lacazette | Lyon - Arsenal | 2017 | €53m (+€7m) |
=66 | Timo Werner | RB Leipzig - Chelsea | 2020 | €53m |
70 | Gianluigi Buffon | Parma - Juventus | 2001 | €52m |
71 | Eliaquim Mangala | Porto - Manchester City | 2014 | €51.7m |
=72 | Alex Teixeira | Shakhtar Donetsk - Jiangsu Suning | 2016 | €50m |
=72 | Bernardo Silva | Monaco - Manchester City | 2017 | €50m |
=72 | Fabinho | Monaco - Liverpool | 2018 | €50m |
=72 | Eder Militao | Porto - Real Madrid | 2019 | €50m |
=72 | Aaron Wan-Bissaka | Crystal Palace - Manchester United | 2019 | €50m |
=72 | Thomas Partey | Atletico Madrid - Arsenal | 2020 | €50m |
=72 | Victor Oshimhen | Lille - Napoli | 2020 | €50m |
79 | Anthony Martial | Monaco - Manchester United | 2015 | €49.3m |
80 | Gylfi Sigurdsson | Swansea City - Everton | 2017 | €49.2m |
=81 | Leroy Sane | Manchester City - Bayern Munich | 2020 | €49m (+€11m) |
=81 | Christian Vieri | Lazio - Inter | 1999 | €49m |
=81 | Gaizka Mendieta | Valencia - Lazio | 2001 | €48m |
=81 | Ferland Mendy | Lyon - Real Madrid | 2019 | €48m |
85 | Mesut Ozil | Real Madrid - Arsenal | 2013 | €47m |
=86 | Juan Sebastian Veron | Lazio - Manchester United | 2001 | €46m |
=86 | Rio Ferdinand | Leeds United - Manchester United | 2002 | €46m |
=86 | Ronaldo | Inter - Real Madrid | 2002 | €46m |
=86 | Juan Mata | Chelsea - Manchester United | 2014 | €46m |
=86 | Douglas Costa | Bayern Munich - Juventus | 2017 | €46m |
91 | Christian Benteke | Aston Villa - Liverpool | 2015 | €45.8m |
92 | Diogo Jota | Wolves - Liverpool | 2020 | €45.1m (+€4.4m) |
=93 | James Rodriguez | Porto - Monaco | 2013 | €45m |
=93 | Joao Mario | Sporting C.P. - Inter | 2016 | €45m |
=93 | Granit Xhaka | Borussia Monchengladbach - Arsenal | 2016 | €45m |
=93 | Tiemoue Bakayoko | Monaco - Chelsea | 2017 | €45m |
=93 | Richarlison | Watford - Everton | 2018 | €45m |
=93 | Vinicius Junior | Flamengo - Real Madrid | 2018 | €45m |
=93 | Rodrygo | Santos - Real Madrid | 2019 | €45m |
=93 | Mateo Kovacic | Real Madrid - Chelsea | 2019 | €45m |
=93 | Sebastien Haller | Eintracht Frankfurt - West Ham | 2019 | €45m |
Most expensive British player
Jack Grealish became the most expensive British player in football history when Manchester City agreed to meet the buy-out clause of €117m in the England international's Aston Villa contract.
The record had previously belonged to Wales winger Gareth Bale, who joined Real Madrid from Tottenham in 2013 for €100.8m.
Before Grealish's move to the Etihad, Harry Maguire was the costliest English player ever, on account of his €87.1m move from Leicester to Manchester United in 2019.
Most expensive teenager
Kylian Mbappe is the most expensive teenager ever, as he joined PSG on a loan-to-buy deal in 2017 that will be worth €180m after bonuses.
Joao Felix is the second-most expensive teenager, having been signed by Atletico from Benfica for €126m in 2019.
Most expensive defender
Harry Maguire became the most expensive defender of all time when Manchester United forked out €87.1m the England centre-half's services in 2019.
Maguire overtook Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk in the process, but only marginally, as the Netherlands international set the Reds back €84.5m when he arrived from Southampton the year before.
Most expensive goalkeeper
Kepa Arrizabalaga is the most expensive goalkeeper in history. Chelsea spent €80m to meet his Athletic Club release clause in 2018.
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 matter of weeks, Buffon's 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 snapped up Kepa not even a month later, propelling the Spain international into top spot.
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?!