As it stands, the most expensive transfer of 2020 so far is Kai Havertz, who has moved from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea for the fee of £71,000,000.
Havertz’s fee is a whopping £141,000,000 LESS than the equivalent fee paid for Neymar in 2017.
Neymar will retain his title of most expensive football transfer of all time in spite of high spending in the 2020 window, according to a new study into transfer fees by financial analysis firm AskTraders.
The study used the 50 most expensive transfer fees and applied the Bank of England’s inflation calculation to reveal the true value of the transfers in today’s equivalent money.
The findings show that Neymar is the most expensive transfer of all time at an equivalent value of £211,770,527.49 (originally £199,800,000 in 2017), followed by Kylian Mbappe (PSG) and Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid).
Let’s take a look at the top 10 most expensive transfers of all time according to today’s equivalent money:
Rank | Player Name | From | To | Original Fee (GBP) | Adjusted Fee (GBP) | Year |
1 | Neymar | Barcelona | Paris Saint-Germain | £199,800,000 | £211,770,527 | 2017 |
2 | Kylian Mbappé | Monaco | Paris Saint-Germain | £162,000,000 | £166,156,464 | 2018 |
3 | Philippe Coutinho | Liverpool | Barcelona | £131,400,000 | £134,771,354 | 2018 |
4 | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | Real Madrid | £69,750,000 | £116,229,596 | 2001 |
5 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Manchester United | Real Madrid | £84,600,000 | £114,335,445 | 2009 |
6 | João Félix | Benfica | Atlético Madrid | £113,400,000 | £113,400,000 | 2019 |
7 | Antoine Griezmann | Atlético Madrid | Barcelona | £108,000,000 | £108,000,000 | 2019 |
8 | Gareth Bale | Tottenham Hotspur | Real Madrid | £90,000,000 | £103,919,124 | 2013 |
9 | Paul Pogba | Juventus | Manchester United | £94,500,000 | £103,752,385 | 2016 |
10 | Ousmane Dembélé | Borussia Dortmund | Barcelona | £94,500,000 | £100,161,736 | 2017 |
Nigel Frith, the senior financial analyst at AskTraders, explained: “The rate of inflation is a product of many economic changes and for the most part, we don’t notice because things change incrementally.”
“Reflecting on the equivalent fees of football allows us to see what difference inflation makes and how it affects what we spend. It’s important when considering purchases and investments how inflation will affect future value.”.
Bonus
Rank | Player Name | From | To | Original Fee (GBP) | Adjusted Fee (GBP) | Year |
11 | Luís Figo | Barcelona | Real Madrid | £55,800,000 | £94,630,753 | 2000 |
12 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | Juventus | £90,000,000 | £92,309,147 | 2018 |
13 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | Real Madrid | £90,000,000 | £90,000,000 | 2019 |
14 | Hernán Crespo | Parma | Lazio | £52,650,000 | £89,288,695 | 2000 |
15 | Gonzalo Higuaín | Napoli | Juventus | £81,000,000 | £88,930,616 | 2016 |
16 | Zlatan Ibrahimović | Internazionale | Barcelona | £62,550,000 | £84,535,249 | 2009 |
17 | Luis Suárez | Liverpool | Barcelona | £74,070,000 | £83,552,427 | 2014 |
18 | Kaká | Milan | Real Madrid | £60,300,000 | £81,494,413 | 2009 |
19 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton | Manchester United | £76,500,000 | £81,083,310 | 2017 |
20 | Harry Maguire | Leicester City | Manchester United | £78,300,000 | £78,300,000 | 2019 |
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