100 years ago, the most expensive transfers ever in football were mere thousands of pounds, with English and Scottish clubs shelling out for stars.
How things have changed: in 1992, Jean-Pierre Papin became the first £10 million footballer, before the record was broken twice more that summer – and 25 years later, Neymar would become the most expensive footballer of all time when he'd swap Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain.
Below, you will find the 100 current most expensive transfers in football, with a star icon denoting that player, at once stage or another, held the world record as the sport's most expensive footballer ever: all figures are presented in pounds sterling, with exchange rates applied as necessary at the time of the transfer, and these figures have not been adjusted for inflation.
The top 100
The 100 most expensive football transfers ever
The top 100 in chart view
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Crunching the numbers
Who is the most expensive footballer of all time?
That would be Neymar, whose 2017 transfer to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona was around €200 million.
The Catalan giants set such an extortionate release clause that they never expected to be troubled with a bid for their Brazilian boy-prince – until the French giants triggered that clause and changed the transfer market forever, more than doubling the previous all-time transfer, set by Paul Pogba.
Who is the most expensive Premier League player of all time?
Alexander Isak remains the most expensive Premier League player of all time, moving from Newcastle United to Liverpool in 2025 for a fee supposed to be around the £125m mark.
The Reds had already smashed their club transfer record to land Florian Wirtz that summer, but when the super Swede told the Toon he was unsettled, Liverpool moved heaven and Earth to make him a nine-figure transfer.
Who is the most expensive footballer ever by cumulative fees?
That'll be Neymar again – who over the course of his career, has been transferred for over £70m three times, and has cost various clubs close to £350m over the years.
A price of close to £75m was enough for Barcelona to snare the Brazilian back in 2013, while Al-Hilal paid a similar fee to snatch him from PSG in 2023, following that record-breaking move in 2017.
Romelu Lukaku is second on the list, having racked up transfer fees totalling almost £320m, while Cristiano Ronaldo is third, having moved for a combined £200m+ across his 20-year career.
Which clubs have bought the most players in the top 100 most expensive players ever?
Manchester United have signed 13 of the current 100 most expensive footballers of time, including the likes of Paul Pogba, Antony, Harry Maguire, Romelu Lukaku and Jadon Sancho, who all cost £70m or more.
Chelsea are second on the list with 12, and Manchester City have 11, with Barcelona, Liverpool and Real Madrid completing the top six.
Only 21 clubs have signed the top 100 among them: a third of those are Premier League sides, with four Italian clubs and three Middle Eastern outfits breaking into the top century.
Benfica and Borussia Dortmund have both sold the most players in the current top 100 most expensive ever, with five a-piece – and neither have either bought a player for a top-100 fee.
