Most expensive players by age featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Virgil van Dijk and Paul Pogba

The biggest clubs in Europe have shown that they are not afraid to splash the cash on players irrespective of age if they deem the player worthy of the money. This is why Kylian Mbappe at the age of 19, became the second most expensive player in the world and Cristiano Ronaldo at 33 cost more than what Real Madrid paid for him when he was 24-years-old.

When you categorise the world’s most expensive transfers by age, some high profile transfers don’t feature in the list including Philippe Coutinho who is the third most expensive player in the world at the moment.

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14 - Sheyi Ojo (£2m, MK Dons to Liverpool, 2011)

Ojo is still contracted to Liverpool

There was interest in Sheyi Ojo from a host of top European clubs but eventually, Liverpool won a bidding war with Chelsea to land a player who already had two caps for England at the youth level.

Ojo is still contracted to Liverpool but he is spending the season on loan at Ligue 1 club Stade de Reims after previous spells on loan at Wigan Athletic, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham. He has one goal in 13 first team appearances for Liverpool but it doesn’t look like the most expensive 14-year-old has a future at Anfield.

Also, the 21-year-old winger is the only Englishman on this list.

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15 - Fran Merida (£2.2m, Barcelona to Arsenal, 2005)

Merida currently plays for Osasuna

The route from La Masia to Arsenal is famous thanks to Cesc Fabregas and Hector Bellerin but it hasn’t worked out for everyone, especially not Fran Merida.

Arsene Wenger described the midfielder as “an absolutely amazing player” but after two goals in 16 first team appearances and an average loan spell at Real Sociedad, he was sold to Atletico Madrid in 2010.

Interestingly, he became the most expensive 15-year-old by taking the record of Jermaine Pennant for whom Arsenal paid £2m in 1999.

Before you wonder, he is 28-years-old now and plays for Osasuna.

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16 - Pietro Pellegri (£17.1m, Genoa to Monaco, 2018)

Pellegri is the youngest player to play in the Serie A

In recent years, Monaco has signed promising young players for a nominal fee and sold them for a hefty price after they’ve become established players. For Pietro Pellegri, however, the Ligue 1 club had to spend £17.1m to sign him.

The Italian is the youngest player to play in the Serie A aged 15 and 280 days. He scored three goals in nine games for Genoa in the Italian top flight before moving to Monaco in January 2018.

Pellegri hasn’t broken into the Monaco first team yet but he’s still only 17-years-old and has already scored once for the club thus becoming the first player born in the 21st century to score in France’s top division.

17 - Alexandre Pato (£23.2m, Internacional to AC Milan, 2007)

Pato is currently playing in the Chinese Super League

It is incredible that AC Milan spent £23.2m on a 17-year-old in 2007. Such a figure is hardly surprising these days but it was an astronomical fee back then.

Pato scored 63 times in 150 games for Milan and was named the Golden Boy in 2009. However, injuries stalled his progress and he was sold to Corinthians in 2013. The Brazilian wonder kid hasn’t hit the heights he hit at Milan since and currently plays in the Chinese Super League for Tianjin Tianhai.

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18 - Vinicius Junior (£38.7m, Flamengo to Real Madrid, 2018)

Vinicius has been a revelation for Real Madrid this season

In 2017, Real Madrid announced that they had a deal with Flamengo for the sale of Vinicius Junior which would be effective after the player turned 18 on 12 July 2019. When the deal became official, Vinicius became the second most expensive player sold by a Brazilian club and also the most expensive 18-year-old.

Vinicius broke the record that was held by Luke Shaw when he transferred to Manchester United for £31.88m in 2014.

Interestingly, in euros, Vinicius cost Real Madrid €46m and that’s the same fee they paid for a certain Ronaldo Nazario in 2002 after winning the Golden Boot at the FIFA World Cup.

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19 - Kylian Mbappe (£166m, Monaco to PSG, 2018)

Mbappe is one of the best players in the world at the age of 20

Even though Kylian Mbappe cost PSG a whopping £166m which made him the most expensive teenager in football history and also the second most expensive player in the world, nobody will ever dare to question the fee.

The Frenchman who recently turned 20, has 66 goals in 126 games at the club level for PSG and Monaco combined. In addition, he has 10 goals for France in 28 appearances!

His trophy collection notably includes a FIFA World Cup and two Ligue 1 titles in addition to numerous individual honours including the Golden Boy award and the FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award.

Oh, Mbappe broke the record previously held by compatriot Anthony Martial who at the time of his transfer to Manchester United was the most expensive teenager in the world.

20 - Ousmane Dembele (£135.5m, Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona, 2017)

Dembele has been in excellent form for Barcelona this season

France has a plethora of talented youngsters coming through the ranks and this is highlighted by the number of French internationals on this list.

Ousmane Dembele made a controversial switch to Barcelona last summer from Borussia Dortmund but the Catalan club had to spend £97 plus another £38.5 million in add-ons to secure the deal. Even without the add-ons, Dembele is well ahead of the previous record holder, Raheem Sterling, who cost Manchester City £53.13m from Liverpool in 2015.

After a tough start to life in Spain, Dembele’s talent is coming to the fore this season and he has 12 goals in 26 games in all competitions.

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21 - Neymar (£48.6m, Santos to Barcelona, 2013)

Neymar is the only player who features twice on this list

Neymar is the only player on this list to feature twice and both his transfers were controversial just like the player.

The Brazilain made his move to Europe in 2013 for £48.6m and it is still the highest fee received by a Brazilian club for a player. However, the transfer was investigated by FIFA which led to the resignation of Sandro Rosell as Barcelona president.

However, Neymar justified his price tag by scoring 105 goals in 186 appearances in four seasons before another controversial switch.

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22 - Thomas Lemar (£52.7m, Monaco to Atletico Madrid, 2018)

Lemar is Atletico's most expensive transfer

Thomas Lemar is one of the many players from Monaco’s title-winning squad of 2016/17 to leave the club for a European giant while commanding a hefty fee.

Lemar joined Atletico Madrid before the 2018 FIFA World Cup for a club record £52.7m. He has been with the club for only a few months now but for a player who cost so much, his meagre return of four goals and five assists in 25 games isn’t good enough.

23 - Paul Pogba (£89m, Juventus to Manchester United, 2016)

Pogba is the Premier League's record signing

Paul Pogba is the fourth and final Frenchman on this list. In 2016, when Pogba transferred to Manchester United, he became the most expensive player in the world beating the record of Gareth Bale. However, Pogba’s record was annihilated a year later.

The World Cup winning midfielder was criticized for his attitude and performances under Jose Mourinho but he is a man reborn under Ole Gunnar Solskjær with five goals and four assists in six games under the Norwegian.

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24 - Gareth Bale (£85.3m, Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid, 2013)

Bale is the most expensive British player of all-time

When Real Madrid signed Gareth Bale in 2013, it was the fifth consecutive time that they broke the world record fee for a player.

The Welshman has been linked with a move away from Real Madrid in recent weeks due to his growing injury problems but he has been an excellent signing for the Los Blancos. In his debut season, Bale scored 22 goals in 44 games including the match-winning goals in the final of the UEFA Champions League and Copa del Rey. He also scored the winner in the 2018 UEFA Champions League final and that was a sensational goal.

Despite his fitness issues, he has 98 goals in 212 games for Real Madrid.

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25 - Neymar (£200m, Barcelona to PSG, 2017)

The world's most expensive player

Neymar’s transfer to PSG is not only a record-breaking one but also a transfer that changed the landscape of the football transfer market.

When PSG shocked the football world by paying Neymar’s huge release clause they inadvertently shot up the market value of almost all footballers. During the 2017 transfer window itself, there was a huge difference in the asking price of players before and after Neymar’s transfer.

Neymar’s transfer fee was almost 125% more than the previous world record fee of Paul Pogba’s. That was the biggest jump between successive record-breaking transfers in football history.

After Neymar’s transfer, Pogba’s transfer fee has been overtaken by three more players.

26 - Virgil van Dijk (£75m, Southampton to Liverpool, 2018)

Van Dijk is the most expensive defender in the world

Liverpool attempted to sign Virgil van Dijk during the summer transfer window of 2017 but due to an alleged illegal approach for the player, the transfer didn’t go through. However, Jurgen Klopp had his heart set on the player and signed him in January 2018 for a record fee for a defender.

Van Dijk’s transfer fee was a subject of intense debate for a few weeks after his transfer but a year after he joined the Reds, no sane football fan will question the fee Liverpool forked out.

The Dutchman is widely regarded as the best defender in the world at the moment and is arguably the Premier League Player of the Season for 2018/19.

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27 - Luis Suarez (£75m, Liverpool to Barcelona, 2014)

Suarez has been worth every penny Barcelona paid for him

In 2013/14, Luis Suarez almost won Liverpool the coveted Premier League title and scored 31 goals in the Premier League in only 35 games. In the aftermath of the season and yet another biting scandal, the Uruguayan was sold to Barcelona for £75m. In hindsight, that looks like daylight robbery.

Suarez has scored 166 goals for Barcelona in only 222 games and won 12 trophies which include a treble in his debut season with the Catalan club.

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28 - Gonzalo Higuain (£75.3m, Napoli to Juventus, 2016)

Higuain is the most expensive Argentine player

In 2015/16, Gonzalo Higuain scored 36 goals in only 35 Serie A games for Napoli and matched the record for most goals by a player in a season in the Italian top flight. However, the following summer, he became the most hated man in Naples when he engineered a move to rivals Juventus.

Napoli was reluctant to sell their superstar to Juventus but they budged after Juve tabled an offer of £75.3m which at that time was the highest fee paid by an Italian club,

The transfer also made Higuain the most expensive Argentine player in football history breaking Angel Di Maria’s record from 2014 when he moved to Manchester United.

29 - Diego Costa (£57m, Chelsea to Atletico Madrid, 2018)

Costa has struggled since his return to Atletico Madrid

Chelsea signed Diego Costa and Filipe Luis from Atletico Madrid ahead of the 2014/15 season and both players returned Atletico Madrid albeit in different circumstances.

After a fall out with former Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, Costa was frozen out of the Chelsea squad but because of Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban, he had to wait till January 2018 to complete his return to Atletico.

The Spaniard became the club’s most expensive acquisition at that time but he hasn’t delivered as well as we know he can. He has found the back of the net only 11 times in 38 games since his return and only four times in 15 games this season.

Previously, the record belonged Zinedine Zidane when he moved from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2001.

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30 - Paulinho (£40m, Barcelona to Guangzhou Evergrande, 2019)

Paulinho is the only player from outside Europe in this list

There have been many high-profile transfers to the Chinese Super League in recent years but only one of them makes the list.

Paulinho first moved China in 2015 and scored 28 times in 95 games before making a surprising return to Europe with Barcelona. However, after only a year with Barcelona, he was loaned out to Guangzhou Evergrande for the remainder of the 2018 CSL season before the move was made permanent in January 2019.

Paulinho’s second permanent switch to China made him the most expensive 30-year-old in football breaking the previous record held by Samuel Eto’s when he moved to Anzhi Makhachkala in 2011 for £22.95m.

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31 - Gabriel Batistuta (£22m, Fiorentina to Roma, 2000)

Batistuta is the oldest transfer on this list

Gabriel Batistuta’s famous transfer to Roma is the oldest transfer on this list. The Argentine moved to Roma from Serie A rivals Fiorentina and he was a legend for the Viola after scoring 207 goals in 333 games for the club.

The Argentine wanted to win more silverware before he retired and this was the motivation behind his move to Roma. He became the most expensive played aged 30 and over when he moved to Roma and this record was only broken in 2017 when Leonardo Bonucci moved to Milan.

Batistuta scored 21 goals in 31 games for Roma in his debut season and realised his dream of winning the Scudetto. However, he could only score 12 more goals for the club in the next two seasons combined. That being said, the fact that he helped Roma win their last league title makes his fee worthy.

32 - Fernando Llorente (£15m, Swansea to Tottenham Hotspur, 2017)

Llorente has scored once in the league for Spurs so far

For a club that did not spend a penny in the 2018 summer transfer window, it is surprising that Spurs spend £15m on a backup striker.

Llorente’s transfer to Spurs made him the most expensive 32-year-old in football by overtaking Carlos Tevez.

The Spaniard has nine goals in 41 appearances for Spurs but only one goal in 21 league games.

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33 - Cristiano Ronaldo (£99.2m, Real Madrid to Juventus, 2018)

Ronaldo is the most expensive player aged 30 and over in football

Cristiano Ronaldo was once the most expensive player in the world when he switched from Manchester United to Real Madrid. However, Ronaldo features in this list for his recent move to Juventus.

Interestingly, Ronaldo’s transfer to Juventus cost more than his transfer to Real Madrid when was in the prime of his career. However, it is understandable given the fact that the Portuguese scored 450 goals in only 438 games when he was in Spain.

Ronaldo continues to break records at Juventus and soon, Italian football’s most expensive transfer will look like a bargain.

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34 - Jose Fonte (£5m, West Ham to Dalian Yifang, 2018)

Fonte's stint in China was very short

Completing the list is Ronaldo’s compatriot and Euro 2016 winner Jose Fonte.

Fonte transferred to West Ham in the summer of 2017 but after only a few months, he moved to the Chinese Super League. His time in China was rather unpleasant and he had his contract terminated in July 2018 before returning to Europe to play for Ligue 1 side Lille.

Previously, the most expensive 34-year-old was Lilian Thuram when he completed a transfer from Juventus to Barcelona.