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

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.