5 best midfield bargains of the 21st Century

N’Golo Kante and Blaise Matuidi both were bargain signings for their clubs

#2 Marco Verratti - From Pescara to PSG for £10m in 2012

Verratti had never played top flight football when PSG signed him

In 2012, the world started taking notice of Paris Saint-Germain after they made some high profile signings including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Thiago Motta from Serie A.

They also signed another player from Italy. A diminutive 19-year-old Italian midfielder named Marco Verratti who had just helped Pescara earn promotion to the Italian top flight.

Verratti arrived for just £10m and became an undisputed starter for a star studded team. However, he never went under the radar while playing alongside such superstars and always gave the impression that he was destined for greatness.

It needs no saying that today Verratti is one of the best midfielders on the planet and he’s just aged 24. Barcelona are keen on signing the Italian international but they will have to break the world record transfer fee for that to happen.

Verratti has been with PSG for five seasons and has been named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year as many times.