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How Much Premier League's Biggest Transfer Fees Would Be Today Revealed
Home>Football
Published 08:12 29 Mar 2022 GMT+1

How Much Premier League's Biggest Transfer Fees Would Be Today Revealed

The likes of Alan Shearer, Sebastian Veron and Rio Ferdinand would be some of the most expensive transfers ever based on football inflation.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

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Jack Grealish is the most expensive player in Premier League history, but he'd be well down the list if players from the previous generation were moving today.


Transfer prices have only skyrocketed in the past 22 years, since the turn of the century, with the introduction of billionaire owners and huge tv deals blowing up the market.

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Roman Abramovich's takeover at Chelsea took things to new heights initially and the introduction of money from the Middle East at Manchester City and then PSG raised the bar once more.

Neymar's move to Paris for €222 million in 2017 broke the previous record, that had only been set a year before, by €117 million.

In short, football's inflation has massively outstripped that of normal society, meaning transfer fees of pre 2005 seem even smaller than they might.

The Athletic published an incredible report, based on a football inflation calculator from football finance expert Kieran Maguire and his colleague Jason Laws at the University of Liverpool, to work out how much certain deals would be now.

For example Alan Shearer's move in 1996 from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United set a world record fee of £15 million, beating Gianluigi Lentini's move to AC Milan four years before, and according to calculations that would now be worth £222 million.

1. Alan Shearer - Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United - 1996. Then: £15 million. Now: £222 million

Shearer is introduced to Newcastle United fans after breaking the world record transfer fee in 1996. Image: PA Images
Shearer is introduced to Newcastle United fans after breaking the world record transfer fee in 1996. Image: PA Images

2. Juan Sebastian Veron - Lazio to Manchester United - 2001. Then: £28.1 million. Now: £155.4 million

3. Stan Collymore - Nottingham Forest to Liverpool - 1995. Then: £8.5 million. Now: £132.9 million

4. Rio Ferdinand - Leeds United to Manchester United - 2002. Then: £29.1 million. Now: £132.5 million

5. Paul Pogba - Juventus to Manchester United - 2016. Then: £89 million. Now: £126 million

6. Rio Ferdinand - West Ham United to Leeds United - 2000. Then: £18 million. Now: £124.9 million

Rio Ferdinand is the only man on the list twice. Image: PA Images
Rio Ferdinand is the only man on the list twice. Image: PA Images

7. Wayne Rooney - Everton to Manchester United - 2004. Then: £27 million. Now: £118.6 million

8. Dwight Yorke - Aston Villa to Manchester United - 1998. Then: £12.6 million. Now: £118.2 million

9. Dennis Bergkamp - Inter Milan to Arsenal - 1995. Then: £7.5 million. Now: £117.3 million

10. Fernando Torres - Liverpool to Chelsea - 2011. Then: £50 million. Now: £112.3 million

11. Andriy Shevchenko - AC Milan to Chelsea - 2006. Then: £30.8 million. Now: £113.3 million

Shevchenko is part of a pair of Chelsea striker flops next to each other on the list. Image: PA Images
Shevchenko is part of a pair of Chelsea striker flops next to each other on the list. Image: PA Images

12. Andy Cole - Newcastle United to Manchester United - 1995. Then: £7.5 million. Now: £109.5 million

13. Ruud van Nistelrooy - PSV to Manchester United - 2001. Then: £18.5 million. Now: £105 million

14. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - Atletico Madrid to Chelsea - 2000. Then: £15 million. Now: £104.1 million

15. Fabrizio Ravanelli - Juventus to Middlesbrough - 1996. Then: £7 million. Now: £103.6 million

It's quite incredible that Shearer's price would have gone up so much that he'd now cost more than Neymar and set a new benchmark for the most expensive deal in world football, as he did in 1996.

With Kylian Mbappe's expected move in the summer going to be worth no transfer value, the current record isn't likely to be broken any time soon.

Rio Ferdinand is the only player on the inflated list twice, with the Manchester United legend twice breaking the record spend for a centre back during his career.

Stan Collymore, Dennis Bergkamp, Andy Cole and Fabrizio Ravanelli are the real steals on the list too, having cost their teams less than £10 million at the time

Grealish's £100 million move from Aston Villa to Manchester City last summer leaves him 17th on the list, with Chris Sutton in between him and the top 15.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Premier League, Transfers, Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand, Newcastle United, Liverpool

Ryan Sidle
Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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@Sidler28

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