Over the last two decades, football has been more than just about what happens on the pitch with transfer fees skyrocketing to unprecedented heights. What transpires during the off-season is closely followed by fans as clubs go about their business of buying and selling the most important commodity in the sport – the players – who can be either assets or liabilities.
Real Madrid were the kings of the transfer window in recent years when they broke the world record for the transfer fee five times since 2000 until Manchester United signed Paul Pogba from Juventus for a new record fee of £89m.
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But who is the most expensive player in each position? The combined cost of this XI alone is £619.4m!
Formation: 4-3-3
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon (£32.6m)
Before most of Europe switched to Euro as the common currency, Buffon was sold to Juventus for 100 billion Italian lire. While that may sound like an astronomical amount, it was the equivalent of £32.6m – still a huge amount, however, considering he made the transfer from Parma back in 2001.
It’s almost surprising that no goalkeeper has cost more than that in the years since silly money became the norm. Real Madrid almost broke the transfer record when they chased David De Gea for a player-plus-cash deal that was worth £29.3m and Keylor Navas before the deal fell apart at the last minute.
In hindsight, it is probably the best piece of transfer business done by the Turin club in the last two decades. The Old Lady has a number of famous legends who donned the famous black-and-white kit but none greater and more loyal than Buffon who has made almost 600 appearances in 15 seasons in the Serie A and Serie B.
Seven Serie A titles and 10 Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year awards will put aside any doubts as to his greatness.
Full-Backs: Lilian Thuram (£22m) and Luke Shaw (£28m)
At the same time Juventus bought Buffon, they also raided Parma for Lilian Thuram. Capable of playing as a centre-back or a full-back. Thuram was a very versatile Frenchman who had just won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 with the all-conquering France side.
When he arrived in Turin, Marcello Lippi played him as a right-back with a defensive line that had the likes of Gianluca Zambrotta, Gianluca Pessotto and Ciro Ferrara. But years later, he would switch to central defence under Fabio Capello and he was partnered with Fabio Cannavaro. Thuram spent five seasons with the Turin club and won the Serie A four times but two were revoked after the Calciopoli scandal after which he moved to Barcelona.
The left-back slot goes to Manchester United’s Luke Shaw who cost the Red Devils £28m to sign from Southampton. Shaw had been with the Saints since he was eight years old and even made his professional debut at 16. His final season with the club from the south coast of England saw him nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award and also selected to the PFA Team of the Year.
It was enough to attract the interest of United who had lost a stalwart in Patrice Evra to Juventus and needed an able replacement. He became the most expensive teenager at the time but is yet to live up to expectations and his leg injury last season did not help his progress.
Centre-Backs: John Stones (£47.5m) and David Luiz (£40m)
After Chelsea chased him with three unsuccessful bids last season ranging from £20m to £30m, it was Manchester City who finally prised John Stones away from Everton with a massive £47.5m bid. Jose Mourinho had tried all summer in 2015 and ultimately failed to get his man prior to a disastrous season. Pep Guardiola, however, got his man.
The 22-year-old English defender has been a target for numerous clubs in England and abroad and the transfer fee makes him the most expensive defender of all time. A strong defender who is comfortable with the ball at his feet, he seems to be a perfect fit for Guardiola’s style of play of working the ball out from the back.
His centre-back partner is David Luiz. The Brazilian was the most expensive defender at the time when cash-rich Paris Saint-Germain paid big money to build a squad capable of not just competing for trophies but winning them as well.
Chelsea let him go for £40m in 2014 and Luiz teamed up with his Brazil teammate and Thiago Silva (who had joined PSG for £36m in 2012). The signing has been a successful one for PSG and Luiz who has won eight trophies since, including two league titles and two French Cups.
Midfield: Paul Pogba (£89m), James Rodriguez (£63m) and Kaka (£56m)
Paul Pogba returns to Manchester United where he first made a name for himself before moving to Juventus under acrimonious circumstances. After getting frustrated on the bench under Sir Alex Ferguson, his agent Mino Raiola negotiated a deal with the Serie A club much to the displeasure of Sir Alex Ferguson and Pogba was gone for next to nothing after his contract was done (save for a training compensation fee United received which was less than £1m).
Now, after four years of immense success at Juventus and the closest a French midfielder has come to Premier League legend Patrick Vieira, he is back at Old Trafford after United broke the transfer record to ‘bring him home’. Pogba himself said he has unfinished business and, under Jose Mourinho, the Premier League could see a new beast dominating midfield battles.
Real Madrid are famous for buying players who can also be marketed and James Rodriguez is no exception. The Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup was enough to see Los Blancos spend a mammoth £63m to secure his services.
While he had a successful first season on an individual level scoring 17 goals and grabbing 13 assists in all competitions, his second season was considerably poor with a return of only 8 goals as Zinedine Zidane benched him and he was used more as a substitute.
Kaka represents another failed signing at Real Madrid. The midfielder cost the Spanish club £56m to sign from AC Milan where the Brazilian midfielder had won the Serie A and Champions League before he became part of the new-Galacticos project.
However, injuries saw his appearances at the Bernabeu limited to just 120 appearances in all competitions over four seasons. The midfielder was in decline by the time he left the club after winning just one La Liga title and a Copa del Rey trophy.
Wingers: Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m) and Gareth Bale (£86m)
With Barcelona dominating the Spanish football landscape under Pep Guardiola, Real Madrid needed reinforcements and Cristiano Ronaldo became their biggest signing in years. After achieving everything he could at Manchester United, the EPL club granted him his dream move and sold him for a then-record £80m.
It would arguably be the club’s greatest investment of all time. In seven seasons at the Bernabeu since then, Ronaldo has shattered records left, right and centre and has even scored a ratio of more than one goal per game – astonishing figures in the modern day game.
Los Blancos would go on to break their own record to sign Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013. The north London club held out for £86m and duly got their fee as the Premier League lost its two-time Player of the Year to La Liga.
Bale would have an instant impact in his first season, especially in the big games. His goal in the Copa del Rey final saw Barcelona brushed aside before he scored the all-important goal in the Champions League final to take the lead over derby rivals Atletico Madrid.
The pair has since helped Real Madrid to yet another Champions League triumph and Zidane would not trade either player for anyone else in the world.
Striker: Gonzalo Higuain (£75.3m)
After his departure from Real Madrid in 2013, Gonzalo Higuain was a wanted man. Arsenal came close to signing the Argentine striker but Napoli soon closed the deal. After scoring 91 goals in three seasons (and a Serie A Golden Boot in his final season with a record-equalling 36 goals to top it off), he soon made the switch to title rivals Juventus for a fee of £75.3m.
The move left a bad taste in the mouths of Napoli fans who duly burned his shirts or used them to cover dustbins but the truth soon came out that Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis was responsible for making Higuain feel unwanted.
“My relationship with him was never good because his way of thinking was not like mine,” Higuain had said after the move. “My choice also came about because he pushed me to make it.”
Napoli’s loss is Juventus’ gain.
Honourable mentions: Neymar (£71.5m), Luis Suarez (£64.9m), Angel Di Maria (£59.7m), Kevin De Bruyne (£55m) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£57m)
