Who is the most expensive footballer of all time?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The most expensive footballer of all time cost hundreds of millions of pounds – which isn’t a surprise, given how astronomical the money is in this game, these days.
Not all mega-money deals are successful, of course. But in 2024, most expensive player on Earth is 30,000 times more expensive than 100 years ago.
Back then, the likes of Sydney Puddefoot and Warney Cresswell were the stars of the day, moving clubs for a whopping £5,000 when Falkirk and Sunderland signed them respectively. Oh, how times change…
Neymar and Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi pose following the Brazilian’s world-record transfer from Barcelona, August 2017 (Image credit: Alamy)The most expensive footballer on Earth is Neymar. The Brazilian – who is ranked at No.35 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest Barcelona players of all time – cost Paris Saint-Germain £200 million when he left Barcelona for France in 2017, in his ill-fated quest to win Ballon d’Or.
The deal was a huge sign of intent by PSG. Back then, the record was under £100m, with the average transfer around half of that: Barça inserted a £198m release clause for Neymar assuming it would never be triggered, only for the Parisian giants to call their bluff.
Who held the all-time record transfer fee before Neymar?
Paul Pogba in action for Manchester United against Aston Villa in 2021 (Image credit: Getty Images)Neymar’s eye-watering fee broke the record previously held by Paul Pogba. The Frenchman cost Manchester United a fee thought to be around £89m when he re-joined from Juventus some 12 months prior.
Before that, Real Madrid dominated the transfer market with their spending. Gareth Bale broke the world transfer fee in 2013 when he cost a reported £86m in 2013 when he moved from Tottenham Hotspur – breaking the reported £80m Cristiano Ronaldo cost Los Blancos in 2009.
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Ronaldo’s record smashed Real’s own record from that same summer, with Kaka joining for a reported £56m. Before that, Zinedine Zidane cost Real Madrid £45.6m, which broke the record set by Luis Figo, of £37m – both confirmed by the BBC in 2009.
The last English player to have been the most expensive player in the world was Alan Shearer. The all-time Premier League scorer cost his hometown club Newcastle United £15m when he signed from Blackburn Rovers in 1996.
Kylian Mbappe, with PSG team-mates Edinson Cavani and Neymar Swipe to scroll horizontally
RankPricePlayerFromToNationalityYear1£198mNeymarBarcelonaParis Saint-GermainBrazil20172£163mKylian MbappeMonacoParis Saint-GermainFrance20183£105mPhilippe CoutinhoLiverpoolBarcelonaBrazil20184£112.9mJoao FelixBenficaAtletico MadridPortugal20195£106.8mEnzo FernandezBenficaChelseaArgentina20236£107mAntoine GriezmannAtletico MadridBarcelonaFrance20197£100mJack GrealishAston VillaManchester CityEngland20218£100mDeclan RiceWest Ham UnitedArsenalEngland20239£100mMoises CaicedoBrighton & Hove AlbionChelseaEcuador202310£97.5mRomelu LukakuInter MilanChelseaBelgium2021
Mark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robson’s time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.
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