5 Costliest transfers of All Time

Virgil Van Dijk's £75 million move from Southampton to Liverpool put a stamp on one thing: the transfer market has inflated beyond any comparison. There has been an argument over who inflated the transfer market. Many fans argue that it started with the transfer of Paul Pogba from Juventus to Manchester United whereas a few players blame it on Barcelona after their buy of Ousmane Dembele from Dortmund.

There are also a few pundits who blame it on the purchase of Neymar by PSG, but the argument that PSG directly paid the buyout clause saves them. However, beyond this argument comes the fact that the transfer market has inflated beyond any explanations.

Let us talk about the five costliest transfers in the history of the Transfer market.

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#5 Paul Pogba - Juventus to Manchester United - £89.3 Million- 2016

Paul Pogba is turning into the mainstay of the team

If there is an example of what an investment should look like, then the instance of the purchase of Pogba will lie in the first place. Juventus signed him for just about £500,000 in 2012 after he was released from Manchester United and sold him for approximately £89.3 million to the same team in only about four years. Pogba deal was at that time a world record deal, though it was rattled soon by the agreement of Neymar in 2017.

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#4 Ousmane Dembele - Dortmund to Barcelona - £96.8m - 2017

Dembele found his full form in the current season

After the departure of Neymar to PSG, the administration of Barcelona found themselves in a situation full of confusion and indefinite decision. In came Ousmane Dembele, the speedster from France and Dortmund. Many pundits claimed it to be a panic buy, whereas the Barca supporters were full of joy on seeing his videos on various social media platforms.

Dembele was bought for £96.8 millions, but his fees could rise to 40 percent due to the various add ons attached to this agreement. His potential deal could reach to £147 million which is huge considering he was bought for a fraction of this fees just a year ago by Dortmund from Rennes.

#3 Philippe Coutinho - Liverpool to Barcelona - £105m - 2018

Philippe Coutinho was the engine behind Liverpool's attacking gameplay

Phillipe Coutinho first came into notice during the 2013-14 Premier League season when he along with Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling, and Luis Suarez almost won the league for Liverpool. However, after a few seasons at Liverpool, he made it clear that he wanted to join Barcelona and eventually his wish turned true in 2018 when he joined Barcelona for £105 million.

In a similar way to Dembele, his contract is also full of add ons, and his deal could reach a potential £142 Million.

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#2 Kylian Mbappe - Monaco to PSG - £160m - 2018

Mbappe was the first teenager after the legendary Pele to score in a World Cup final

Kylian Mbappe first burst into the scene while playing for Monaco in the title-winning season of 2016-17. The world's most expensive player by the ranking of CIES, Mbappe is arguably the best player under the age of 23 in the world and is one of the biggest future stars of the sport.

After a breakthrough 2016-17 season, he signed a one-year loan deal with PSG the next season which was converted into a permanent deal the next season at the cost of £180 Million including all the add ons.

#1 Neymar - Barcelona to PSG - £198m - 2017

Neymar is being linked with a transfer back to La Liga

Neymar is often touted as the third best player in the World. According to many fans and pundits alike, Neymar moved to PSG from Barcelona to make an identity of his own and to get out of the shadow of Lionel Messi.

The transfer of Neymar is arguably the most significant transfer in the history of the transfer market, and at the time of the transfer, it was hard to believe that his transfer more than doubled the previous world record of highest transfer.

There was no exact figure out for this deal but when all the bonuses and his housing facilities were taken into consideration it was roughly estimated that this deal cost almost half a billion dollars.

Neymar's transfer was an incident which started a chain reaction of costly transfers with Dembele's and Coutinho's transfer being a direct result of Neymar's departure.