Hi all, I've been trying to keep a list of the biggest transfer fees in history and am looking for some help to fill in some of the gaps. I've listed below some of the biggest fees sorted by year since 1925 (* denotes a world record transfer) and am looking for additional suggestions/corrections. Note: All of mine are denominated in sterling, as reported at the time in the British press. Exchange rate differences will naturally mean that some of these don't tally with those in other currencies. Also, I know that Transfermarkt has a lot on it but much of it is inaccurate and unreliable. 1925 Bob Kelly – Burnley to Sunderland £6.5k* 1928 David Jack – Bolton to Arsenal - £10,890* 1932 Bernabe Ferreyra – Tigre to River Plate £23k* 1938 Bryn Jones – Wolves to Arsenal £14.5k 1947 Tommy Lawton – Chelsea to Notts County £20k Billy Steel – Morton to Derby £15k 1948 Len Shackleton – Newcastle to Sunderland £20.5k 1949 Amedeo Amadei – Roma to Inter £29k* Rinaldo Martino – San Lorenzo to Juventus £25k* Eddie Quidgely – Sheffield Wednesday to Preston £26.5k Johnny Morris – Manchester United to Derby £24k 1950 Trevor Ford – Aston Villa to Sunderland £30k* 1951 Jackie Sewell – Notts County to Sheffield Wednesday £34.5k* 1952 Hans Jeppson – Atalanta to Napoli £52k* 1953 Alicides Ghiggia – Penarol to Roma £45k Alfredo Di Stefano – Millonarios to Real Madrid £40k 1954 Juan Schiaffino – Penarol to AC Milan £72k* Giuseppe Virgili – Udinese to Fiorentina £45k 1955 Julinho – Portuguesa to Fiorentina £65k Raymond Kopa – Stade Reims to Real Madrid £50k Arne Selmosson – Udinese to Lazio £55k Eddie Firmani – Charlton to Sampdoria £35k 1956 Walter Gomez – River Plate to AC Milan £50k Walter Gomez – AC Milan to Palermo £45k Jose Emilio Santamaria – Nacional to Real Madrid £45k 1957 Omar Sivori – River Plate to Juventus £91k* Antonio Angellilo – Boca Juniors to Inter £75k John Charles – Leeds to Juventus £65k Walter Marciano – Vasco da Gama to Valencia £63k Kurt Hamrin – Juventus to Padua £55k Humberto Maschio – Racing Club to Bologna £55k Tony Marchi – Tottenham to Juventus £42k Francisco Lojacono – Lanerossi Vicenza to Fiorentina £40k Ernesto Grillo – Independiente to AC Milan £40k Bruno Nicole – Padua to Juventus £40k 1958 Julinho – Fiorentina to Palmeiras £111k* Eddie Firmani – Sampdoria to Inter £89k Jose Altafini – Palmeiras to AC Milan £80k Kurt Hamrin – Padua to Fiorentina £70k Bengt Lindskog – Udinese to Inter £68k Arne Selmosson – Lazio to Roma £50k Francisco Lojacono –Fiorentina to Roma £45k Albert Quixall – Sheffield Wednesday to Manchester United £45k 1959 Humberto Maschio – Bologna to Atalanta £55k Pedro Manfredini – Racing Club to Roma £50k Sergio Campana - Lanerossi Vicenza to Bologna £45k Mel Charles – Swansea to Arsenal £40k Raymond Kopa – Real Madrid to Stade Reims £40k 1960 Gianni Rivera – Alessandria to AC Milan £85k Denis Law – Huddersfield to Manchester City £55k Roberto Anzolin – Palermo to Juventus £55k Mauro – Sao Paulo to Santos £50k Vava – Atletico Madrid to Corinthians £48k George Eastham – Newcastle to Arsenal £48k Young – Hearts to Everton £41k 1961 Luis Suarez – Barcelona to Inter £152k* Denis Law – Manchester City to Torino £110k Jimmy Greaves –AC Milan to Tottenham £99,999 Humberto – Academica to Inter £90k Gerry Hitchens – Aston Villa to Inter £85k Jimmy Greaves – Chelsea to AC Milan £80k Joe Baker – Hibernian to Torino £75k Bobby Kennedy – Kilmarnock to Manchester City £45k Brian Clough – Middlesbrough to Sunderland £42k Oscar Cobos – Bella Vista (Uruguay) to Monaco £40k Luis Del Sol - Real Betis to Real Madrid £40k George Herd – Clyde to Sunderland £40k Johnny Mcleod – Hibernian to Arsenal £40k 1962 Luis Del Sol – Real Madrid to Juventus £198k* Joaquin Peiro – Atletico Madrid to Torino £178k Denis Law – Torino to Manchester United £115k Jose Sanfillipo – San Lorenzo to Boca Juniors £82k Can Bartu – Fenerbahce to Fiorentina £80k Gerry Hitchens – Inter to Torino £75k Juan Seminario – Zaragoza to Fiorentina £75k John Charles – Leeds to Roma £72k Humberto Maschio – Atalanta to Inter £72k Marcelo Pagani – River Plate to Fiorentina £70k Joe Baker – Torino to Arsenal £70k Johnny Byrne – Crystal Palace to West Ham £65k Dino Sani – Mantua to AC Milan £60k Torbjorn Jonsson – Fiorentina to Roma £56k John Charles – Juventus to Leeds £55k Luis Cubilla – Penarol to Barcelona £45k Jair – Portuguesa to Inter £45k 1963 Angelo Sormani – Mantova to Roma £250k* Amarildo – Botafogo to AC Milan £145k Fred Pickering – Blackburn to Everton £80 Alcides Silveira – Barcelona to Boca Juniors £75k Karl-Heinz Schnellinger – Koln to Mantua £75k Horst Szymaniak – Catania to Inter £65k Victor Benitez – Milan to Genoa £64k Ian Ure – Dundee to Arsenal £62,500 Jurgen Schutz – Dortmund to Roma £60k Pat Crerand – Celtic to Manchester United £56k Derek Kevan – West Brom to Chelsea £45k John Kaye – Scunthorpe to West Brom £42,500 Giuliano Sarti – Fiorentina to Inter £40k 1964 Frank McLintock – Leicester to Arsenal £80k Alan Mullery – Fulham to Tottenham £72,500 Alan Gilzean – Dundee to Tottenham £72,500 1965 Jim Baxter – Rangers to Sunderland £72,500 1966 Alan Ball – Blackpool to Everton £112k Tony Hateley – Aston Villa to Chelsea £110k Mike England – Blackburn to Tottenham £95k 1967 Harald Nielsen – Bologna to Inter £300k* Jim Baxter – Sunderland to Nottingham Forest £100k 1968 Pietro Anastasi – Varese to Juventus £500k* Allan Clarke – Fulham to Leicester £150k Martin Chivers – Southampton to Tottenham £125k 1969 Allan Clarke –Leicester to Leeds £165k 1970 Martin Peters – West Ham to Tottenham £200k 1971 Alan Ball – Everton to Arsenal £220k Ralph Coates – Burnley to Tottenham £190k Colin Todd – Sunderland to Derby £175k 1972 David Nish – Leicester to Derby £225k Rodney Marsh – QPR to Manchester City £200k Ted Macdougall – Bournemouth to Manchester United £200k Joe Harper – Aberdeen to Everton £180k 1973 Johan Cruyff – Ajax to Barcelona £922k* Lou Macari – Celtic to Manchester United £200k 1974 Bob Latchford – Birmingham to Everton £350k (including Howard Kendall and Archie Styles) Peter Shilton – Leicester to Stoke £325k 1975 Giuseppe Savoldi – Bologna to Napoli £1.2m * 1976 Paolo Rossi – Juventus to Vicenza - £1.75m * 1977 Kevin Keegan – Liverpool to Hamburg £500k Kenny Dalglish – Celtic to Liverpool £440k Peter Shilton – Stoke to Nottingham Forest £250k 1978 Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa – Huracan to Tottenham £700k (combined) Gordon McQueen – Leeds to Manchester United £495k Graeme Souness – Middlesbrough to Liverpool £352k Joe Jordan – Leeds to Manchester United £350k 1979 Andy Gray – Aston Villa to Wolves £1.5m Steve Daley – Wolves to Manchester City £1.4m Trevor Francis – Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest £1.15m Ray Wilkins – Chelsea to Manchester United £825k Tony Woodcock – Nottingham Forest to Cologne £650k David Mills – Middlesbrough to West Bromwich Albion £516k 1980 Kevin Reeves – Norwich to Manchester City £1.25m Clive Allen – QPR to Arsenal £1.25m Steve Archibald – Aberdeen to Tottenham £900k Liam Brady – Arsenal to Juventus £500k 1981 Bryan Robson – West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United £1.5m Trevor Francis – Nottingham Forest to Manchester City £1.2m Mark Lawrenson – Brighton to Liverpool £900k 1982 Diego Maradona – Boca Juniors to Barcelona £3m * Trevor Francis – Manchester City to Sampdoria £1m 1984 Diego Maradona – Barcelona to Napoli £5m * Ray Wilkins – Manchester United to AC Milan £1.5m 1986 Roberto Donadoni – Atalanta to AC Milan £4m Gary Lineker – Everton to Barcelona £2.8m Mark Hughes – Manchester United to Barcelona £2.3m Terry Butcher – Ipswich to Rangers£725k Chris Woods – Norwich to Rangers £600k 1987 Ruud Gullit – PSV Eindhoven to AC Milan £6m * Ian Rush – Liverpool to Juventus £3.2m Careca – Sao Paulo to Napoli £3m Rudi Voller – Werder Bremen to Roma £2.8m Carlo Ancelotti – Roma to AC Milan £2.5m Paulo Futre – Porto to Atletico Madrid £2.2m Peter Beardsley – Newcastle to Liverpool £1.9m Richard Gough – Tottenham to Rangers £1.5m Lajos Detari – Honved to Eintracht Frankfurt £1.2m 1988 Lajos Detari – Eintracht Frankfurt to Oympiakos £4.5m Alexander Zavarov – Dynamo Kiev to Juventus £3.2m Romario – Vaso da Gama to PSV Eindhoven £3m Ian Rush – Juventus to Liverpool £2.8m Eric Cantona – Auxerre to Marseille £2.5m Tony Cottee – West Ham to Everton £2.2m Paul Gascoigne – Newcastle to Tottenham £2m Mark Hughes – Barcelona to Manchester United £1.8m Rui Barros – Porto to Juventus £1.8m Renato Portaluppi – Flamengo to Roma £1.8m Jose Maria Bakero – Real Sociedad to Barcelona £1.5m Paul Stewart – Manchester City to Tottenham £1.5m Mo Johnston – Nantes to Rangers £1.5m 1989 Chris Waddle – Tottenham to Marseille £4.25m Ronald Koeman – PSV Eindhoven to Barcelona £3.5m Gary Pallister – Middlesbrough to Manchester United £2.3m Gary Lineker – Barcelona to Tottenham £1.5m 1990 Roberto Baggio – Fiorentina to Juventus £8m * Thomas Hassler – Koln to Juventus £5.5m Karl-Heinz Riedle – Werder Bremen to Lazio £5.5m Gerhard Rodax – Admira Wacker to Atletico Madrid £2.35m Rafael Martin Vazquez – Real Madrid to Torino £2.2m Brian Laudrup – Bayer Uerdingen to Bayern Munich £2m Luis Milla – Barcelona to Real Madrid £1.75m Gheorghe Hagi – Steaua Bucharest to Real Madrid £1.7m Dalian Atkinson – Sheffield Wednesday to Real Sociedad £1.7m Hristo Stoichkov – CSKA Sofia to Barcelona £1.5m 1991 David Platt – Aston Villa to Bari £5.5m Trevor Steven – Rangers to Marseille £5.5m Thomas Hassler –Juventus to Roma £5m Thomas Doll – Hamburg to Lazio £4.3m Dean Saunders – Derby to Liverpool £2.9m Jurgen Kohler – Bayern Munich to Juventus £2.5m (also seen quoted as £5m) Robert Prosinecki – Red Star Belgrade to Real Madrid £2.5m Gabriel Batistuta – Boca Juniors to Fiorentina £2.5m Ian Wright – Crystal Palace to Arsenal £2.5m Richard Witschge – Ajax to Barcelona £2.2m Mark Wright – Derby to Liverpool £2.2m Daniele Fortunato – Juventus to Bari £2.2m Alexei Mikhailichenko – Sampdoria to Rangers £2m Teddy Sheringham – Millwall to Nottingham Forest £2m Laurent Blanc – Marseille to Napoli £2m 1992 Gianluigi Lentini – Torino to AC Milan £13m * Gianluca Vialli – Sampdoria to Juventus £12m * Jean-Pierre Papin – Marseille to AC Milan £10m * Dejan Savicevic – Red Star Belgrade to AC Milan £9.5m Igor Shalimov – Foggia to Inter £8m Darko Pancev – Red Star Belgrade to Inter £7m David Platt – Bari to Juventus £6.5m Paul Gascoigne – Tottenham to Lazio £5.5m Alan Shearer – Southampton to Blackburn £3.6m Dean Saunders – Liverpool to Aston Villa £2.5m 1993 Alen Boksic – Marseille to Lazio £8m Dennis Bergkamp – Ajax to Inter £7m David Platt – Juventus to Sampdoria £5.2m Duncan Ferguson – Dundee United to Rangers £4m Roy Keane – Nottingham Forest to Manchester United £3.75m Matthias Sammer – Inter to Borussia Dortmund £3m Romario – PSV to Barcelona £2.5m Tim Flowers – Southampton to Blackburn £2m 1994 Chris Sutton – Norwich to Blackburn £5m Rui Costa – Benfica to Fiorentina £5m Ronaldo – Cruzeiro to PSV £4m Phil Babb – Coventry to Liverpool £3.6m John Scales – Wimbledon to Liverpool £3.5m Gica Popescu – PSV Eindhoven to Tottenham £2.9m 1995 Stan Collymore – Nottingham Forest to Liverpool £8.5m Dennis Bergkamp – Inter to Arsenal £7.5m Paul Ince – Manchester United to Inter £7.5m Andy Cole – Newcastle to Manchester United £7m (£6m plus Keith Gillespie) Roberto Baggio – Juventus to AC Milan £6.5m Les Ferdinand – QPR to Newcastle £6m Nick Barmby – Tottenham to Middlesbrough £5.25m Juninho Paulista – Sao Paulo to Middlesbrough £5m Roberto Carlos – Palmeiras to Inter - £4.8m David Platt – Sampdoria to Arsenal £4.75m Hristo Stoichkov – Barcelona to Parma £4.6m George Weah – PSG to AC Milan £4.5m Warren Barton – Wimbledon to Newcastle £4m David Batty – Blackburn to Newcastle £3.75m Meho Kodro – Real Sociedad to Barcelona £3.5m Caio – Sao Paulo to Inter £3.3m 1996 Alan Shearer – Blackburn to Newcastle £15m * Ronaldo – PSV Eindhoven to Barcelona £13m Enrico Chiesa – Sampdoria to Parma £10m Faustino Asprilla - Parma to Newcastle £7.5m Fabrizio Ravanelli – Juventus to Middlesbrough £7m Predrag Mijatovic – Valencia to Real Madrid £6.4m Alen Boksic – Lazio to Juventus £6m Rivaldo – Palmeiras to Deportivo la Coruna £5.4m Valery Karpin – Real Sociedad to Valencia £5.3m Oliveira – to Fiorentina £5.3m Davor Suker – Sevilla to Real Madrid £5.1m 1997 Ronaldo – Barcelona to Inter £19m * Rivaldo – Deportivo la Coruna to Barceona £13m Juninho Paulista – Middlesbrough to Atletico Madrid £13m Sonny Anderson – Monaco to Barcelona £13m Christian Vieri – Juventus to Atletico Madrid £12.5m Filippo Inzaghi – Atalanta to Juventus £8.5m Roberto Rios – Real Betis to Athletic Bilbao £8.5m Leonardo – PSG to AC Milan £8m Stan Collymore – Liverpool to Aston Villa £7m Marc Overmars – Ajax to Arsenal £7m Djalminha – Palmeiras to Deportivo la Coruna £7m Les Ferdinand – Newcastle to Tottenham £6m 1998 Denilson – Sao Paulo to Real Betis £22m * Christian Vieri – Atletico Madrid to Lazio £19m Juan Sebastian Veron – Sampdoria to Lazio £15m Dwight Yorke – Aston Villa to Manchester United £12.6m Marcelo Salas – River Plate to Lazio £12m Jaap Stam – PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United £10.75m Dejan Stankovic – Red Star Belgrade to Lazio £9m Patrick Kluivert – AC Milan to Barcelona £8.75m Ivan de la Pena – Barcelona to Lazio £8.2m Sinisa Mihajlovic – Sampdoria to Lazio £8m Kevin Davies – Southampton to Blackburn £7.5m 1999 Christian Vieri – Lazio to Inter £32m * Nicolas Anelka – Arsenal to Real Madrid £22m Marcio Amoroso – Udinese to Parma £21m Juan Veron – Parma to Lazio £19m Andriy Shevchenko – Dynamo Kiev to AC Milan £16m Vincenzo Montella – Sampdoria to Roma £15m Darko Kovacevic – Real Sociedad to Juventus £14m Elvir Baljic – Fenerbahce to Real Madrid £10m Dani – Mallorca to Barcelona £10m Simone Inzaghi – Piacenza to Lazio £10m Angelo Peruzzi – Juventus to Inter £10m Chris Sutton – Blackburn to Chelsea £10m Gianluca Zambrotta – Bari to Juventus £10m Simao – Sporting Lisbon to Barcelona £9.2m Sonny Anderson – Barcelona to Lyon £9m Enrico Chiesa – Parma to Fiorentina £8.5m Michel Salgado – Celta Vigo to Real Madrid £7.8m Marco Di Vaio – Salernitana £7m 2000 Luis Figo – Barcelona to Real Madrid £37m * Hernan Crespo – Parma to Lazio £35.5m (including Mathias Almeyda and Sergio Conceicao) * Marc Overmars – Arsenal to Barcelona £25m Gabriel Batistuta – Fiorentina to Roma £22m Nicolas Anelka – Real Madrid to PSG £22m Rio Ferdinand – West Ham to Leeds £18m Angelo Peruzzi – Inter to Lazio £16m Savo Milosevic – Real Zaragoza to Parma £16m Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – Atletico Madrid to Chelsea £15m David Trezeguet – Monaco to Juventus £15m Claudio Lopez – Valencia to Lazio £14m Shabani Nonda – Rennes to Monaco £13.5m Walter Samuel – Boca Juniors to Roma £13m Robbie Keane – Coventry to Inter £13m Sylvain Wiltord – Bordeaux to Arsenal £13m Emerson – Bayer Leverkusen to Roma £12m Fernando Redondo – Real Madrid to AC Milan £11m Sergei Rebrov – Dynamo Kiev to Tottenham £11m 2001 Zinedine Zidane – Juventus to Real Madrid £49m * Gianluigi Buffon – Parma to Juventus £32.6m Rui Costa – Fiorentina to AC Milan £28m Juan Veron – Lazio to Manchester United £28m Gaizka Mendieta – Valencia to Lazio £27m Filippo Inzaghi – Juventus to AC Milan £26m Pavel Nedved – Lazio to Juventus £25m Lillian Thuram – Parma to Juventus £24m Hidetoshi Nakata – Roma to Parma £20m Ruud van Nistelrooy – PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United £19m Javier Saviola – River Plate to Barcelona £19m Antonio Cassano – Bari to Roma £18m Francesco Toldo – Fiorentina to Inter £18m Stefano Fiore – Udinese to Lazio £17m Jaap Stam – Manchester United to Lazio £16m Geovanni – Cruzeiro to Barcelona £12m 2002 Rio Ferdinand – Leeds to Manchester United £30m Ronaldo – Inter to Real Madrid £28m Hernan Crespo – Lazio to Inter £25m Alessandro Nesta – Lazio to AC Milan £21m 2003 David Beckham – Manchester United to Real Madrid £25m Ronaldinho – PSG to Barcelona £21m Damien Duff – Blackburn to Chelsea £17m Hernan Crespo – Inter to Chelsea £17m Adrian Mutu – Parma to Chelsea £16m Claude Makelele – Real Madrid to Chelsea £16m Juan Sebastian Veron - £15m Christian Chivu – Ajax to Roma £13m 2004 Wayne Rooney – Everton to Manchester United £27m Didier Drogba – Marseille to Chelsea £24m Ricardo Carvalho – Porto to Chelsea £19.8m Paulo Fereira – Porto to Chelsea £13.2m 2005 Michael Essien – Lyon to Chelsea £26m Shaun Wright-Phillips – Manchester City to Chelsea £24m Sergio Ramos – Sevilla to Real Madrid £18m Michael Owen – Real Madrid to Newcastle £17m Patrick Vieira – Arsenal to Juventus £16m 2006 Andriy Shevchenko – AC Milan to Chelsea £31m Michael Carrick – Tottenham to Manchester United £18.6m Javier Mascherano – MSI to Liverpool £18m 2007 Fernando Torres – Atletico Madrid to Liverpool £24m Arjen Robben – Chelsea to Real Madrid £24m Pepe – Porto to Real Madrid £24m Wesley Sneijder – Ajax to Real Madrid £18m Anderson – Porto to Manchester United £18m Nani – Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United £17m Owen Hargreaves – Bayern Munich to Manchester United £17m Darren Bent – Charlton to Tottenham £17m Franck Ribery – Marseille to Bayern Munich £17m 2008 Robinho – Real Madrid to Manchester City £32.5m Dimitar Berbatov – Tottenham to Manchester City £31.75m Dani Alves – Sevilla to Barcelona £26m Danny – Dynamo Moscow to Zenit St Petersburg £24m 2009 Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United to Real Madrid £80m * Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Inter to Barcelona £60m (£40m plus Samuel Eto’o) Kaka – AC Milan to Real Madrid £56m * Karim Benzema – Lyon to Real Madrid £35m Xabi Alonso – Liverpool to Real Madrid £30m Emmanuel Adebayor – Arsenal to Manchester City £25m Dmytro Chygrinskiy – Shakhtar Donetsk to Barcelona £22m Joleon Lescott – Everton to Manchester City £22m 2010 David Villa – Valencia to Barcelona £35m James Milner – Aston Villa to Manchester City £26m David Silva – Valencia to Manchester City £25m Mario Balotelli – Inter to Manchester City £24m Yaya Toure – Barcelona to Manchester City £24m 2011 Fernando Torres – Liverpool to Chelsea £50m Sergio Aguero – Atletico Madrid to Manchester City £37m Javier Pastore – Palermo to PSG £37m Radamel Falcao – Porto to Atletico Madrid £35m Andy Carroll – Newcastle to Liverpool £35m Cesc Fabregas – Arsenal to Barcelona £34m Edin Dzeko – Wolfsburg to Manchester City £27m Fabio Coentrao – Benfica to Real Madrid £25m Samir Nasri – Arsenal to Manchester City £25m Juan Mata – Valencia to Chelsea £24m Darren Bent – Sunderland to Aston Villa £24m Alexis Sanchez – Udinese to Barcelona £23m Luis Suarez – Ajax to Liverpool £22m 2012 Hulk – Porto to Zenit St Petersburg £35m Thiago Silva – AC Milan to PSG £35m Axel Witsel – Benfica to Zenit St Petersburg £34m Luka Modric – Tottenham to Real Madrid £33m Javi Martinez – Athletic Bilbao to Bayern Munich £32m Eden Hazard – Lille to Chelsea £32m Oscar – Internacional to Chelsea £25m Robin Van Persie – Arsenal to Manchester United £24m Ezequiel Lavezzi – Napoli to PSG £24m 2013 Gareth Bale – Tottenham to Real Madrid £85m * Neymar – Santos to Barcelona £71m Edinson Cavani – Napoli to PSG £55m Radamel Falcao – Atletico Madrid to Monaco £51m Mesut Ozil – Real Madrid to Arsenal £42m Lucas Moura – Sao Paulo to PSG £36m Gonzalo Higuain – Real Madrid to Napoli £35m Asier Illaramendi – Real Sociedad to Real Madrid £34m Fernandinho – Shakhtar Donetsk £34m Mario Gotze – Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich £32m Marquinhos – Roma to PSG £30m Willian – Shakhtar Donetsk to Anzhi £30m Willian – Anzhi to Chelsea £30m Marouane Fellaini – Everton to Manchester United £28m Erik Lamela – Roma to Tottenham £26m Roberto Soldado – Valencia to Tottenham £25m Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Shakhtar Donestsk to Borussia Dortmund £24m Isco – Malaga to Real Madrid £23m 2014 Luis Suarez – Liverpool to Barcelona £75m James Rodriguez – Monaco to Real Madrid £65m Angel Di Maria – Real Madrid to Manchester United £60m David Luiz – Chelsea to PSG £50m Juan Mata – Chelsea to Manchester United £37m Alexis Sanchez – Barcelona to Arsenal £35m Eliaquim Mangala – Porto to Manchester City £32m Diego Costa – Atletico Madrid to Chelsea £32m Luke Shaw – Southampton to Manchester United £30m Ander Herrera – Athletic Bilbao to Manchester United £29m Romelu Lukaku – Chelsea to Everton £28m Cesc Fabregas – Barcelona to Chelsea £27m Adam Lallana – Southampton to Liverpool £25m Mehdi Benatia – Roma to Bayern Munich £24m Antoine Griezmann – Real Sociedad to Atletico Madrid £24m 2015 Kevin De Bruyne – Wolfsburg to Manchester City £54m Raheem Sterling – Liverpool to Manchester City £49m Angel Di Maria – Manchester United to PSG £44m Anthony Martial – Monaco to Manchester United £36m Christian Benteke – Aston Villa to Liverpool £32.5m Nicolas Ottamendi – Valencia to Manchester City £32m Jackson Martinez – Porto to Atletico Madrid £31m Roberto Firmino – Hoffenheim to Liverpool £29m Arda Turan – Atletico Madrid to Barcelona £28m Arturo Vidal – Juventus to Bayern Munich £28m Geoffrey Kondogbia – Monaco to Inter £28m Wilfried Bony – Swansea to Manchester City £25m Mateo Kovacic – Inter to Real Madrid £24m Carlos Bacca – Sevilla to AC Milan £24m Douglas Costa – Shakhtar Donetsk to Bayern Munich £24m Juan Cuadrado – Fiorentina to Chelsea £23m Andre Schurrle – Chelsea to Wolfsburg £22m Pedro – Barcelona to Chelsea £22m 2016 Paul Pogba – Juventus to Manchester United £90m * Gonzalo Higuain – Napoli to Juventus £75m Oscar – Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG £60m John Stones – Everton to Manchester City £47.5m Hulk – Zenit St Petersburg to Shanghai £46m Alex Texeira – Shakhtar Donetsk to Jiangsu Suning £38m Leroy Sane – Schalke 04 to Manchester City £37m Sadio Mane – Southampton to Liverpool £36m Shkodran Mustafi – Valencia to Arsenal £35m Granit Xhaka – Borussia Moenchengladbach to Arsenal £34m Michy Batshuayi – Marseille to Chelsea £33m Mats Hummels – Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich £32m N’Golo Kante – Leicester to Chelsea £30m Eric Bailly – Villarreal to Manchester United £30m Renato Sanches – Benfica to Bayern Munich £28m 2017 Romelu Lukaku – Everton to Manchester United £75m Kyle Walker – Tottenham to Manchester City £50m Alexandre Lacazette – Lyon to Arsenal £46m Bernardo Silva – Monaco to Manchester City £44m Tiemoue Bakayoko – Monaco to Chelsea £40m Vinicius Junior – Flamengo to Real Madrid £39.6m Mo Salah – Roma to Liverpool £37m Corentin Tolisso – Lyon to Bayern Munich £36m Leonardo Bonucci – Juventus to AC Milan £35m Ederson – Benfica to Manchester City £35m Victor Lindelof – Benfica to Manchester United £31m Antonio Rudiger – Roma to Chelsea £29m Nelson Semedo – Benfica to Barcelona £25m
Is that all from the British press? For Italy Panini is very useful. Esp. for 1980s Juventus, Napoli (Fernando de Napoli). Might be hard and expensive to track but also on italian wikipedia it is the most accepted source, after the borders were opened in 1980. For 1970s Germany Kapellmann, Wunder and Van Gool were big signings if I am not mistaken. Van Gool was over 1m DM. For 1970s Spain Shoot! had often things https://m.imgur.com/a/GPlSL https://m.imgur.com/a/Yuylg
Everything up to 1963 is from World Soccer. After that it is mainly World Soccer but also other British sources for some of the other leagues. Basically I have a big hole from 1963 until the late80s/early 90s when it started to be widely covered.
So I have been going through an old copy of an Italian book from 1988 and it has the record fees paid for and received by the Serie A clubs at that point. All in Italian lira which coverts into Sterling at roughly 2,200 to £1. Ascoli Paid: Casagrande (Porto) 1bn Received: Mandorlini (Inter) 3.5bn Atalanta Paid: Stromberg (Benfica) 2.5bn Received: Unspecified Bologna Paid: Unspecified Received: Mancini (Sampdoria) 4.2bn Cesena Paid: Halmquist 1.3bn Received: Rizzitelli (Roma) 12bn Como Paid: Corneliusson (Stuttgart) and Paradise (Avellino) 1.6bn Received: Matteoli (Sampdoria) 4.5bn Fiorentina Paid: Socrates (Corinthians) 6bn Received: Berti (Inter) 11bn Inter Paid: Berti (Fiorentina) 11bn Received: Bagni (Napoli) 4bn Juventus Paid: Rush (Liverpool) 7bn Received: Vignola (Verona) 4bn Lazio Paid: Poli (Cagliari) 3.2bn Received: Giordano (Napoli) 3.5bn Lecce Paid: Barbas 3.7bn Received: Pagano and Pezzella (Sampdoria) 2bn Milan Paid: Gullit (PSV) 13bn Received: Rossi 4.5bn Napoli Paid: Maradona (Barcelona) 13bn Received: Bertoni (Udinese) 1.5bn Pescara Paid: Ciarlantini 950m Received: Rebonato (Fiorentina) 2.25bn Pisa Paid: Kieft 1.5bn Received: Berggreen (Roma) 4bn Roma Paid: Rizzitelli (Cesena) 12bn Received: Ancelotti (Milan) 5.8bn Sampdoria Paid: Mancini (Bologna) 4bn Received: Matteoli (Inter) 5.5bn Torino Paid: Muller (Sao Paulo) 4.2bn Received: Cripps (Napoli) 7.6bn Hellas Verona Paid: Vignola (Juve) 4.8bn Received: Fanna (Inter) 6.5bn
So converting those into Sterling and choosing the biggest fees by year: 1982 Roberto Mancini - Bologna to Sampdoria £1.9m 1984 Socrates - Corinthians to Fiorentina £2.7m Salvatore Bagni - Inter to Napoli £1.8m Andrea Mandorlini - Ascoli to Inter £1.6m Glenn Stromberg - Benfica to Atalanta £1.1m 1985 Pietro Fanna - Verona to Inter £3m Gianfranco Matteoli - Como to Sampdoria £2m Beniamino Vignola - Juventus to Hellas Verona £1.8m Juan Barbas - Real Zaragoza to Lecce £1.7m Bruno Giordano - Lazio to Napoli £1.6m Fabio Poli - Cagliari to Lazio £1.4m 1986 Fernando De Napoli - Avellino to Napoli £2.5m Paolo Rossi - Milan to Hellas Verona £2m Klaus Bergseen - Pisa to Roma £1.8m 1987 Carlo Ancelotti - Roma to AC Milan £2.6m Stefano Rebonato - Pescara to Fiorentina £1m 1988 Ruggiero Rizzitelli - Cesena to Roma £5.5m Nicola Berti - Fiorentina to Inter £5m Massimo Crippa - Torino to Napoli £3.5m Muller - Sao Paulo to Torino £1.9m
I think before ~1982 a lot of the big money was basically spend in Spain. Here some things that I found/verified up til now, for foreign stars (not counting Oriundi - this is an easy start). Cruijff to Barcelona 1973 - 6 million guilders Neeskens to Barcelona 1974 - 2.25 million guilders Krankl to Barcelona 1978 - reported as 1.5 million guilders or 1.5 million DMark (10.5 million schilling) Simonsen to Barcelona 1979 - 1.3 million DMark Schuster to Barcelona 1980 - 3.5 million DMark (4 million guilders) Netzer to Real Madrid 1973 - around 1 million DMark Breitner to Real Madrid 1974 - widely believed to be around 3 million DMark, or even over this figure Henning Jensen to Real Madrid 1976 - 1.5 million DMark Stielike to Real Madrid 1977 - 1.2 million DMark Laurie Cunningham to Real Madrid 1979 - 950000 pounds Oscar Mas (in 1973 to Real Madrid) and Sotil (in 1973 to Barcelona) were both reported as 900000 guilders so do the math. Question marks: Marinho Peres, Roberto Dinamite. Bonhof went for 1.7 million DMark to Valencia in 1978, which was reported as 550000 pounds in the Shoot! article above.
Roberto Dinamite is reported at 50 million pesetas in 1979, with Simonsen on 60 million. Which underlines the monetary devaluation because in 1973 Cruijff went for 60 million as well. Quique Wolff (Oriundi) went for 40 million in 1977 to Real Madrid. Juanito for 27 million in 1977 to Real Madrid. One non-foreigner transfer in particular is interesting and that is Juan Sol from Valencia to rivals Real Madrid in 1976. This was 40+ million pesetas. Also reported as 30 million at some places but turns out to be wrong. One big difference with 1960s Italy was that in Italy you could contract as many foreigners as you want, but only play two. In Spain it was limited to two, although there were many loopholes - among them 'Oriundi' - on which a special committee (in Madrid) decided. This regulation increased of course the market value for the 'good' non-foreigners. Struggling with non-foreigners at Barcelona. Asensi went for 10 million pesetas to Barcelona for sure. Migueli is difficult to verify but seen numbers as 9 million but also 12 million pesetas in the ABC archives (from Cadiz to Barcelona in 1973). ---> help or corrections would be appreciated. http://www.bdfutbol.com/es/t/t1977-782.html
This is easier to view slightly later when Nunez became president (July 1978). For example 1978: 150+ million pesetas. 1979: 200+ million pesetas. 1980: 400+ million pesetas. 1981: 300+. 1982: 1700+ million pesetas. It's easy to see because the (worldwide) press made some rumblings about it. Later on there were also some less trigger happy seasons. For ex. 1985-86 only 50 million pesetas at most. It's by the way not only transfers that he did - Arsene Wenger described him as "an early version of Fiorentino Perez" in the FCB episode - but when he came the assets of FCB were literally just 13 million pesetas, a galaxy below the rivals. Roberto Dinamite was, as noted above, 50 million pesetas in 1979 although figures of 56 million also pass by. Marinho is 18 to 22 million pesetas in 1974. Really hard to see something for non-foreigners. Saw goalkeeper Artola given as 5 million (1975). Two more for Real Madrid. Roberto Martinez in 1974 for 15 million pesetas. Guerini in 1975 for 20 million pesetas (says ABC)
Leivinha and Luis Pereira were together 70 to 90 million pesetas when they moved to Atletico Madrid. The Spanish wiki says 80 million as package deal. Ruben Cano in 1976 to Atletico Madrid 35 million. Dirceu in 1979 to Atletico Madrid was 40 million for sure.
Yeah, this gets very confusing in terms of the exchange rates. In the 1970s the sterling/pesta exchange rate was on average around 140. By the 80s it was around 200 and then around 2000 it jumped again to 250. Meanwhile guilders went the other way. The exchange rate was roughly 6 to 1 in 1975 and fell to 2.5 in the early 90s. The same happened with the Deutschmark. Makes it tricky to keep track of all of these movements and fees.
So this was an updated list, with quite a few additions (many thanks as ever for the suggestions): 1925 Bob Kelly – Burnley to Sunderland £6.5k* 1928 David Jack – Bolton to Arsenal - £10,890* 1932 Bernabe Ferreyra – Tigre to River Plate £23k* 1938 Bryn Jones – Wolves to Arsenal £14.5k 1947 Tommy Lawton – Chelsea to Notts County £20k Billy Steel – Morton to Derby £15k 1948 Len Shackleton – Newcastle to Sunderland £20.5k 1949 Amedeo Amadei – Roma to Inter £29k* Rinaldo Martino – San Lorenzo to Juventus £25k* Eddie Quidgely – Sheffield Wednesday to Preston £26.5k Johnny Morris – Manchester United to Derby £24k 1950 Trevor Ford – Aston Villa to Sunderland £30k* 1951 Jackie Sewell – Notts County to Sheffield Wednesday £34.5k* 1952 Hans Jeppson – Atalanta to Napoli £52k* 1953 Alicides Ghiggia – Penarol to Roma £45k Alfredo Di Stefano – Millonarios to Real Madrid £40k 1954 Juan Schiaffino – Penarol to AC Milan £72k* Giuseppe Virgili – Udinese to Fiorentina £45k 1955 Julinho – Portuguesa to Fiorentina £65k Raymond Kopa – Stade Reims to Real Madrid £50k Arne Selmosson – Udinese to Lazio £55k Eddie Firmani – Charlton to Sampdoria £35k 1956 Walter Gomez – River Plate to AC Milan £50k Walter Gomez – AC Milan to Palermo £45k Jose Emilio Santamaria – Nacional to Real Madrid £45k 1957 Omar Sivori – River Plate to Juventus £91k* Antonio Angellilo – Boca Juniors to Inter £75k John Charles – Leeds to Juventus £65k Walter Marciano – Vasco da Gama to Valencia £63k Kurt Hamrin – Juventus to Padua £55k Humberto Maschio – Racing Club to Bologna £55k Tony Marchi – Tottenham to Juventus £42k Francisco Lojacono – Lanerossi Vicenza to Fiorentina £40k Ernesto Grillo – Independiente to AC Milan £40k Bruno Nicole – Padua to Juventus £40k 1958 Julinho – Fiorentina to Palmeiras £111k* Eddie Firmani – Sampdoria to Inter £89k Jose Altafini – Palmeiras to AC Milan £80k Kurt Hamrin – Padua to Fiorentina £70k Bengt Lindskog – Udinese to Inter £68k Arne Selmosson – Lazio to Roma £50k Francisco Lojacono –Fiorentina to Roma £45k Albert Quixall – Sheffield Wednesday to Manchester United £45k 1959 Humberto Maschio – Bologna to Atalanta £55k Pedro Manfredini – Racing Club to Roma £50k Sergio Campana - Lanerossi Vicenza to Bologna £45k Mel Charles – Swansea to Arsenal £40k Raymond Kopa – Real Madrid to Stade Reims £40k 1960 Gianni Rivera – Alessandria to AC Milan £85k Denis Law – Huddersfield to Manchester City £55k Roberto Anzolin – Palermo to Juventus £55k Mauro – Sao Paulo to Santos £50k Vava – Atletico Madrid to Corinthians £48k George Eastham – Newcastle to Arsenal £48k Young – Hearts to Everton £41k 1961 Luis Suarez – Barcelona to Inter £152k* Denis Law – Manchester City to Torino £110k Jimmy Greaves –AC Milan to Tottenham £99,999 Humberto – Academica to Inter £90k Gerry Hitchens – Aston Villa to Inter £85k Jimmy Greaves – Chelsea to AC Milan £80k Joe Baker – Hibernian to Torino £75k Bobby Kennedy – Kilmarnock to Manchester City £45k Brian Clough – Middlesbrough to Sunderland £42k Oscar Cobos – Bella Vista (Uruguay) to Monaco £40k Luis Del Sol - Real Betis to Real Madrid £40k George Herd – Clyde to Sunderland £40k Johnny Mcleod – Hibernian to Arsenal £40k 1962 Luis Del Sol – Real Madrid to Juventus £198k* Joaquin Peiro – Atletico Madrid to Torino £178k Denis Law – Torino to Manchester United £115k Jose Sanfillipo – San Lorenzo to Boca Juniors £82k Can Bartu – Fenerbahce to Fiorentina £80k Gerry Hitchens – Inter to Torino £75k Juan Seminario – Zaragoza to Fiorentina £75k John Charles – Leeds to Roma £72k Humberto Maschio – Atalanta to Inter £72k Marcelo Pagani – River Plate to Fiorentina £70k Joe Baker – Torino to Arsenal £70k Johnny Byrne – Crystal Palace to West Ham £65k Dino Sani – Mantua to AC Milan £60k Torbjorn Jonsson – Fiorentina to Roma £56k John Charles – Juventus to Leeds £55k Luis Cubilla – Penarol to Barcelona £45k Jair – Portuguesa to Inter £45k 1963 Angelo Sormani – Mantova to Roma £250k* Amarildo – Botafogo to AC Milan £145k Fred Pickering – Blackburn to Everton £80 Alcides Silveira – Barcelona to Boca Juniors £75k Karl-Heinz Schnellinger – Koln to Mantua £75k Horst Szymaniak – Catania to Inter £65k Victor Benitez – Milan to Genoa £64k Ian Ure – Dundee to Arsenal £62,500 Jurgen Schutz – Dortmund to Roma £60k Pat Crerand – Celtic to Manchester United £56k Derek Kevan – West Brom to Chelsea £45k John Kaye – Scunthorpe to West Brom £42,500 Giuliano Sarti – Fiorentina to Inter £40k 1964 Frank McLintock – Leicester to Arsenal £80k Alan Mullery – Fulham to Tottenham £72,500 Alan Gilzean – Dundee to Tottenham £72,500 1965 Jim Baxter – Rangers to Sunderland £72,500 1966 Alan Ball – Blackpool to Everton £112k Tony Hateley – Aston Villa to Chelsea £110k Mike England – Blackburn to Tottenham £95k 1967 Harald Nielsen – Bologna to Inter £300k* Jim Baxter – Sunderland to Nottingham Forest £100k 1968 Pietro Anastasi – Varese to Juventus £500k* Allan Clarke – Fulham to Leicester £150k Martin Chivers – Southampton to Tottenham £125k 1969 Allan Clarke –Leicester to Leeds £165k 1970 Martin Peters – West Ham to Tottenham £200k 1971 Elias Figueroa – Penarol to Internacional £500k Alan Ball – Everton to Arsenal £220k Ralph Coates – Burnley to Tottenham £190k Colin Todd – Sunderland to Derby £175k 1972 David Nish – Leicester to Derby £225k Rodney Marsh – QPR to Manchester City £200k Ted Macdougall – Bournemouth to Manchester United £200k Joe Harper – Aberdeen to Everton £180k 1973 Johan Cruyff – Ajax to Barcelona £922k* Lou Macari – Celtic to Manchester United £200k Oscar Mas – River Plate to Real Madrid £180k Hugo Sotil – Deportivo Municipal to Barcelona £180k Gunther Netzer – Borussia Moenchengladbach to Real Madrid £144k 1974 Paul Breitner – Bayern Munich to Real Madrid £600k Johan Neeskens – Ajax to Barcelona £400k Bob Latchford – Birmingham to Everton £350k (including Howard Kendall and Archie Styles) Peter Shilton – Leicester to Stoke £325k 1975 Giuseppe Savoldi – Bologna to Napoli £1.2m * 1976 Paolo Rossi – Juventus to Vicenza - £1.75m * Lobo Diarte – Zaragoza to Valencia £500k Henning Jensen – Borussia Moenchengladbach to Real Madrid £300k Mario Kempes – Rosario Central to Valencia £275k Roger van Gool – Club Brugge to Koln £200k 1977 Kevin Keegan – Liverpool to Hamburg £500k Kenny Dalglish – Celtic to Liverpool £440k Peter Shilton – Stoke to Nottingham Forest £250k Uli Stielike - Borussia Moenchengladbach to Real Madrid £240k 1978 Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa – Huracan to Tottenham £700k (combined) Rainer Bonhof – Borussia Moenchengladbach to Valencia £550k Gordon McQueen – Leeds to Manchester United £495k Graeme Souness – Middlesbrough to Liverpool £352k Joe Jordan – Leeds to Manchester United £350k Hans Krankl – Rapid Vienna to Barcelona £300k 1979 Andy Gray – Aston Villa to Wolves £1.5m Steve Daley – Wolves to Manchester City £1.4m Trevor Francis – Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest £1.15m Laurie Cunningham – West Brom to Real Madrid £950k Ray Wilkins – Chelsea to Manchester United £825k Tony Woodcock – Nottingham Forest to Cologne £650k Roberto Tavola – Atalanta to Juventus £550k David Mills – Middlesbrough to West Bromwich Albion £516k Carlo Ancelotti – Parma to Roma £460k 1980 Kevin Reeves – Norwich to Manchester City £1.25m Clive Allen – QPR to Arsenal £1.25m Bernd Schuster – Koln to Barcelona £1m Steve Archibald – Aberdeen to Tottenham £900k Paulo Roberto Falcao – Internacional to Roma £850k Salvatore Bagni – Perugia to Inter £800k Daniel Bertoni – Sevilla to Fiorentina £650k Liam Brady – Arsenal to Juventus £500k Herbert Prohaska – Austria Vienna to Inter £500k Rainer Bonhof – Valencia to Koln £375k Karl del’Haye – Borussia Moenchengladbach to Bayern Munich £325k 1981 Diego Maradona – Argentinos Juniors to Boca Juniors £2.1m* Mario Kempes – Valencia to River Plate £1.9m Bryan Robson – West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United £1.5m Trevor Francis – Nottingham Forest to Manchester City £1.2m Mark Lawrenson – Brighton to Liverpool £900k Joe Jordan – Manchester United to AC Milan £400k 1982 Diego Maradona – Boca Juniors to Barcelona £3m * Roberto Mancini - Bologna to Sampdoria £1.9m Trevor Francis – Manchester City to Sampdoria £1m Zbigniew Boniek – Lodz to Juventus £1m 1984 Diego Maradona – Barcelona to Napoli £5m * Karlheinz Rummenigge – Bayern Munich to Inter £3m Socrates - Corinthians to Fiorentina £2.7m Salvatore Bagni - Inter to Napoli £1.8m Andrea Mandorlini - Ascoli to Inter £1.6m Ray Wilkins – Manchester United to AC Milan £1.5m Glenn Stromberg - Benfica to Atalanta £1.1m Mark Hateley – Portsmouth to AC Milan £1m 1985 Pietro Fanna - Verona to Inter £3m Aldo Serena – Inter to Juventus £2.7m Gianfranco Matteoli - Como to Sampdoria £2m Beniamino Vignola - Juventus to Hellas Verona £1.8m Juan Barbas - Real Zaragoza to Lecce £1.7m Bruno Giordano - Lazio to Napoli £1.6m Marco Tardelli – Juventus to Inter £1.5m Fabio Poli - Cagliari to Lazio £1.4m 1986 Roberto Donadoni – Atalanta to AC Milan £4m Gary Lineker – Everton to Barcelona £2.8m Fernando De Napoli - Avellino to Napoli £2.5m Mark Hughes – Manchester United to Barcelona £2.3m Giovanni Galli – Fiorentina to AC Milan £2.3m Paolo Rossi - Milan to Hellas Verona £2m Klaus Bergseen - Pisa to Roma £1.8m Andrea Carnevale – Udinese to Napoli £1.8m Luca Fusi – Como to Sampdoria £1.6m Francesco Romano – to Napoli £950k Terry Butcher – Ipswich to Rangers£725k Chris Woods – Norwich to Rangers £600k 1987 Ruud Gullit – PSV Eindhoven to AC Milan £6m * Enzo Scifo – Anderlecht to Inter £3.4m Ian Rush – Liverpool to Juventus £3.2m Careca – Sao Paulo to Napoli £3m Rudi Voller – Werder Bremen to Roma £2.8m Carlo Ancelotti – Roma to AC Milan £2.5m Luigi De Agostini – Verona to Juventus £2.5m Paulo Futre – Porto to Atletico Madrid £2.2m Peter Beardsley – Newcastle to Liverpool £1.9m Richard Gough – Tottenham to Rangers £1.5m Lajos Detari – Honved to Eintracht Frankfurt £1.2m Stefano Rebonato - Pescara to Fiorentina £1m 1988 Ruggiero Rizzitelli - Cesena to Roma £5.5m Nicola Berti - Fiorentina to Inter £5m Lajos Detari – Eintracht Frankfurt to Oympiakos £4.5m Massimo Crippa - Torino to Napoli £3.5m Alexander Zavarov – Dynamo Kiev to Juventus £3.2m Romario – Vaso da Gama to PSV Eindhoven £3m Ian Rush – Juventus to Liverpool £2.8m Luca Fusi – Sampdoria to Napoli £2.6m Frank Rijkaard – Sporting Lisbon to AC Milan £2.6m Eric Cantona – Auxerre to Marseille £2.5m Lothar Matthaus – Bayern Munich to Inter £2.5m Tony Cottee – West Ham to Everton £2.2m Alemao – Atletico Madrid to Napoli £2.1m Paul Gascoigne – Newcastle to Tottenham £2m Giancarlo Marocchi – Bologna to Juventus £2m Muller - Sao Paulo to Torino £1.9m Mark Hughes – Barcelona to Manchester United £1.8m Rui Barros – Porto to Juventus £1.8m Renato Portaluppi – Flamengo to Roma £1.8m Jose Maria Bakero – Real Sociedad to Barcelona £1.5m Paul Stewart – Manchester City to Tottenham £1.5m Mo Johnston – Nantes to Rangers £1.5m 1989 Chris Waddle – Tottenham to Marseille £4.25m Ronald Koeman – PSV Eindhoven to Barcelona £3.5m Gary Pallister – Middlesbrough to Manchester United £2.3m Gary Lineker – Barcelona to Tottenham £1.5m Jurgen Klinsmann – Stuttgart to Inter £1.5m 1990 Roberto Baggio – Fiorentina to Juventus £8m * Thomas Hassler – Koln to Juventus £5.5m Karl-Heinz Riedle – Werder Bremen to Lazio £5.5m Dragan Stojkovic – Red Star Belgrade to Marseille £5m Paolo Di Canio - Lazio to Juventus £3.4m Andrea Carnevale – Napoli to Roma £3.1m Gerhard Rodax – Admira Wacker to Atletico Madrid £2.35m Eugenio Corini – Brescia to Juventus £2.3m Rafael Martin Vazquez – Real Madrid to Torino £2.2m Brian Laudrup – Bayer Uerdingen to Bayern Munich £2m Luis Milla – Barcelona to Real Madrid £1.75m Gheorghe Hagi – Steaua Bucharest to Real Madrid £1.7m Dalian Atkinson – Sheffield Wednesday to Real Sociedad £1.7m Hristo Stoichkov – CSKA Sofia to Barcelona £1.5m 1991 David Platt – Aston Villa to Bari £5.5m Trevor Steven – Rangers to Marseille £5.5m Thomas Hassler –Juventus to Roma £5m Thomas Doll – Hamburg to Lazio £4.3m Enzo Scifo – Auxerre to Torino £3.9m Dean Saunders – Derby to Liverpool £2.9m Jurgen Kohler – Bayern Munich to Juventus £2.5m (also seen quoted as £5m) Robert Prosinecki – Red Star Belgrade to Real Madrid £2.5m Gabriel Batistuta – Boca Juniors to Fiorentina £2.5m Ian Wright – Crystal Palace to Arsenal £2.5m Richard Witschge – Ajax to Barcelona £2.2m Mark Wright – Derby to Liverpool £2.2m Daniele Fortunato – Juventus to Bari £2.2m Alexei Mikhailichenko – Sampdoria to Rangers £2m Teddy Sheringham – Millwall to Nottingham Forest £2m Laurent Blanc – Marseille to Napoli £2m 1992 Gianluigi Lentini – Torino to AC Milan £13m * Gianluca Vialli – Sampdoria to Juventus £12m * Jean-Pierre Papin – Marseille to AC Milan £10m * Dejan Savicevic – Red Star Belgrade to AC Milan £9.5m Igor Shalimov – Foggia to Inter £8m Darko Pancev – Red Star Belgrade to Inter £7m David Platt – Bari to Juventus £6.5m Paul Gascoigne – Tottenham to Lazio £5.5m Stefano Eranio – Genoa to AC Milan £4.1m Matthias Sammer – Stuttgart to Inter £4.1m Toto Schillachi – Juventus to Inter £3.9m Alan Shearer – Southampton to Blackburn £3.6m Fernando de Napoli – Napoli to AC Milan £2.95m Dean Saunders – Liverpool to Aston Villa £2.5m 1993 Alen Boksic – Marseille to Lazio £8m Dennis Bergkamp – Ajax to Inter £7m David Platt – Juventus to Sampdoria £5.2m Marcel Desailly – Marseille to AC Milan £4.9m Duncan Ferguson – Dundee United to Rangers £4m Roy Keane – Nottingham Forest to Manchester United £3.75m Matthias Sammer – Inter to Borussia Dortmund £3m Brian Deane – Sheffield United to Leeds £2.9m Romario – PSV to Barcelona £2.5m Tim Flowers – Southampton to Blackburn £2m 1994 Chris Sutton – Norwich to Blackburn £5m Rui Costa – Benfica to Fiorentina £5m Ronaldo – Cruzeiro to PSV £4m Phil Babb – Coventry to Liverpool £3.6m John Scales – Wimbledon to Liverpool £3.5m Gica Popescu – PSV Eindhoven to Tottenham £2.9m 1995 Stan Collymore – Nottingham Forest to Liverpool £8.5m Dennis Bergkamp – Inter to Arsenal £7.5m Paul Ince – Manchester United to Inter £7.5m Andy Cole – Newcastle to Manchester United £7m (£6m plus Keith Gillespie) Roberto Baggio – Juventus to AC Milan £6.5m Les Ferdinand – QPR to Newcastle £6m Nick Barmby – Tottenham to Middlesbrough £5.25m Andrei Kanchelskis – Manchester United to Everton £5m Juninho Paulista – Sao Paulo to Middlesbrough £5m Roberto Carlos – Palmeiras to Inter - £4.8m David Platt – Sampdoria to Arsenal £4.75m Hristo Stoichkov – Barcelona to Parma £4.6m George Weah – PSG to AC Milan £4.5m Warren Barton – Wimbledon to Newcastle £4m David Batty – Blackburn to Newcastle £3.75m Meho Kodro – Real Sociedad to Barcelona £3.5m Caio – Sao Paulo to Inter £3.3m 1996 Alan Shearer – Blackburn to Newcastle £15m * Ronaldo – PSV Eindhoven to Barcelona £13m Enrico Chiesa – Sampdoria to Parma £10m Faustino Asprilla - Parma to Newcastle £7.5m Fabrizio Ravanelli – Juventus to Middlesbrough £7m Predrag Mijatovic – Valencia to Real Madrid £6.4m Alen Boksic – Lazio to Juventus £6m Rivaldo – Palmeiras to Deportivo la Coruna £5.4m Valery Karpin – Real Sociedad to Valencia £5.3m Oliveira – to Fiorentina £5.3m Davor Suker – Sevilla to Real Madrid £5.1m 1997 Ronaldo – Barcelona to Inter £19m * Rivaldo – Deportivo la Coruna to Barceona £13m Juninho Paulista – Middlesbrough to Atletico Madrid £13m Sonny Anderson – Monaco to Barcelona £13m Christian Vieri – Juventus to Atletico Madrid £12.5m Filippo Inzaghi – Atalanta to Juventus £8.5m Roberto Rios – Real Betis to Athletic Bilbao £8.5m Leonardo – PSG to AC Milan £8m Andrei Kanchelskis – Everton to Fiorentina £8m Stan Collymore – Liverpool to Aston Villa £7m Marc Overmars – Ajax to Arsenal £7m Djalminha – Palmeiras to Deportivo la Coruna £7m Les Ferdinand – Newcastle to Tottenham £6m 1998 Denilson – Sao Paulo to Real Betis £22m * Christian Vieri – Atletico Madrid to Lazio £19m Juan Sebastian Veron – Sampdoria to Lazio £15m Dwight Yorke – Aston Villa to Manchester United £12.6m Marcelo Salas – River Plate to Lazio £12m Jaap Stam – PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United £10.75m Dejan Stankovic – Red Star Belgrade to Lazio £9m Oliver Bierhoff – Udinese to AC Milan £9m Patrick Kluivert – AC Milan to Barcelona £8.75m Ivan de la Pena – Barcelona to Lazio £8.2m Sinisa Mihajlovic – Sampdoria to Lazio £8m Duncan Ferguson – Everton to Newcastle £8m Kevin Davies – Southampton to Blackburn £7.5m 1999 Christian Vieri – Lazio to Inter £32m * Nicolas Anelka – Arsenal to Real Madrid £22m Marcio Amoroso – Udinese to Parma £21m Juan Veron – Parma to Lazio £19m Clarence Seedorf – Real Madrid to Inter £19m Andriy Shevchenko – Dynamo Kiev to AC Milan £16m Vincenzo Montella – Sampdoria to Roma £15m Darko Kovacevic – Real Sociedad to Juventus £14m Elvir Baljic – Fenerbahce to Real Madrid £10m Dani – Mallorca to Barcelona £10m Simone Inzaghi – Piacenza to Lazio £10m Angelo Peruzzi – Juventus to Inter £10m Ivan Cordoba – Inter £10m Chris Sutton – Blackburn to Chelsea £10m Gianluca Zambrotta – Bari to Juventus £10m Simao – Sporting Lisbon to Barcelona £9.2m Sonny Anderson – Barcelona to Lyon £9m Enrico Chiesa – Parma to Fiorentina £8.5m Michel Salgado – Celta Vigo to Real Madrid £7.8m Marco Di Vaio – Salernitana £7m 2000 Luis Figo – Barcelona to Real Madrid £37m * Hernan Crespo – Parma to Lazio £35.5m (including Mathias Almeyda and Sergio Conceicao) * Marc Overmars – Arsenal to Barcelona £25m Gabriel Batistuta – Fiorentina to Roma £22m Nicolas Anelka – Real Madrid to PSG £22m Rio Ferdinand – West Ham to Leeds £18m Angelo Peruzzi – Inter to Lazio £16m Savo Milosevic – Real Zaragoza to Parma £16m Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – Atletico Madrid to Chelsea £15m David Trezeguet – Monaco to Juventus £15m Claudio Lopez – Valencia to Lazio £14m Shabani Nonda – Rennes to Monaco £13.5m Walter Samuel – Boca Juniors to Roma £13m Robbie Keane – Coventry to Inter £13m Sylvain Wiltord – Bordeaux to Arsenal £13m Emerson – Bayer Leverkusen to Roma £12m Fernando Redondo – Real Madrid to AC Milan £11m Sergei Rebrov – Dynamo Kiev to Tottenham £11m 2001 Zinedine Zidane – Juventus to Real Madrid £49m * Gianluigi Buffon – Parma to Juventus £32.6m Rui Costa – Fiorentina to AC Milan £28m Juan Veron – Lazio to Manchester United £28m Gaizka Mendieta – Valencia to Lazio £27m Filippo Inzaghi – Juventus to AC Milan £26m Pavel Nedved – Lazio to Juventus £25m Lillian Thuram – Parma to Juventus £24m Hidetoshi Nakata – Roma to Parma £20m Ruud van Nistelrooy – PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United £19m Javier Saviola – River Plate to Barcelona £19m Antonio Cassano – Bari to Roma £18m Francesco Toldo – Fiorentina to Inter £18m Tomas Rosicky – Sparta Prague to Borussia Dortmund £17m Stefano Fiore – Udinese to Lazio £17m Jaap Stam – Manchester United to Lazio £16m Geovanni – Cruzeiro to Barcelona £12m 2002 Rio Ferdinand – Leeds to Manchester United £30m Ronaldo – Inter to Real Madrid £28m Hernan Crespo – Lazio to Inter £25m Alessandro Nesta – Lazio to AC Milan £21m Clarence Seedorf and Francesco Coco – Swap between AC Milan and Inter valued at £19m Nicolas Anelka – PSG to Manchester City £13m Fabio Cannavaro – Parma to Inter £11m El-Hadji Diouf – Lens to Liverpool £10m 2003 David Beckham – Manchester United to Real Madrid £25m Ronaldinho – PSG to Barcelona £21m Damien Duff – Blackburn to Chelsea £17m Hernan Crespo – Inter to Chelsea £17m Adrian Mutu – Parma to Chelsea £16m Claude Makelele – Real Madrid to Chelsea £16m Juan Sebastian Veron – Manchester United to Chelsea £15m Christian Chivu – Ajax to Roma £13m 2004 Wayne Rooney – Everton to Manchester United £27m Didier Drogba – Marseille to Chelsea £24m Ricardo Carvalho – Porto to Chelsea £19.8m Paulo Fereira – Porto to Chelsea £13.2m 2005 Michael Essien – Lyon to Chelsea £26m Shaun Wright-Phillips – Manchester City to Chelsea £24m Sergio Ramos – Sevilla to Real Madrid £18m Michael Owen – Real Madrid to Newcastle £17m Patrick Vieira – Arsenal to Juventus £16m 2006 Andriy Shevchenko – AC Milan to Chelsea £31m Michael Carrick – Tottenham to Manchester United £18.6m Javier Mascherano – MSI to Liverpool £18m 2007 Fernando Torres – Atletico Madrid to Liverpool £24m Arjen Robben – Chelsea to Real Madrid £24m Pepe – Porto to Real Madrid £24m Wesley Sneijder – Ajax to Real Madrid £18m Anderson – Porto to Manchester United £18m Nani – Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United £17m Owen Hargreaves – Bayern Munich to Manchester United £17m Darren Bent – Charlton to Tottenham £17m Franck Ribery – Marseille to Bayern Munich £17m 2008 Robinho – Real Madrid to Manchester City £32.5m Dimitar Berbatov – Tottenham to Manchester United £31.75m Dani Alves – Sevilla to Barcelona £26m Danny – Dynamo Moscow to Zenit St Petersburg £24m 2009 Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United to Real Madrid £80m * Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Inter to Barcelona £60m (£40m plus Samuel Eto’o) Kaka – AC Milan to Real Madrid £56m * Karim Benzema – Lyon to Real Madrid £35m Xabi Alonso – Liverpool to Real Madrid £30m Emmanuel Adebayor – Arsenal to Manchester City £25m Dmytro Chygrinskiy – Shakhtar Donetsk to Barcelona £22m Joleon Lescott – Everton to Manchester City £22m 2010 David Villa – Valencia to Barcelona £35m James Milner – Aston Villa to Manchester City £26m David Silva – Valencia to Manchester City £25m Mario Balotelli – Inter to Manchester City £24m Yaya Toure – Barcelona to Manchester City £24m 2011 Fernando Torres – Liverpool to Chelsea £50m Sergio Aguero – Atletico Madrid to Manchester City £37m Javier Pastore – Palermo to PSG £37m Radamel Falcao – Porto to Atletico Madrid £35m Andy Carroll – Newcastle to Liverpool £35m Cesc Fabregas – Arsenal to Barcelona £34m Edin Dzeko – Wolfsburg to Manchester City £27m Fabio Coentrao – Benfica to Real Madrid £25m Samir Nasri – Arsenal to Manchester City £25m Juan Mata – Valencia to Chelsea £24m Darren Bent – Sunderland to Aston Villa £24m Alexis Sanchez – Udinese to Barcelona £23m Luis Suarez – Ajax to Liverpool £22m 2012 Hulk – Porto to Zenit St Petersburg £35m Thiago Silva – AC Milan to PSG £35m Axel Witsel – Benfica to Zenit St Petersburg £34m Luka Modric – Tottenham to Real Madrid £33m Javi Martinez – Athletic Bilbao to Bayern Munich £32m Eden Hazard – Lille to Chelsea £32m Oscar – Internacional to Chelsea £25m Robin Van Persie – Arsenal to Manchester United £24m Ezequiel Lavezzi – Napoli to PSG £24m 2013 Gareth Bale – Tottenham to Real Madrid £85m * Neymar – Santos to Barcelona £71m Edinson Cavani – Napoli to PSG £55m Radamel Falcao – Atletico Madrid to Monaco £51m Mesut Ozil – Real Madrid to Arsenal £42m Lucas Moura – Sao Paulo to PSG £36m Gonzalo Higuain – Real Madrid to Napoli £35m Asier Illaramendi – Real Sociedad to Real Madrid £34m Fernandinho – Shakhtar Donetsk £34m Mario Gotze – Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich £32m Marquinhos – Roma to PSG £30m Willian – Shakhtar Donetsk to Anzhi £30m Willian – Anzhi to Chelsea £30m Marouane Fellaini – Everton to Manchester United £28m Erik Lamela – Roma to Tottenham £26m Roberto Soldado – Valencia to Tottenham £25m Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Shakhtar Donestsk to Borussia Dortmund £24m Isco – Malaga to Real Madrid £23m 2014 Luis Suarez – Liverpool to Barcelona £75m James Rodriguez – Monaco to Real Madrid £65m Angel Di Maria – Real Madrid to Manchester United £60m David Luiz – Chelsea to PSG £50m Juan Mata – Chelsea to Manchester United £37m Alexis Sanchez – Barcelona to Arsenal £35m Eliaquim Mangala – Porto to Manchester City £32m Diego Costa – Atletico Madrid to Chelsea £32m Luke Shaw – Southampton to Manchester United £30m Ander Herrera – Athletic Bilbao to Manchester United £29m Romelu Lukaku – Chelsea to Everton £28m Cesc Fabregas – Barcelona to Chelsea £27m Adam Lallana – Southampton to Liverpool £25m Mehdi Benatia – Roma to Bayern Munich £24m Antoine Griezmann – Real Sociedad to Atletico Madrid £24m 2015 Kevin De Bruyne – Wolfsburg to Manchester City £54m Raheem Sterling – Liverpool to Manchester City £49m Angel Di Maria – Manchester United to PSG £44m Anthony Martial – Monaco to Manchester United £36m Christian Benteke – Aston Villa to Liverpool £32.5m Nicolas Ottamendi – Valencia to Manchester City £32m Jackson Martinez – Porto to Atletico Madrid £31m Roberto Firmino – Hoffenheim to Liverpool £29m Arda Turan – Atletico Madrid to Barcelona £28m Arturo Vidal – Juventus to Bayern Munich £28m Geoffrey Kondogbia – Monaco to Inter £28m Wilfried Bony – Swansea to Manchester City £25m Mateo Kovacic – Inter to Real Madrid £24m Carlos Bacca – Sevilla to AC Milan £24m Douglas Costa – Shakhtar Donetsk to Bayern Munich £24m Juan Cuadrado – Fiorentina to Chelsea £23m Andre Schurrle – Chelsea to Wolfsburg £22m Pedro – Barcelona to Chelsea £22m 2016 Paul Pogba – Juventus to Manchester United £90m * Gonzalo Higuain – Napoli to Juventus £75m Oscar – Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG £60m John Stones – Everton to Manchester City £47.5m Hulk – Zenit St Petersburg to Shanghai £46m Alex Texeira – Shakhtar Donetsk to Jiangsu Suning £38m Leroy Sane – Schalke 04 to Manchester City £37m Sadio Mane – Southampton to Liverpool £36m Shkodran Mustafi – Valencia to Arsenal £35m Granit Xhaka – Borussia Moenchengladbach to Arsenal £34m Michy Batshuayi – Marseille to Chelsea £33m Mats Hummels – Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich £32m N’Golo Kante – Leicester to Chelsea £30m Eric Bailly – Villarreal to Manchester United £30m Renato Sanches – Benfica to Bayern Munich £28m 2017 Romelu Lukaku – Everton to Manchester United £75m Alvaro Morata – Real Madrid to Chelsea £57m Benjamin Mendy – Monaco to Manchester City £52m Kyle Walker – Tottenham to Manchester City £50m Alexandre Lacazette – Lyon to Arsenal £46m Bernardo Silva – Monaco to Manchester City £44m Tiemoue Bakayoko – Monaco to Chelsea £40m Vinicius Junior – Flamengo to Real Madrid £39.6m Mo Salah – Roma to Liverpool £37m Corentin Tolisso – Lyon to Bayern Munich £36m Federico Bernadeschi – Fiorentina to Juventus £35.7m Leonardo Bonucci – Juventus to AC Milan £35m Ederson – Benfica to Manchester City £35m Andre Silva – Porto to AC Milan and £33.5m Vitolo – Sevilla to Atletico Madrid £31.8m Victor Lindelof – Benfica to Manchester United £31m Antonio Rudiger – Roma to Chelsea £29m Nelson Semedo – Benfica to Barcelona £25m
Great job I'm interested to find out more about the greatest transfer flops and/or wasted talents As in such list usually only players from the 90s/00s are mentioned I wondered about examples from the earlier eras Some names here: Giuseppe Virgili, 19 years old, 3rd highest fee ever Seems he was excellent for two seasons, but declined massively Pietro Anastasi Absolutely mental transfer fee Raising the world record by ~60% for a teenager who played one Serie A season Mbappe situation isn't new afterall This one makes a top tier trivia question: Who payed the first million pound transfer fee? Napoli For which player? Giuseppe Savoldi
That this plays a role in the transfer fees and negotiations is neatly illustrated by Jimmy Burns his biography. Also explains why the AJ --> Boca transfer isn't always recognized as a world record. It was co-financed by third parties (Coca Cola, Nally). I'm not saying you're wrong to include it but this explains why some world record progressions leave it out (back in the 90s and 80s).
Yes, that is useful, It was certainly a very complicated deal. Somewhat similar is the odd nature of Carlos Tevez's "transfer" to Manchester City. In some cases it is reported as being free, in others £47m!!
Some mad ones in there certainly. I was surprised by how much Napoli spent in the 80s. Roughly £25 between 1984 and 1988. Given prices at the time I make that roughly £500m in modern money.
Do you know what happened to Virgili? Went on to play for relegation teams / Serie B at the age of 24. Anastasi had a good career, but he must have been hyped like crazy. I would love to know how much money there was in football back then compared to know. English report from the mid 60s: https://footballmanagement.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/chester-revisited/ the gap between the divisions is interesting
Yes, that is the 'Dutch disease'. Dutch uncle, Dutch courage, double Dutch, going Dutch.... the English always find a name. Hence Savoldi was here reported as 5 million guilders, i.e. lower as JC in 1973. Because the guilder appreciated (lira depreciated). I know/believe/think the record could have been higher because Real Madrid made in 1973 an official 10 million guilders offer (maybe willing to go higher), with Ajax effectively trying to sell the player without his approval. This Savoldi deal did involve two other players going opposite direction (excluded in the pounds figure?). In 1980 it was said Napoli had the highest gate receipts of whole Italy, which would align with the reported attendances. This below is a bit tricky because 1) only active players and 2) only 'attackers' but might be helpful: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010960172:mpeg21:a0395 http://hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com/preview/1979/06/02/pagina-15/1041305/pdf.html Pruzzo for 240 million pesetas (3 billion lira - see wiki) http://hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com/preview/1978/06/29/pagina-11/1040551/pdf.html Occassionally also cited as a record because the Paolo Rossi deal was a complicated one, involving three clubs (dual ownership in Italy more common). http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBNRC01:000026632:mpeg21:a0124
Not really no. Only ever known him as a big transfer person. Well sod all in real terms. My £500m is accounting for transfer inflation, in real terms it is more like £75m. In 1981 Juventus signed a "big" new sponsorship deal for £400k. In the 1980s English TV rights were worth £2.5m a season in total. Moreover, those clubs were probably heavily loss making.
In Italy it was end of 1987, beginning 1988 around 28 million pounds per season as television revenues. http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13528346.html This matches with the Italian lira figures cited. Of course, the whole of Italy was heavily indebted and this bubble would burst in the early-2000s. Maradona at his peak made 3 to 5 million dollar salary a year from the club. With other income it was over 11 million dollars. Sources used: Sports Illustrated, New York Times, People Magazine (not at all hard to find). From Puma he received at his peak a million per year (maybe half a million). Which perhaps undervalued him if one considers Beckenbauer in the 1960s was on something between 1.5 million and 2 million with Adidas. Pelé near the end of his prime received 25.000 dollars for Mexico alone, but 100.000 dollars for each next four years. On top of this, he received 10% royalties for the boots sold under his name (among them, with yellow stripes). I'd love to know how many boots they sold. Pelé famously laced his boots before kick-off against Peru in 1970, seriously! Source: B. Smit - Pitch Invasion. I've read the full book. The past shouldn't be idealized but neither the present. Big news yesterday and today (not just sports news but general news) that the European Commission is preparing a 400 million charge plus an additional fine to Belgian clubs for illegal state aid post-2006 (the 400 million deals with 2010-present). Which I had already said/predicted to you earlier (along those lines).
In 1977 Napoli received 300 million lira per match as gate receipts (if reasonably sold out). With Savoldi valued around 1.8 billion or 2 billion?
Intruiging that there are so many for the Dutch. Presume it's mainly because "Dutch" is quite a satisfying word to say in English (it's the only one syllable nationality for a major European nation) and because of the rivalry between the nations at a key time when the modern English language was formed. Also the Dutch disease article is interesting. I had no idea about that gas field. I will add him. That works out at roughly £1.4m. No, I'm not trying to claim it was worse, but it is undeniable that money has flooded into the game in the last few decades and it shows no sign of abating. There are now quite a few players who would break the world transfer record if they were to be sold (not just Mpbappe and Neymar).