Either way, it is up there with the most expensive transactions in footballing history, but it wasn’t even a transfer, it was a free-agent signing, this is just his wage. If I were Manchester United, I would be pretty mad that I didn’t get a single slice of that 305 Mil.

Let’s take a walk down billion-dollar boulevard and marvel at the highest price tags ever slapped on to a football player in history. For our information we used footballtransfers.com.

10: Gareth Bale – AUD$157.43 Million (Tottenham – Real Madrid)

Back in 2013, Gareth Bale was an extremely hot commodity, and he still is today, but in 2013 he was Death Valley Reaper Chilli hot. So much so, Real Madrid signed the man for a then world record-breaking AUD$157.43 Million. He was 24 and coming off an FWA Footballer of the Year Award season and he was desperate to play for the world powerhouse that was Real. That desperation paid off as he suited up for them 176 times and netted 81 goals. He is now playing for Los Angeles FC as the latest MLS big-money signing.

9 & 8: Paul PogBa (Juventus – Man UTD) and Ousmane Dembele (Dortmund – Barcelena) Both AUD$163.67 Million

Paul Pogba, the man that brought back dabbing (You decide if that is a good thing or not), has a topsy-turvy footballing career. He started as a Man U player before moving to Juventus, then back to Man U and now he is back in the black and white stripes of you guessed it, Juventus. But It was that move back to Man U in 2016 that topped the world record by an extra 4 Million Euros and AUD$6 Million. That big price tag bought United 39 goals and over 40 assists in 154 games, so you tell me if it was worth it.

Back in 2017, Dembele was one of the next big things on the scene and his talents demanded a hefty fee from those who wanted to pry his signature away from Borussia Dortmund. At only 20 years of age, he was already winning awards and making the Bundesliga Team of The Year due to having a score involvement in over half of his games. Naturally, as most players did in the 2010-20 period, he went to the foremost competition in the world at the time the Spanish La Liga for a record-tying amount of money. He has produced adequate results since.

7: Romelu Lukaku – AUD$179.26 Million (Inter – Chelsea)

This one is actually pretty recent, coming less than 2 years ago. Lukaku actually had his first big break in the Premier League wearing the blue for Chelsea before becoming more of an icon in the blue for Everton and Inter Milan. But they wanted their man back and they dished out their highest offer ever to secure him. Did he justify the pricetag? No. He scored 8 times in 26 games and was voted the ESPN Worst Signing of the year. He is currently back at Inter on loan trying to find form in the league he used to dominate.

6: Jack Grealish – AUD$182.92 Million (Aston Villa – Man City)

Another recent one here, recent enough to still sting Aston Villa fans. The boy who was raised by the claret and blue army left the club after a staggering 10 plus years in the system, all before he was the age of 25 to join the powerhouse of manchester City. Trophies was cited as the main reason for the switch, and who could blame him? Excpet maybe Villa fans again. He has maintained a steady impact on City’s winning ways since the signing and still has plenty of football left ahead of him, so, sky is the limit for this signing.

5: Antoine Griezmann – AUD$187.05 Million (Atletico Madrid – Barcelona)

Back to Spain we go and before the time Barcelona went broke and still had Messi running around for them, 2019. Griezmann was, at the time, an extremely dominant striker for Atletico and he scored a goal just about every second game, hence why they were pretty unhappy to see him go, even if they were getting a tonne of money in return. However, he is already back. Like many of the players on this list, he ended up back at his original club on loan. But unlike the others, he wasn’t loaned out to find form, Barcalona just couldn’t afford him anymore and Altetico were able to loan him with an option to buy, which they did for pennies on the dollar at roughly AUD$60 million. Quite the business move from the head honchos in Madrid I’d say.

4: Joao Felix – AUD$196.40 Million (Benfica to Atletico Madrid)

What did Atletico Madrid do with all of that Griezmann money? They bought Joao Felix of course! In 2019, he was on the rise as one of the most exciting prospects alongside the likes of Jadon Sancho and Kai Havertz, both of which have gone on to great things respectively, but neither of them demanded a pricetag as high as Joao. He has continued his fine form, having either a goal or an assist in most games and he has won the club’s Player of the Year Award. However, he could be on the way out due to a frosty relationship with his manager.

3: Philippe Coutinho – AUD$226.02 Million (Liverpool – Barcelona)

Another one that ended up going sideways for Barcelona, Philippe Coutinho was a very prominent player back in 2018, don’t get me wrong, he still is, just not as much now. So, naturally, Barcalona did what they did to everybody that they wanted, they threw an ungodly amount of money at them until their clubs allowed them to sign on the dotted line. However, his form never quite matched that of the likes he produced at Liverpool and fan criticism started raining down on him. A combination of lack of form and lack of club funds to continue paying him, saw him get loaned out to Bayern Munich and then to Aston Villa, who proceeded to buy his contract for just roughly AUD$30 Million.

2: Kylian Mbappe – AUD$280.34 Million (Monaco – PSG)

If you didn’t already know PSG has a lot of money, now you know, because they hold the top 2 spots on this list. The first, the man that scored a World Cup Final hattrick and still lost – Kylian Mbappe. The young man was only 18 at the time that he signed the biggest deal in footballing history for a price that would bring a tear to any of the young 18 year old tradie apprentices in Australia working for minimum wage. But, to be fair, he was worth it, and remains worth it to this day. He is a scoring machine, winning the Golden Boot in just about every tournament he plays in. He scores in roughly 85% of his games and if doesn’t put one in the net, you best believe he is pepppering that goal with a plethora of shots. Could he go onto join the greats of Messi, Ronaldo, Maradona and Pele in the conversation of GOAT? Only time will tell.

1: Neymar – AUD$345.75 (Barcalona – PSG)

Yep, in the space of 2 years, PSG spent over 600 Million Australian dollars on just 2 players alone. Scary right? Neymar was the most in form player in world football in 2017, even better than Ronaldo and Messi and at that time, that was incredibly hard to do. Many argued he should have won that year’s coveted Ballon d’Or, but the points system deemed Ronaldo the pull away winner. His time at PSG has been successful with silverware galore coming his way including League and Cup titles, as well as a narrow defeat to Bayern in the 2020 Champions League Final. He remains an integral part of the PSG lineup and he holds his spot in side as one third of the scariest three headed beast you’ll ever see in football – Neymar, Mbappe and Messi.

So that is the 10 most expensive transfers ever! Some absolutely eye watering prices right?
Comment Below your thoughts on if these transfers were even worth it and who you think could somehow break this record in the future!

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