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From players, keepers to clubs - List of di biggest football transfers

Declan Rice

Tue, 4 Jul 2023 Source: BBC

Premier League clubs dey line up expensive deals dis summer as Declan Rice and Josko Gvardiol feature among di players wey dey expected to move.

As transfer records look set to drop, BBC Sport don look at some of di most expensive players ever by position, league and nationality.

For clarity sake, we dey use initial fees, excluding add-ons where possible.

Goalkeepers

Most of di expensive goalkeepers move to Premier League teams, di number one na Chelsea £71m signing of Athletic Bilbao Kepa Arrizabalaga for 2018.

Alisson £66.8m move to Liverpool from Roma dat same summer dey second, followed by Manchester City 2017 signing of Ederson from Benfica for £35m.

Dat Ederson move end Gianluigi Buffon 16-year reign as di world most expensive keeper - following im £32.6m move for 2001 from Parma to Juventus.

Thibaut Courtois switch from Chelsea to Real Madrid also put am for di top five, wit di fee for dat deal reportedly dey worth up to £35m.

Defenders

Di top three here all na Premier League signings from oda English clubs, two involving Leicester. Di Foxes £80m sale of Harry Maguire to Manchester United for 2019 remain di world record.

Virgil van Dijk £75m move from Southampton to Liverpool na second, wit Wesley Fofana £70m journey from di King Power to Chelsea last year na third on di list.

Bayern Munich signings of Lucas Hernandez from Atletico Madrid (£68m in 2019) and Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus (£65.6m in 2022) dey next.

If Croatia Gvardiol £86m move from RB Leipzig to Manchester City go through, as reported, den im go top di list.

Midfielders

Enzo Fernandez become di most expensive midfielder ever wit im £107m British record move from Benfica to Chelsea on February 1.

Before na Philippe Coutinho hold di record, im 2018 switch from Liverpool to Barcelona cost an initial £105m, while Jack Grealish cost Manchester City £100m from Aston Villa for 2021.

If Arsenal sign West Ham Rice for £105m, Im go move up as joint second.

Completing di top five na Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United (£89m) for 2016 and Jude Bellingham move dis summer from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid for £88.5m.

Forwards

Di two most expensive footballers both join Paris St-Germain for di same summer. PSG bin spend £200m on Barcelona Neymar for 2017 and soon afta dem sign Monaco Kylian Mbappe, for an initial loan, for a £165.7m deal.

Atletico Madrid £113m move for Benfica forward Joao Felix for 2019 na third in all positions, wen you exclude potential add-ons for Coutinho and Barcelona Ousmane Dembele.

Next among forwards na £107m Barcelona wey dem pay Atletico for Antoine Griezmann, also for 2019, and den Romelu Lukaku £97.5m move from Inter Milan to Chelsea for 2021.

Belgium Lukaku get im own record wit a total career transfer fee of £294.5m, afta im join Chelsea twice, Everton, Manchester United and Inter.

La Liga

Spanish clubs don make four of di top 10 most expensive signings of all time, although perhaps surprisingly none involve Real Madrid.

Atletico move for Felix na number one, wit Barcelona deals for Griezmann, Coutinho and Dembele - an initial £97m from Borussia Dortmund for 2017 - also dey di list.

Real biggest signing na di £89m initial fee wey Chelsea receive for Eden Hazard for 2019. Dat fee fit reach £150m now, but e dey unlikely becos e no meet di criteria.

Ligue 1

Paris St-Germain get di top two most expensive signings ever - Neymar and Mbappe - and den nobody else for di top 50.

Edinson Cavani dey next, im 2013 move from Napoli to PSG cost £55m.

Monaco, wey bin reportedly pay £50m for Atletico Madrid Radamel Falcao for 2013, na di only oda French team to ever spend more dan £30m on a player.

Premier League

Chelsea £107m move for Fernandez na British record, followed by Manchester City £100m addition of Grealish.

Chelsea also rank third wit dia £97.5m signing of Lukaku, followed by Manchester United signing of Pogba (£89m), Ajax winger Antony (£82m), Maguire (£80m) and Everton striker Lukaku (£75m) next, wit Liverpool Van Dijk also cost £75m.

Serie A

Di Italian league record signing na for a 33-year-old, Juventus pay £99.2m for 2018 for Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo.

Next na Juve £75.3m signing of Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain for 2016 and den Inter £74m move for Lukaku from Manchester United for 2019 (wey rank as only Lukaku third biggest move).

Juve dey next, too, wit Matthijs de Ligt, e cost £67.5m from Ajax for 2019.

Bundesliga

As expected, Bayern Munich dey responsible for di majority of Germany biggest signings.

Na Lucas Hernandez hold di record with im £68m move from Atletico Madrid in 2019.

Followed by last year £65.6m signing of De Ligt from Juventus.

Bayern pay an initial £44.7m for Manchester City winger Leroy Sane for 2020 wey be third on di list. But, dat no go make di top 50 Premier League signings.

Oda leagues

Di biggest signing ever by a team outside of Europe top five leagues na Shanghai SIPG £60m signing of Chelsea midfielder Oscar for 2017.

Most of di biggest signings by non-European clubs bin happun for China between 2016 and 2019.

But, Saudi Arabian clubs fit start to threaten am, wit Al-Hilal paying £47m for Wolves captain Ruben Neves dis summer.

Most expensive British signings

Grealish na di most expensive British footballer ever, although Rice fit overtake any time from now.

Im England team-mate Bellingham dey second, followed by Wales winger Gareth Bale wey move for £85m from Tottenham to Real Madrid for 2013.

Maguire, di £80m man, dey followed by Jadon Sancho wey move for 2021 from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United. Mason Mount go be next next wen im £55m move from Chelsea to United dey finalised.

Kieran Tierney na di most expensive Scot ever, e join Arsenal from Celtic for £25m for 2019. Northern Ireland priciest player na Jamal Lewis, wey make a £15m switch from Norwich to Newcastle for 2020.

How about oda kontris?

Eight of di record signings from di top 10 kontris for Fifa world rankings wey we don already mention so far.

For Argentina na Fernandez, France na Mbappe, Brazil na Neymar, England na Grealish and Belgium na Lukaku.

Van Dijk dey lead di way for Dutch players, while Ronaldo top for Portugal and Kepa na di most expensive Spaniard.

Croatia highest-price player na Luka Modric, following im £30m move from Tottenham to Real Madrid 11 years ago - although Gvardiol go smash am if im join Champions League winners City dis summer.

Sandro Tonali don become di most expensive Italian afta im sign for Newcastle for a reported £55m from AC Milan, beating di £50m wey Chelsea pay for Jorginho from Napoli for 2018.

Source: BBC