The Most Expensive Soccer Players Throughout the History. Is Soccer World in a Bubble?
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SteemSports Editor/Writer: @writingamigo
The world record transfer fee for a soccer player has been smashed yet again, not sure a lot of people imagined they would see a day when just one soccer player would cost 200 million pounds. In this post, I look at data on all the players that have broken the record for the world's most expensive soccer player from 1893. The record has been broken a total of 47 times during this period.
Neymar the most expensive soccer player in world football
See table of all record holders below :
| Year | Player | Selling club | Buying club | Fee (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1893 | Willie Groves | West Bromwich Albion | Aston Villa | 100 |
| 1903 | Ben Green | Barnsley | Small Heath | 500 |
| 1904 | Andy McCombie | Sunderland | Newcastle United | 700 |
| 1905 | Alf Common | Sunderland | Middlesbrough | 1,000 |
| 1913 | Daniel Shea | West Ham United | Blackburn Rovers | 2,000 |
| 1913 | Tommy Barber | Bolton Wanderers | Aston Villa | 2,000 |
| 1914 | Percy Dawson | Heart of Midlothian | Blackburn Rovers | 2,500 |
| 1920 | David Jack | Plymouth Argyle | Bolton Wanderers | 3,500 |
| 1922 | Syd Puddefoot | West Ham United | Falkirk | 5,000 |
| 1922 | Warney Cresswell | South Shields | Sunderland | 5,500 |
| 1925 | Bob Kelly | Burnley | Sunderland | 6,500 |
| 1928 | David Jack | Bolton Wanderers | Arsenal | 10,890 |
| 1932 | Bernabé Ferreyra | Tigre | River Plate | 23,000 |
| 1949 | Johnny Morris | Manchester United | Derby County | 24,000 |
| 1949 | Eddie Quigley | Sheffield Wednesday | Preston North End | 26,500 |
| 1950 | Trevor Ford | Aston Villa | Sunderland | 30,000 |
| 1951 | Jackie Sewell | Notts County | Sheffield Wednesday | 34,500 |
| 1952 | Hans Jeppson | Atalanta | Napoli | 52,000 |
| 1954 | Juan Schiaffino | Peñarol | Milan | 72,000 |
| 1957 | Enrique Omar Sivori | River Plate | Juventus | 93,000 |
| 1961 | Luis Suárez | Barcelona | Internazionale | 152,000 |
| 1963 | Angelo Sormani | Mantova | Roma | 250,000 |
| 1967 | Harald Nielsen | Bologna | Internazionale | 300,000 |
| 1968 | Pietro Anastasi | Varese | Juventus | 500,000 |
| 1973 | Johan Cruyff | Ajax | Barcelona | 922,000 |
| 1975 | Giuseppe Savoldi | Bologna | Napoli | 1,200,000 |
| 1976 | Paolo Rossi | Juventus | Vicenza | 1,750,000 |
| 1982 | Diego Maradona | Boca Juniors | Barcelona | 3,000,000 |
| 1984 | Diego Maradona | Barcelona | Napoli | 5,000,000 |
| 1987 | Ruud Gullit | PSV Eindhoven | Milan | 6,000,000 |
| 1990 | Roberto Baggio | Fiorentina | Juventus | 8,000,000 |
| 1992 | Jean-Pierre Papin | Marseille | Milan | 10,000,000 |
| 1992 | Gianluca Vialli | Sampdoria | Juventus | 12,000,000 |
| 1992 | Gianluigi Lentini | Torino | Milan | 13,000,000 |
| 1996 | Ronaldo | PSV Eindhoven | Barcelona | 13,200,000 |
| 1996 | Alan Shearer | Blackburn Rovers | Newcastle United | 15,000,000 |
| 1997 | Ronaldo | Barcelona | Internazionale | 19,500,000 |
| 1998 | Denílson | São Paulo | Real Betis | 21,500,000 |
| 1999 | Christian Vieri | Lazio | Internazionale | 32,100,000 |
| 2000 | Hernán Crespo | Parma | Lazio | 35,500,000 |
| 2000 | Luís Figo | Barcelona | Real Madrid | 37,000,000 |
| 2001 | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | Real Madrid | 46,600,000 |
| 2009 | Kaká | Milan | Real Madrid | 56,000,000 |
| 2009 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | Real Madrid | 80,000,000 |
| 2013 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham Hotspur | Real Madrid | 86,000,000 |
| 2016 | Paul Pogba | Juventus | Manchester United | 89,000,000 |
| 2017 | Neymar | Barcelona | PSG | 200,000,000 |
See Visualization that shows the spike in transfer fees over the years :
Real Madrid Broke the Most Records
Real Madrid has broken the world record for transfer fees a total of 5 times.
| Year | Player | Selling club | Buying club | Fee (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Luís Figo | Barcelona | Real Madrid | 37,000,000 |
| 2001 | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | Real Madrid | 46,600,000 |
| 2009 | Kaká | Milan | Real Madrid | 56,000,000 |
| 2009 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | Real Madrid | 80,000,000 |
| 2013 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham Hotspur | Real Madrid | 86,000,000 |
Interesting to note that Real Madrid exerted a kind of dominance on superstar signings as they broke the world record consecutively over a period of 13 years. Gareth Bale is the latest player signed by Real Madrid for a then world record fee of 86 million pounds
Barcelona Knows How To Sell Their Players Expensive
Barcelona has sold 5 players for world record transfer fees. Note that the "Luis Suarez" on this list is different from the striker currently playing at Barcelona.
| Year | Player | Selling club | Buying club | Fee (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Luis Suárez | Barcelona | Internazionale | 152,000 |
| 1984 | Diego Maradona | Barcelona | Napoli | 5,000,000 |
| 1997 | Ronaldo | Barcelona | Internazionale | 19,500,000 |
| 2000 | Luís Figo | Barcelona | Real Madrid | 37,000,000 |
| 2017 | Neymar | Barcelona | PSG | 200,000,000 |
Twice as nice
Three players have been signed with a world record fee twice during their football career.
| Year | Player | Selling club | Buying club | Fee (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | David Jack | Plymouth Argyle | Bolton Wanderers | 3,500 |
| 1928 | David Jack | Bolton Wanderers | Arsenal | 10,890 |
| 1982 | Diego Maradona | Boca Juniors | Barcelona | 3,000,000 |
| 1984 | Diego Maradona | Barcelona | Napoli | 5,000,000 |
| 1996 | Ronaldo Delima | PSV Eindhoven | Barcelona | 13,200,000 |
| 1997 | Ronaldo Delima | Barcelona | Internazionale | 19,500,000 |
Ronaldo Delima broke the world record for transfer fees in consecutive years when he was signed by Barcelona and Internationale for 13.2 and 19.5 million pounds respectively
Google Images
Neymar is currently the most expensive player in world football.Which soccer player do you think is going to command a higher transfer fee?
hmm neymar you go but Barcelona all time lose . :P
neymar for my mind are very good player but for value 222mil are so big.
These are quite some mind blowing facts. I was reading the other day about the weekly wages of the players in the English Premier League over the last 50 years and you wouldnt be surprised to know that they have increased by upto 2000 times in a span of 50 years. Thats mind blowing. If our jobs have had that much spike, we all would have been millionaires.
Also interesting to note that the last time that the record was smashed by double the amount of the previous record was in 1932 - from 10,890 to 23,000 pounds.
I don't have time to run the numbers, but I would venture a guess that it makes Neymar more valuable than the starting 11 of all but just a handful of teams in the entire world.
Risky move to put all of your eggs in one basket like that. It is a team game after all. Then again, superstars rarely move like this. You can argue both sides.
I understand talent. I think these guys get paid waaaay too much. Just says a lot about our society in what we put our values in...Things that necessarily don't give back. I say that with all due respect though. I am a fan of soccer but the money along with the vagueness of athletes...who don't really stand for anything has left me feeling a little bit distasteful about sports.
Barcelona
Die hard fan