Neymar, Mbappe, C.Ronaldo …104 most expensive footballers of all-time

By Victor Akuma

From the year 2001 till date, the football world has received a boost in the amount set out to pull players from their various clubs in the transfer market.

The development is gradually becoming a strategy by big clubs in Europe to make sure they get any player they set out for, making it near impossible for smaller teams to survive the hurdle.

This cash-flow has unarguably become the yardstick for measuring great players from the fairly-good ones even though records have shown expectations held by the buying clubs of the supposed great players have become unrealistic at some points.

Currently, the young Brazilian, Neymar Junior, stands tall as the world’s most expensive player of all time after being pulled out from Barcelona to PSG with a whooping sum of €222m in 2017. Below are 104 most expensive players of all time.

World’s most expensive footballers:

1. Neymar Junior – 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)
5. Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid – Barcelona 2019 €120m
6. Ousmane Dembele – Borussia Dortmund – Barcelona 2017 €105m (+€45m)
7. Paul Pogba – Juventus – Manchester United 2016 €105m
8. Gareth Bale – Tottenham – Real Madrid 2013 €100.8m
9. Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid – Juventus 2018 €100m
10. Eden Hazard – Chelsea – Real Madrid 2019 €100m (+€40m)
11. Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United – Real Madrid 2009 €94m
12. Gonzalo Higuain – Napoli – Juventus 2016 €90m
13. Harry Maguire – Leicester City – Manchester United 2019 €87.1m
14. Neyma Junior – Santos – Barcelona 2013 €86.2m
15. Romelu Lukaku – Everton – Manchester United 2017 €84.8m
16. Virgil van Dijk – Southampton – Liverpool 2018 €84.5m
17. Luis Suarez – Liverpool – Barcelona 2014 €82.3m
18. Victor Osimehn – Lille – Napoli 2020 €81.3m
19. James Rodriguez – Monaco – Real Madrid 2014 €80m
20. Kepa Arrizabalaga – Athletic Club – Chelsea 2018 €80m
21. Lucas Hernandez – Atletico Madrid – Bayern Munich 2019 €80m
22. Romelu Lukaku – Manchester United – Inter 2019 €80m
23. Nicolas Pepe – Lille – Arsenal 2019 €79m
24. Alvaro Morata – Real Madrid – Chelsea 2017 €78.9m
25. Zinedine Zidane – Juventus – Real Madrid 2001 €77.5m
26. Matthijs de Ligt – Ajax – Juventus 2019 €75m (+€10.5m)
27. Kevin De Bruyne – Wolfsburg – Manchester City 2015 €75m
28. Frenkie de Jong – Ajax – Barcelona 2019 €75m
29. Angel Di Maria – Real Madrid – Manchester United 2014 €74.6m
30. Alisson Becker – Roma – Liverpool 2018 €73m
31. Arthur Melo – Barcelona – Juventus 2020 €72m (+€10m)
32. Luka Jovic – Frankfurt – Real Madrid 2019 €70m
33. Rodri – Atletico Madrid – Manchester City 2019 €70m
34. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Inter – Barcelona 2009 €69.5m
35. Raheem Sterling – Liverpool – Manchester City 2015 €69.1m
36. Riyad Mahrez – Leicester City – Manchester City 2019 €67.8m
37. Diego Costa – Chelsea – Atletico Madrid 2018 €66m
38. Thomas Lemar 38 Monaco – Atletico Madrid 2018 €65m
39. Kaka – AC Milan – Real Madrid 2009 €65m
40. Aymeric Laporte – Athletic Club – Manchester City 2018 €65m
41. Joao Cancelo – Juventus – Manchester City 2019 €65m (inc. Danilo)
42. Edinson Cavani – Napoli – PSG 2013 €64.5m
43. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s – Borussia Dortmund – Arsenal 2018 €63.75m
44. David Luiz – Chelsea – PSG 2014 €62.5m
45. Angel Di Maria – Manchester United – PSG 2015 €61.6m
46. Oscar – Chelsea – Shanghai SIPG 2017 €60.3m
47. Miralem Pjanic – Juventus – Barcelona 2020 €60m (+€5m)
48. Naby Keita – RB Leipzig – Liverpool 2018 €60m
49. Luis Figo – Barcelona – Real Madrid 2000 €60m
50. Tanguy Ndombele – Lyon – Tottenham 2019 €60m
51. Fernando Torres – Liverpool – Chelsea 2011 €59m
52. Fred – Shakhtar Donetsk – Manchester United 2018 €58.9m
53. Jorginho – Napoli – Chelsea 2018 €58.9m
54. Hulk – Zenit – Shanghai SIPG 2016 €58.6m
55. Benjamin Mendy – Monaco – Manchester City 2017 €58.2m
56. John Stones – Everton – Manchester City 2016 €58m
57. Kyle Walker – Tottenham – Manchester City 2017 €56.7m
58. Hernan Crespo – Parma – Lazio 2000 €55m
59. Bruno Fernandes – Sporting – Manchester United 2020 €55m (+€25m)
60. Alexandre Lacazette – Lyon – Arsenal 2017 €53m (+€7m)
61. Timo Werner – RB Leipzig – Chelsea 2020 €53m
62. Gianluigi Buffon – Parma – Juventus 2001 €52m
63. Eliaquim Mangala – Porto – Manchester City 2014 €51.7m
64. Alex Teixeira – Shakhtar Donetsk – Jiangsu Suning 2016 €50m
65. Bernardo Silva – Monaco – Manchester City 2017 €50m
66. Fabinho – Monaco – Liverpool 2018 €50m
67. Eder Militao – Porto – Real Madrid 2019 €50m
68. Aaron Wan-Bissaka – Crystal Palace – Manchester United 2019 €50m
69. Anthony Martial – Monaco – Manchester United 2015 €49.3m
70. Gylfi Sigurdsson – Swansea City – Everton 2017 €49.2m
71. Leroy Sane – Manchester City – Bayern Munich 2020 €49m (+€11m)
72. Christian Vieri – Lazio – Inter 1999 €49m
73. Gaizka Mendieta – Valencia – Lazio 2001 €48m
74. Ferland Mendy – Lyon – Real Madrid 2019 €48m
75. Mesut Ozil – Real Madrid – Arsenal 2013 €47m
76. Juan Sebastian Veron – Lazio – Manchester United 2001 €46m
77. Rio Ferdinand – Leeds United – Manchester United 2002 €46m
78. Ronaldo – Inter – Real Madrid 2002 €46m
79. Juan Mata – Chelsea – Manchester United 2014 €46m
80. Douglas Costa – Bayern Munich – Juventus 2017 €46m
81. Christian Benteke – Aston Villa – Liverpool 2015 €45.8m
82. James Rodriguez – Porto – Monaco 2013 €45m
83. Joao Mario – Sporting C.P. – Inter 2016 €45m
84. Granit Xhaka – Borussia Monchengladbach – Arsenal 2016 €45m
85. Tiemoue Bakayoko – Monaco – Chelsea 2017 €45m
86. Richarlison – Watford – Everton 2018 €45m
87. Vinicius Junior – Flamengo – Real Madrid 2018 €45m
88. Rodrygo – Santos – Real Madrid 2019 €45m
89. Mateo Kovacic – Real Madrid – Chelsea 2019 €45m
90. Sebastien Haller – Eintracht Frankfurt – West Ham 2019 €45m
91. Nemanja Matic – Chelsea – Manchester United 2017 €44.7m
92. Youri Tielemans – Monaco – Leicester City 2019 €44.6m
93. Leroy Sane – Schalke – Manchester City 2016 €44m
94. Andriy Shevchenko – AC Milan – Chelsea 2006 €43.9m
95. Robinho – Real Madrid – Manchester City 2008 €43m
96. Radamel Falcao – Atletico Madrid – Monaco 2013 €43m
97. Alexis Sanchez – Barcelona – Arsenal 2014 €42.5m
98. Rui Costa – Fiorentina – AC Milan 2001 €42m
99. Javier Pastore – Palermo – PSG 2011 €42m
100. Thiago Silva – AC Milan – PSG 2012 €42m
101. Jackson Martinez – Atletico Madrid – Guangzhou Evergrande 2016 €42m
102. Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Borussia Dortmund – Manchester United 2016 €42m
103. Mohamed Salah – Roma – Liverpool 2017 €42m
104. Leonardo Bonucci – Juventus – AC Milan 2017 €42m