The 2022-23 season has been packed full of big-money deals, with the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk, Antony, Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez leading the way
Paris Saint-Germain shook up the football world in the summer of 2017 when they signed Neymar from Barcelona and then promptly prised Kylian Mbappe away from Monaco.
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, Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann for nine-figure fees.
Also in Spain, Atletico Madrid splashed €126m on Benfica’s prodigious attacking talent Joao Felix, while Real Madrid finally brought Eden Hazard to Santiago Bernabeu for €100m.
The Covid-19 pandemic briefly had a massive impact on the transfer market, but some clubs, particularly in England, have seemingly now recovered, with the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, Mykhailo Mudryk, Antony, Darwin Nunez, Matthijs de Ligt, Wesley Fofana and Aurelien Tchouameni moving for huge amounts.
More massive deals now look certain to follow, but you can see the current list of the world’s most expensive footballers below…
| 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 | Enzo Fernandez | Benfica – Chelsea | 2023 | €121m |
| =5 | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool – Barcelona | 2018 | €120m (+€40m) |
| =5 | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid – Barcelona | 2019 | €120m |
| 7 | Jack Grealish | Aston Villa – Manchester City | 2021 | €117m |
| 8 | Romelu Lukaku | Inter – Chelsea | 2021 | €115m |
| =9 | Ousmane Dembele | Borussia Dortmund – Barcelona | 2017 | €105m (+€45m) |
| =9 | Paul Pogba | Juventus – Manchester United | 2016 | €105m |
| 11 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham – Real Madrid | 2013 | €100.8m |
| =12 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid – Juventus | 2018 | €100m |
| =12 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea – Real Madrid | 2019 | €100m (+€40m) |
| =12 | Mykhailo Mudryk | Shakhtar Donetsk – Chelsea | 2023 | €100m |
| 14 | Antony | Ajax – Manchester United | 2022 | €95m (+€5m) |
| 15 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United – Real Madrid | 2009 | €94m |
| 16 | Gonzalo Higuain | Napoli – Juventus | 2016 | €90m |
| 17 | Harry Maguire | Leicester City – Manchester United | 2019 | €87.1m |
| 18 | Neymar | Santos – Barcelona | 2013 | €86.2m |
| 19 | Jadon Sancho | Borussia Dortmund – Manchester United | 2021 | €85m |
| 20 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton – Manchester United | 2017 | €84.8m |
| 21 | Virgil van Dijk | Southampton – Liverpool | 2018 | €84.5m |
| 22 | Luis Suarez | Liverpool – Barcelona | 2014 | €82.3m |
| 23 | Wesley Fofana | Leicester City – Chelsea | 2022 | €80.6m |
| =24 | Aurelien Tchouameni | Monaco – Real Madrid | 2022 | €80m (+€20m) |
| =24 | James Rodriguez | Monaco – Real Madrid | 2014 | €80m |
| =24 | Kepa Arrizabalaga | Athletic Club – Chelsea | 2018 | €80m |
| =24 | Lucas Hernandez | Atletico Madrid – Bayern Munich | 2019 | €80m |
| =24 | Romelu Lukaku | Manchester United – Inter | 2019 | €80m |
| 29 | Nicolas Pepe | Lille – Arsenal | 2019 | €79m |
| 30 | Alvaro Morata | Real Madrid – Chelsea | 2017 | €78.9m |
| 31 | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus – Real Madrid | 2001 | €77.5m |
| =32 | Darwin Nunez | Benfica – Liverpool | 2022 | €75m (+€25m) |
| =32 | Matthijs de Ligt | Ajax – Juventus | 2019 | €75m (+€10.5m) |
| =32 | Kevin De Bruyne | Wolfsburg – Manchester City | 2015 | €75m |
| =32 | Frenkie de Jong | Ajax – Barcelona | 2019 | €75m |
| =32 | Dusan Vlahovic | Fiorentina – Juventus | 2022 | €75m |
| 37 | Angel Di Maria | Real Madrid – Manchester United | 2014 | €74.6m |
| 38 | Alisson Becker | Roma – Liverpool | 2018 | €73m |
| 39 | Arthur Melo | Barcelona – Juventus | 2020 | €72m (+€10m) |
| 40 | Casemiro | Real Madrid – Manchester United | 2022 | €71m (+€11.8m) |
| =41 | Kai Havertz | Bayer Leverkusen – Chelsea | 2020 | €70m (+€9m) |
| =41 | Luka Jovic | Eintracht Frankfurt – Real Madrid | 2019 | €70m |
| =41 | Rodri | Atletico Madrid – Manchester City | 2019 | €70m |
| =41 | Mykhailo Mudryk | Shakhtar Donetsk – Chelsea | 2023 | €70m (+€30m) |
| 44 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | Inter – Barcelona | 2009 | €69.5m |
| 45 | Raheem Sterling | Liverpool – Manchester City | 2015 | €69.1m |
| 46 | Ruben Dias | Benfica – Manchester City | 2020 | €68m (+€3.6m) |
| 47 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester City – Manchester City | 2019 | €67.8m |
| 48 | Matthijs de Ligt | Juventus – Bayern Munich | 2022 | €67m (+€10m) |
| 49 | Diego Costa | Chelsea – Atletico Madrid | 2018 | €66m |
| 50 | Marc Cucurella | Brighton – Chelsea | 2022 | €65.1m (+€8.2m) |
| =51 | Alexander Isak | Real Sociedad – Newcastle United | 2022 | €65m (+€5m) |
| =51 | Thomas Lemar | Monaco – Atletico Madrid | 2018 | €65m |
| =51 | Kaka | AC Milan – Real Madrid | 2009 | €65m |
| =51 | Aymeric Laporte | Athletic Club – Manchester City | 2018 | €65m |
| =51 | Joao Cancelo | Juventus – Manchester City | 2019 | €65m (inc. Danilo) |
| 56 | Edinson Cavani | Napoli – PSG | 2013 | €64.5m |
| 57 | Christian Pulisic | Borussia Dortmund – Chelsea | 2019 | €64m |
| 58 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Borussia Dortmund – Arsenal | 2018 | €63.75m |
| 59 | David Luiz | Chelsea – PSG | 2014 | €62.5m |
| 60 | Angel Di Maria | Manchester United – PSG | 2015 | €61.6m |
| 61 | Oscar | Chelsea – Shanghai SIPG | 2017 | €60.3m |
| =62 | Achraf Hakimi | Inter – PSG | 2021 | €60m (+€11m) |
| =62 | Miralem Pjanic | Juventus – Barcelona | 2020 | €60m (+€5m) |
| =62 | Erling Haaland | Borussia Dortmund – Manchester City | 2022 | €60m |
| =62 | Naby Keita | RB Leipzig – Liverpool | 2018 | €60m |
| =62 | Luis Figo | Barcelona – Real Madrid | 2000 | €60m |
| =62 | Tanguy Ndombele | Lyon – Tottenham | 2019 | €60m |
| =68 | Raphinha | Leeds United – Barcelona | 2022 | €59m (+€6m) |
| =68 | Fernando Torres | Liverpool – Chelsea | 2011 | €59m |
| =70 | Fred | Shakhtar Donetsk – Manchester United | 2018 | €58.9m |
| =70 | Jorginho | Napoli – Chelsea | 2018 | €58.9m |
| =70 | Hulk | Zenit – Shanghai SIPG | 2016 | €58.6m |
| =70 | Ben White | Brighton – Arsenal | 2021 | €58.6m |
| 74 | Benjamin Mendy | Monaco – Manchester City | 2017 | €58.2m |
| =75 | Richarlison | Everton – Tottenham | 2022 | €58m (+€12m) |
| =75 | John Stones | Everton – Manchester City | 2016 | €58m |
| 77 | Kyle Walker | Tottenham – Manchester City | 2017 | €56.7m |
| 78 | Raheem Sterling | Manchester City – Chelsea | 2022 | €56.2m |
| 79 | Ben Chilwell | Leicester City – Chelsea | 2020 | €55.8m |
| 80 | Lisandro Martinez | Ajax – Manchester United | 2022 | €55.3m (+€12.5m) |
| =81 | Bruno Fernandes | Sporting C.P. – Manchester United | 2020 | €55m (+€25m) |
| =81 | Hernan Crespo | Parma – Lazio | 2000 | €55m |
| =81 | Ferran Torres | Manchester City – Barcelona | 2021 | €55m |
| =84 | Alexandre Lacazette | Lyon – Arsenal | 2017 | €53m (+€7m) |
| =84 | Timo Werner | RB Leipzig – Chelsea | 2020 | €53m |
| 86 | Gabriel Jesus | Manchester City – Arsenal | 2022 | €52.3m |
| 87 | Gianluigi Buffon | Parma – Juventus | 2001 | €52m |
| 88 | Eliaquim Mangala | Porto – Manchester City | 2014 | €51.7m |
| 89 | Jules Kounde | Sevilla – Barcelona | 2022 | €50m (+€10m) |
| =90 | Alex Teixeira | Shakhtar Donetsk – Jiangsu Suning | 2016 | €50m |
| =90 | Bernardo Silva | Monaco – Manchester City | 2017 | €50m |
| =90 | Fabinho | Monaco – Liverpool | 2018 | €50m |
| =90 | Eder Militao | Porto – Real Madrid | 2019 | €50m |
| =90 | Aaron Wan-Bissaka | Crystal Palace – Manchester United | 2019 | €50m |
| =90 | Thomas Partey | Atletico Madrid – Arsenal | 2020 | €50m |
| =90 | Victor Osimhen | Lille – Napoli | 2020 | €50m |
| 97 | Anthony Martial | Monaco – Manchester United | 2015 | €49.3m |
| 98 | Gylfi Sigurdsson | Swansea City – Everton | 2017 | €49.2m |
| =99 | Leroy Sane | Manchester City – Bayern Munich | 2020 | €49m (+€11m) |
| =99 | Christian Vieri | Lazio – Inter | 1999 | €49m |
