20 most expensive Premier League transfers ever based on inflation-adjusted fees | OneFootball

Highlights

Transfer fees have well and truly skyrocketed in recent years. A Premier League player that was worth £20 million in the mid-2000s may have been worth five, six or even seven times that amount in today’s market.

Even at the turn of the 2010s, £50 million felt like an astronomical amount of money for a Premier League club to spend on a player. Now we see it happen regularly, sometimes on footballers who aren’t anywhere near the world-class category.

Four Premier League footballers have been signed for £100 million or more at the time of writing: Jack Grealish to Manchester City (£100 million), Declan Rice to Arsenal (£105 million), Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea (£106.8 million), and Moises Caicedo to Chelsea (£115 million). However, none of them would make the top 20 most expensive Premier League transfers of all time when you take inflation into consideration.

Courtesy of Sky Sports’ data, here are the 20 most expensive Premier League players ever based on inflation-adjusted transfer fees. You might want to grab a tissue before these figures are eye-watering.

20 Raheem Sterling | Manchester City (2015)

Raheem Sterling sent shockwaves across England in the summer of 2015 when he forced his way out of Liverpool in order to join Manchester City. Various former Liverpool players including Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard were highly critical of Sterling’s controversial decision at the time, although it worked out for the winger in the long run.

Forty-five million pounds in 2015 is the equivalent of an eye-watering £128 million in today’s money. Still, 131 goals in 339 appearances - plus four Premier League winners’ medals, five League Cups and one FA Cup - suggests the England international was worth every penny.

19 Michael Carrick | Manchester United (2006)

Widely regarded as one of the most underrated players of the Premier League era, Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to sign Tottenham’s composed midfielder Michael Carrick for Manchester United proved to be a masterstroke. Held in the highest regard by his former teammates, Carrick was a master of helping to dictate the tempo of matches.

During his 12 years at Old Trafford, Carrick made 464 appearances for the Red Devils and won a host of major honours along the way, including five Premier League titles and the UEFA Champions League in 2008.

18 Rio Ferdinand | Leeds United (2000)

Original fee: £18 million. Inflated fee: £134.3 million

One of two footballers to feature twice on this list, Rio Ferdinand became the world’s most expensive defender when he joined Leeds United from West Ham in November 2000. Also a British transfer record, it felt like a huge amount of money for a centre-back at the time, despite his obvious quality and potential.

Ferdinand spent less than two years at Elland Road before he was snapped up by Manchester United, where he took his game to new levels and won all the trophies that he so desperately craved. Undoubtedly one of the greatest defenders of the Premier League era, rivalled only by one other player according to our latest rankings, Rio is deservedly revered now that he’s retired.

17 Nani | Manchester United (2007)

Unfairly compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani was never going to live up to those insanely high expectations after signing for Manchester United in 2007. Still, the Portuguese winger produced plenty of excellent moments for the Red Devils and left Old Trafford in 2015 with four Premier League titles to his name.

Nani, who also scored one of the penalties in the shootout of the 2008 Champions League final against Chelsea, would now be worth a staggering £135.9 million if the same transfer from Sporting Lisbon was finalised today. But plenty of United fans would argue that, in hindsight, prime Nani would currently be one of the Premier League’s best players.

16 Robinho | Manchester City (2008)

Original fee: £34.3 million. Inflated fee: £136.2 million

It appeared that Chelsea had won the battle for Real Madrid’s flamboyant winger Robinho in 2008, only for newly-rich Manchester City to pip the Blues to his signature at the last minute. Even Robinho wasn’t sure which club he was signing for as he departed Spain, telling reporters years later: “I knew I was going to play in England but I didn't know for which team and I was very happy when I found that I had the opportunity to play for Manchester City.”

While City fans saw flashes of Robinho at his world-class best, it’s fair to say this wasn’t a particularly successful transfer for the Premier League side. Still, it taught Man City some invaluable lessons en route to becoming one of the world’s most powerful football clubs.

15 Fernando Torres | Liverpool (2007)

The signing of Atletico Madrid’s young striker Fernando Torres felt like a major coup for Liverpool at the time, although there were question marks over how quickly it’d take for him to settle in England. It turned out that El Niño required no time at all to find his feet. At the end of his first season, he’d scored a hugely impressive 33 goals in 46 matches for the Reds.

Once a hero in the eyes of the Anfield faithful, Torres scored a total of 81 goals in 142 games for Liverpool before stunning the Reds by demanding a shock move to Chelsea in January 2011, tarnishing his legacy on Merseyside in the process.

14 Shaun Wright-Phillips | Chelsea (2005)

Original fee: £21 million. Inflated fee: £138.1 million

Shaun Wright-Phillips would be worth *how* much now? The equivalent of almost £140 million is a wild amount of money for a winger who was a decent Premier League winger but never a truly great one. And for that hefty amount of money you’d have every right to expect greatness.

As we say, Wright-Phillips wasn’t a bad player by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he was excellent on his day. However, 10 goals (only four of which came in the Premier League) for the Blues in 125 appearances over the course of three years says it all.

13 Ricardo Carvalho | Chelsea (2004)

Original fee: £20 million. Inflated fee: £138.4 million

An excellent defender, Ricardo Carvalho played a key role in Chelsea’s three Premier League title triumphs of the 2000s. Ranked by GIVEMESPORT as the eighth best signing of Jose Mourinho’s esteemed managerial career, the Portuguese centre-back played 210 games for the west London outfit, chipping in with 11 goals.

It wasn’t a shock when Mourinho signed Carvalho for Real Madrid in 2010. The defender spent three years at the Bernabeu before moving on to AS Monaco and finally Shanghai Port in China. At the time of writing, Carvalho is employed as one of two assistant managers to Roberto Martinez in the Portugal national team setup.

12 Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City (2015)

What a phenomenally good player Kevin De Bruyne has been for Manchester City. Some fans and pundits alike weren’t convinced City were getting decent value when they paid Wolfsburg £54.3 million for the Belgium midfielder’s services in 2015, but he’s silenced all of his doubters in quite spectacular fashion since then.

The equivalent of just over £150 million in today’s money wouldn’t be an unfair price for one of the greatest players of the Premier League era. Worth his weight in gold for Man City, replacing De Bruyne with a player of similar qualities will be virtually impossible for the 2023 Champions League winners. Strangely, although De Bruyne won two Premier League Player of the Season awards, he's never been named Player of the Month yet.

11 Angel Di Maria | Manchester United (2014)

Angel Di Maria has unquestionably been a wonderful player during his illustrious career. Now a World Cup winner, the Argentina winger will surely have regrets over how his ill-fated move to Manchester United panned out.

Quite simply, Louis van Gaal was completely the wrong manager for Di Maria, who was unable to flourish under a coach who wanted his United players to perform like robots. Fans at Old Trafford only saw flashes of brilliance from the former Real Madrid star, whose family were unfortunately subjected to a traumatic burglary incident during their time living in Manchester.

10 Paul Pogba | Manchester United (2016)

Original fee: £93.3 million. Inflated fee: £165 million

Manchester United forking out £93.3 million felt like a game-changing moment for transfer fees in Europe. A world-record fee at the time, the Red Devils were re-signing a midfielder that had left the club for virtually nothing just four years earlier.

Unfortunately, Pogba was a disappointment at Old Trafford. Yes, he produced some excellent performances, but his managers, the club’s fans and pundits all expected far more from the Frenchman due to his world-class ability. During his second spell at Man Utd, which lasted six years, Pogba only managed to win the Europa League and the League Cup.

9 Didier Drogba | Chelsea (2004)

Arguably the greatest player in Chelsea’s history, with the possible exception of Frank Lampard and John Terry, Didier Drogba was worth every penny of the £24 million that the Blues paid Marseille in 2004. In 381 appearances for the club, Drogba scored 163 goals - 104 of which were netted in the Premier League.

Would a club in 2024 pay £166.3 million for a 26-year-old Drogba? It’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility. There aren’t too many centre-forwards like Drogba in today’s game and there’s no doubt that he’d score plenty of goals in both the Premier League and the Champions League.

8 Sergio Aguero | Manchester City (2011)

Original fee: £38 million. Inflated fee: £166.7 million

Only four players have ever scored more Premier League goals than Sergio Aguero (184): Alan Shearer, Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole. The Argentine may have become only the fourth player to break through the 200-goal milestone had he opted to stay at Manchester City, but he departed England for Barcelona in 2021.

Sadly, Aguero was forced to prematurely hang up his boots months later, having made just five appearances for Barça, after a heart problem was detected. Still, the prolific South American will always be remembered as one of the greatest forwards the Premier League has ever seen.

7 Michael Essien | Chelsea (2005)

One of Chelsea’s greatest ever Premier League signings, Michael Essien was nothing short of sensational during his first few years with the Blues. The Ghanaian midfielder would dominate games thanks to his incredible physical and technical attributes.

While £26 million may not sound like a lot of money for a top Premier League player now, we’re talking over £170 million as an inflated-adjusted fee, which highlights what a monstrous deal this was for Chelsea at the time. Considering Essien spent a total of nine years on Chelsea’s books and played over 250 games, winning various titles including the Champions League, it’s fair to say he justified his transfer fee.

6 Juan Sebastian Veron | Manchester United (2001)

Rightly or wrongly, Juan Sebastian Veron is regularly named on lists when it comes to the biggest flops of the Premier League era. However, anyone who watched him closely at the time will tell you that the graceful Argentine midfielder produced plenty of magical moments in a red shirt - particularly in the Champions League.

English football was more hustle and bustle in the early 2000s compared to now and there’s every chance that a peak Veron would be one of the standout players in the Premier League if he was playing in 2024. It’s a shame that many English football fans were left with a negative impression about one of the most technically-gifted midfielders of his generation.

5 Wayne Rooney | Manchester United (2004)

Wayne Rooney was only 18 years old when Manchester United splashed out a cool £25.6 million for the Everton forward’s signature. However, it proved to be one of the best signings of Sir Alex Ferguson’s glittering 26-year tenure as Man Utd manager.

Rooney was certainly no ordinary teenage footballer and Ferguson knew he was signing a diamond with limitless potential. The legendary Scottish manager probably didn’t envisage that the Liverpool-born forward would go on to become Man United’s all-time record goalscorer, though. He was also briefly England’s leading goalscorer before Harry Kane surpassed his 53-goal tally. Would Ferguson have paid £177.4 million in 2024 for an 18-year-old Rooney? Absolutely.

4 Alan Shearer | Newcastle United (1996)

Original fee: £15 million. Inflated fee: £177.9 million

The Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, Alan Shearer completed an emotional move to Newcastle United, the club of his heart, in the summer of 1996. One of the greatest English goalscorers in history, Shearer was capable of scoring every type of goal and would have flourished in any era.

But would Shearer really be worth £177.9 million in 2024? If anything, that’s probably a little low for a striker of his extraordinary goalscoring record. Bump that number up to £200 million and we’d probably be closer to his true inflated-adjusted valuation. If anything, £15 million in the mid-90s was actually pretty good business by the Magpies.

3 Fernando Torres | Chelsea (2011)

Original fee: £50 million. Inflated fee: £181.5 million

As mentioned, Torres’s shock move to Chelsea on the most bizarre transfer deadline day ever in January 2011 ruined his reputation in the eyes of Liverpool’s scorned supporters. They couldn’t understand why the Spanish striker, who’d received so much love at Anfield, wanted to leave everything behind for Chelsea.

Torres proved to be a disastrous signing for Chelsea, scoring just 20 Premier League goals in 110 matches. A shadow of the world-class striker who set English football alight at Liverpool, El Niño still ultimately feels he made the right decision after winning the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League with the Blues.

2 Rio Ferdinand | Manchester United (2002)

Original fee: £29 million. Inflated fee: £198.7 million

Rio Ferdinand would now be worth almost £200 million if his transfer from Leeds United to Manchester United had happened today. An astonishing amount of money - particularly for a central defender.

That said, Ferdinand was a Rolls-Royce of a centre-back who led by example on the pitch and also popped up with the odd priceless goal. A born winner who was destined to win silverware, joining Ferguson’s Man Utd was a pivotal moment in Rio’s career. He never looked back after moving to Old Trafford and cemented his status as an all-time great during his 12 years at the club.

1 Andriy Shevchenko | Chelsea (2006)

Original fee: £30.8 million. Inflated fee: £215.6 million

The most expensive footballer in Premier League history, based on inflation-adjusted transfer fees, is Andriy Shevchenko. Regarded as one of the best - if not *the* best - number nines on the planet when he left AC Milan for Chelsea in 2006, the Ukrainian striker was a bitter disappointment in the Premier League.

Everyone expected Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea would dominate English and European football with Shevchenko in their ranks, but it certainly didn’t materialise that way. After scoring a pitiful nine goals in 48 games for the Blues, Sheva packed his bags and moved back to AC Milan with his tail between his legs.

So, there we have it: proof that mind-blowing sums of money have been spent on players throughout every decade of the Premier League era when you take inflation into consideration. While modern-day transfers might feel significantly larger due to the nine-figure fees that are set to become increasingly common, the data suggests they're actually not.