Less expensive players: 5 best bargain transfers that turned out to be great signings

The transfer window has been overly inflated in the last decade. The fee demanded by clubs for their star footballers have skyrocketed, and transfers are no longer how it used to be in the past.

Nowadays, before clubs signs a top player, information of their interest is leaked in the media with various journalists providing fans with a day-to-day update on deals being worked on by clubs.

This unknowingly adds more and more monetary pressure on buying clubs, who have to pay a premium fee for players who shouldn't be costing that much at face value.

We have seen multiple situations this past summer of 2023 itself, whereby clubs budgeted more than £100 million just to secure the signing of only one player, with Declan Rice to Arsenal, Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid and Moises Caicedo to Chelsea being prime examples.

The funny thing is that among all premium players in the past, only a few have turned out to be great signings.

Some of them end up being flops, thereby failing to justify their expensive price tag.

So today, we bring you something different, a look at five less expensive footballers that have turned out to be great signings!

5. Thibaut Courtois

Courtois has been excellent for Real Madrid

Real Madrid’s first choice goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, is one of the best in world football today.

The Belgian keeper is usually very hard to beat. He has gone against some of the best strikers in the world and in most cases, he stopped them from scoring.

He is the last line of defense for the Real Madrid team. His shot stopping abilities and quick reflexes are insane. Courtois has been one of those players responsible for the success of Madrid in major competitions over the years.

One thing that is actually quite surprising is that the club didn’t break the bank to sign him. Back in 2018, the Spanish giants completed the signing of Courtois from Chelsea for just £35 million.

4. Mohamed Salah

The recent success and growth of Liverpool can’t be complete without highlighting the role that Mohamed Salah has been playing over the years.

After an impressive two seasons in the Serie A, where he played for Roma from 2015 to 2017, he caught the attention of Liverpool.

The Egyptian footballer joined the club in 2019 for only £36.9 million. Since his debut season till date, Salah has been an instrumental player for them.

Playing mainly as a right-winger, Salah can score goals when needed, and he can also create goal-scoring chances for his teammates.

If there were any expectations that Liverpool had when they signed him, he has surpassed all of them by now.

Only a few players in the Premier League, if any, can do what Salah has been doing. He has maintained his form, putting out top performances every single season.

In today's footballing world, we don’t think you can see a player with Salah’s qualities not going for anything less than a £100 million.

3. Vinicius Junior

Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr., who is today considered as one of the best in the world, was signed by Real Madrid for just £38 million.

Vinicius was still very young and inexperienced when he joined the Spanish giants.

He didn’t instantly have an impact on the team, as he had to go through a period of development and after three seasons at the club, Vinicius started to perform as expected.

The 2021-22 season was the turning point in his career at the club.

His scored the only goal in their Champions League final against Liverpool to win the title for Madrid. He ended that season with 22 goals and 20 assists in 52 games.

The subsequent season was similar. Vinicius was in hot form, scoring goals and creating assists for his teammates.

He might have taken a while before he started performing. But signing Vinicius Junior for £38 million, is looking like an all-time bargain.

2. Heung Min Son

31-year-old South Korean footballer Son Heung-min has been one of Tottenham’s key players over the years.

Even though he is yet to win any major trophy for the club, his individual performances cannot be overlooked.

He joined Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 for a poultry sum of £22 million. For that amount, we don’t think even Spurs expected him to perform the way he has.

In his first season at the club, Son didn’t have an instant impact. He struggled to establish himself and even struggled to get playing time under the then manager Mauricio Pochettino.

But in subsequent seasons, Son started to show his quality and since then, he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

He formed a deadly attacking duo with the club's former striker Harry Kane, and together, they posed a serious threat to any defense in the league and across Europe.

In the 377 games that he has played for the club, he scored 148 goals and created 80 assists.

1. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Kvaratskhelia helped Napoli win Serie A after 33 years

Napoli where crowned the Serie A title winners last season. But before that, the last time they had won a league title was 33 years ago.

One of the players who played a role in bringing an end to Napoli’s trophy drought is Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Napoli secured his signing for just around €10-12 million. No one knew who he was and his transfer to Naples didn’t generate any hype.

Fans were not expecting anything special from him. Understandably so, when you take a look at how much was spent on signing him.

Surprisingly, Kvaratskhelia turned out to be one of the best signings last season. He was impressive and quickly became a favorite figure among the Napoli fans.

Playing as a left-winger, he wasted no time in adapting into the team. In his debut match, he scored a goal and created two assists for his teammates.

He was on an impressive run of form throughout the season, scoring 14 goals and registered 17 assists in 43 games, helping Napoli win the Scudetto as they managed 90 points in 38 games throughout the 2022-23 season.

Edited by Mudeet Arora