Most expensive football transfers of all time

Football has been a professional sport since the late 19th century, with the very first transfer recorded in 1893, in which Aston Villa purchased the player Willie Groves for the amount of £100, equivalent to about £11,000 adjusted to inflation.

The majority of professional transfers in the European Leagues are well above seven figures. That's either to secure a well known player or to invest in a young gifted player. Securing or failing to secure players can have a massive impact on a club's performances. This is very important for people making sports bets on sites like Novibet as the odds will likely change depending on who is part of their current squad.

We ran an article last year about the most expensive transfers. But records are broken, and transfers figures may not of been as accurate as reported at the time. Lets see what makes our top five at the moment.

Neymar

First on this list is the Brazilian forward Neymar Jr., whose transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain was settled at €222 million in 2017. At that time, it was the double of the previous world record and if accounting for bonuses and wages, easily went around half a billion U.S. dollars. Neymar, who is currently 29 years old, has been since then the most expensive player of all time.

Mbappe

One year after the record Neymar acquisition, PSG decided to set another record transfer with the young Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, who was playing for Monaco. The amount, €180 million, is the second highest amount paid for a professional football player currently.

Mbappe was only 19 years old at that time and had already won the World Cup with the French National Team. Along with Pele, he is the youngest player to score in a World Cup Final. Mbappe also received the Best Young Player and the French Player of The Year awards for his performance and is currently one of the most promising players out there and the best player in the world under 23.

Philippe Coutinho

After five years in Liverpool F.C., the Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho publicly showed his interests in playing in Camp Nou, and he got it. Barcelona F.C. purchased his rights for the impressive amount of €145 million in 2018, the second most expensive transfer at that time. Since then, he helped his team win two La Liga Cups and is now on loan for Bayern Munich, eventually winning the UEFA Champions League as part of the German team squad.

Joao Felix

Felix is a 21-year-old forward player from Portugal whose impressive performance at Benfica attracted attention from one of the top Spanish teams – Atletico Madrid. The club acquired the young player for €126 million in 2019, and he has been an impressive player for his team and his country. In that same year, Portugal won the UEFA Nations League against the Netherlands with him in the main squad.

Antoine Griezmann

Perhaps the oldest player in this list, the French forward Antoine Griezmann was sold to Barcelona from Atletico Madrid for €120 million in 2019. In the previous World Cup, he was the second highest goalscorer, winning the Silver Boot and the Man of the Match after scoring two goals in the final.