10 Most Expensive Premier League Transfers (Bonus: Latest Transfer Rumours)

10 Most Expensive Premier League Transfers (Bonus: Latest Transfer Rumours)

The Premier League remains the biggest competition in world football as of today. The entertainment it offers on and off the pitch makes it attractive to football fans worldwide.

It can be argued that the amount of money available to clubs in the league contributes to its growing reputation among its peers. However, there has been a continuous rise in its acceptance and reputation over the years, which has played a role in the accolades it is getting at the moment.

Premier League teams have been doing well in competitions against their counterparts in recent seasons and it is gradually taking the position it rightfully belongs to.

One aspect that cannot be tossed aside is transfers and we know how big the Premier League is on getting players into or across teams in the league.

Introduction to the Financial Rise of the Premier League

As soon as Abu Dhabi United Group bought Manchester City in 2008, an internal memo to the staff said – “We’re not a football club, we’re actually a sports entertainment media ­company,” CEO Garry Cook ­explained. “So we must create content. We must provide events, we must create shows, we must create drama. And we must be part of the news, front page and back page, in every way.” The Premier League felt it immediately.

Without any doubt, the Premier League remains the richest league in the world and it has some of the most powerful teams in the world in it. This dominance of the Premier League has been well documented over the past few years.

The Premier League enjoys mammoth sponsorship and broadcast deals, and the biggest concentration of elite clubs. This means there is enough money to go into its organisation and, in turn, the clubs themselves.

Even other leagues in the upper echelons of European football have accepted that England’s Premier League has become the de facto Super League, thanks to its financial might. No wonder Andrea Agnelli voiced his opinion to reinforce this point earlier last year.

The former Juventus president said, “European football needs a new system. Otherwise, it risks a decrease in favour of a single dominant league, which within a few years will attract all the talent of European football, completely marginalising the other leagues.”

Prior to Manchester City’s signing of Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 ­million – which became the British ­transfer record instantly – the Premier League transfer record never reached that height.

Flashback to 1992, and the formation of the breakaway Premier League from the old Football League, and ­spending such a fee on a single player would have been impossible. At the time, the combined value of all its clubs was £50m  – but they have grown well above  £10 billion.

While the Premier League continued to grow since its formation in the early 90s, the financial aspect of the game took a while to improve and when it did, there has been no looking back.

The Premier League as a “product” is the key component here. Right from the formation of the Premier League, it wasn’t formed to make football better as a game, rather it was created by the ambitious young businessmen who believed more money could be made from it.

The playing stadia were improved gradually and surfaces got better. Back then in the old Football League, hooliganism and tragedy were the order of the day in the game. The clubs also improved their approach to marketing, while new rich owners like Russian Roman Abramovich were allowed to own a club, before the arrival of investors from the Gulf in the late 2000s.

The Premier League teams with all their financial might, have been putting the money that comes into the league quite judiciously. The clubs have done their part to invest in infrastructure, training facilities and much more.

Each and every stadium in the Premier League has been worked upon in recent years, while a number of the clubs have built new training grounds.

Aside from the erection of infrastructure, the teams have always been in the market to strengthen their squads in every transfer window – which is the focus of this particular article.

Where the Premier League Money Comes from

The main source of income for the Premier League is the TV rights, and when compared to the rest of the other leagues in Europe, there is no close match.

It was in 1983 that the first live broadcasting took place, and since the formation of the EPL, the public BBC and secondly the private ITV held the TV rights for £2 million per year. Just five years later, ITV acquired the rights for four years until 1992. It was different entirely as soon as the PL became a reality afterwards.

Sky Sports won the rights for the next five years – a  £304 million deal for exclusively live coverage of the then breakaway new Premier League. As part of the changes made to the broadcasting, matches were scheduled for Sunday afternoons and Monday nights.

After a sustained level of coverage across the UK, the Premier League sought for new fans abroad. Sky renewed its Premier League deal for £670 million over a shortened four-year period. This came after England successfully hosted the Euros in 1996.

As we crossed into the 2000s, the Premier League crossed the £1.1 billion mark after Sky Sports won the rights for a reduced length of the now-standardised three-year cycle, which was for 66 live games per season.

As part of the package, 40 pay-per-view games a year are sold to NTL, following its inability to honour its commitment, resells the rights back to Sky and what becomes the short-lived Premiership Plus platform.

Around the same time, ITV took the highlights rights from the BBC in a £183 million deal before the collapse of its own ON Digital/ITV Digital pay-TV platform, which had paid £315 million for Football League rights.

In the 2016-19 deal of £5.136 billion fee, the Premier League became the world’s second most expensive league – in TV rights annual income terms – only after the American National Football League.

From that moment on, the figure kept rising until December 2023, when the Premier League sold its domestic TV rights for £6.7 billion ($8.4 billion) for the next four-year cycle. It remains the largest sports media rights deal ever concluded in the UK.

The new contract, which is expected to cover the period from 2025-26 to 2028-29, marked the Premier League’s status as the richest in football, with its annual figure of £1.675 billion around double the value of domestic rights in each of Germany, Spain and Italy.

“The outcome of this process underlines the strength of the Premier League,” said Richard Masters, the EPL’s chief executive, “and is testament to our clubs, players and managers who continue to deliver the world’s most competitive football in full stadiums, and to supporters, who create an unrivalled atmosphere every week.”

While TV pays the highest, other incomes for the Premier League and clubs include the following: Merchandise Sales, Ticket Sales, Sponsorships, Overseas Tours and Friendlies,  Academy and Player Sales, Digital and Social Media, Licensing Broadcasts to Pubs and Bars, International Tours and Friendlies.

Most Expensive Premier League Transfers in History

No top-flight spends money quite like the Premier League – and it means it is always making football transfer news headlines.

Before we look at the current transfer rumours, here is a look at the ten most expensive signings made by Premier League clubs in the past.

10. Jadon Sancho – €85m (from Dortmund to Manchester United, 2021)

It was one of the longest transfer sagas in recent history, as Manchester United finally signed Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021.

The Red Devils got their man but he failed to light up Old Trafford and he is currently on loan at his old club in Germany, after he was initially frozen out by manager Erik ten Hag.

9. Harry Maguire – €87m (from Leicester City to Manchester United, 2019)

Just 18 months after Liverpool made Virgil van Dijk the most expensive defender in history, Manchester United broke that record by signing Harry Maguire from Leicester.

Maguire became United’s captain before too long, before he was stripped of the captaincy by Ten Hag ahead of the 2023-24 season. Generally, it has been a mixed time for Maguire at Old Trafford.

8. Josko Gvardiol – €90m (from RB Leipzig to Manchester City, 2023)

Josko Gvardiol was heavily sought by a lot of teams but he eventually settled for Pep Guradiola’s Manchester City and he remains the most expensive defender of all time.

The Croatian first season in Manchester has not been great but he can possibly turn it around in the seasons to come.

7. Antony – €95m (from Ajax to Manchester United, 2022)

Antony, who remains one of the biggest Transfer Deadline Day signings, is another Manchester United player on this list and also a flop.

The Brazilian has not been able to live up to his transfer fee and has consistently been  heavily criticised for his performances in a Red Devils shirt.

6. Paul Pogba – €105m (from Juventus to Manchester United, 2016)

The Frenchman had left Manchester United to join Juventus on a free transfer just three years earlier, before returning to Old Trafford for a world record fee in 2016.

Pogba did churn out some superb performances for his team, but he was far too inconsistent given his price tag. He eventually left the club on yet another free transfer, back to Turin.

5. Romelu Lukaku – €113m (from Inter to Chelsea, 2021)

After spells at Everton, Manchester United and Inter following his Chelsea exit in 2013, Romelu Lukaku made a return to Stamford Bridge in 2021.

His second coming barely helped the Blues before he was loaned out to (then) Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma and it looks like he no longer has a future at the London club.

4. Moises Caicedo – €116m (from Brighton to Chelsea, 2023)

Moises Caicedo was the talk of the 2023 summer transfer window.

Both Chelsea and Liverpool were desperate to sign the Ecuador international to complete their midfield rebuild, and it was Chelsea who managed to get the deal done. It remains to be seen whether he can bring his performances at Brighton to West London.

3. Declan Rice – €116.6m (from West Ham to Arsenal, 2023)

Arsenal broke their transfer record when they paid €116.6m for the services of Declan Rice in July 2023.

Rice, who left West Ham on a high after winning the UEFA Europa Conference League, has been playing a crucial role in the Gunners’ run in the title chase this season.

2. Jack Grealish – €117.5m (from Aston Villa to Manchester City, 2021)

Jack Grealish came through the ranks at Aston Villa and emerged as one of the most exciting players in the Premier League.  

Eventually, the Cityzens came forward and signed him for a then-British record fee. Grealish played his part in their historic treble win in his second season at the club.

1. Enzo Fernandez – €121m (from Benfica to Chelsea, 2023)

Just six months after the Grealish deal, Enzo Fernandez became the most expensive British transfer arrival of all time when he swapped Benfica for Chelsea in January 2023.

The Argentina World Cup winner, who was also named best young player of the tournament in Qatar, caught the eyes of Chelsea and they went all out to get him.

Bonus: Premier League Transfer Rumours

Another summer transfer window is nearly here and Premier League teams are already looking at players they can sign to improve their squads ahead of next campaign.

Premier League clubs spent £2.36 billion in the 2023 summer transfer window, setting a new record. Meanwhile, they did not spend that much in January 2024.

London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have asked Bayer Leverkusen about the availability of defender Jonathan Tah, according to reports in Germany.

Meanwhile, Spanish giants Real Madrid are ‘closely monitoring’ the situation of Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose Liverpool contract expires in 2025 (Relevo – Spain).

In addition, Rodrygo has been linked with an exit from Real Madrid in recent weeks. Manchester City are ready to offer Julian Alvarez as a makeweight in a deal to sign the Brazil winger (Defensa Central – Spain).

Liverpool target Teun Koopmeiners has revealed he wants to leave Atalanta at the end of the season (Metro).

Arsenal are looking into a deal to sign Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who has impressed in the absence of Thibaut Courtois this season (Defensa Central – Spain).

Scouts from Chelsea also went to watch Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyokeres, a target for Arsenal, during Sweden’s recent defeat to Portugal (Record – Portugal).

Manchester United are ready to firm up their interest in Juventus centre-back Bremer, whose contract includes a £43m release clause (Mirror).

Former Chelsea striker Timo Werner wants to join Tottenham on a permanent deal when his loan from RB Leipzig expires this summer.

Newcastle United are monitoring Feyenoord and Netherlands defender Quilindschy Hartman, as they bid to strengthen their options at full-back (Football Transfers).