List of most expensive association football transfers
Historical progression
Comparison of fees in different nations is complicated by varying exchange rates. This table uses British Pound Sterling prior to 1999 and Euro from 1999 to present.

List of most expensive association football transfers

Section Title: Historical progression
Table Section Text: Comparison of fees in different nations is complicated by varying exchange rates. This table uses British Pound Sterling prior to 1999 and Euro from 1999 to present.

Year	Player	Selling club	Buying club	Fee (£)	Fee (€)	Fee (UK£, after adjusted inflation)	Percentage change from last record (+ %)

1893	Scotland Willie Groves	England West Bromwich Albion	England Aston Villa	100	–	10,894	N/A

1903	England Ben Green	England Barnsley	England Small Heath	500	–	52,738	400

1904	England Alf Common	England Sheffield United	England Sunderland	520	–	55,032	4

1904	Scotland Andy McCombie	England Sunderland	England Newcastle United	700	–	74,082	26

1905	England Alf Common	England Sunderland	England Middlesbrough	1,000	–	105,477	42

1913	England Daniel Shea	England West Ham United	England Blackburn Rovers	2,000	–	193,306	100

1913	England Tommy Barber	England Bolton Wanderers	England Aston Villa	2,000	–	193,306	0

1914	England Percy Dawson	Scotland Heart of Midlothian	England Blackburn Rovers	2,500	–	235,664	25

1920	England David Jack	England Plymouth Argyle	England Bolton Wanderers	3,500	–	138,091	40

1922	England Syd Puddefoot	England West Ham United	Scotland Falkirk	5,000	–	268,184	43

1922	England Warney Cresswell	England South Shields	England Sunderland	5,500	–	295,002	8

1925	England Bob Kelly	England Burnley	England Sunderland	6,500	–	364,147	18

1928	England David Jack	England Bolton Wanderers	England Arsenal	10,890	–	644,490	68

1932	Argentina Bernabé Ferreyra	Argentina Tigre	Argentina River Plate	23,000	–	1,568,271	111

1949	England Johnny Morris	England Manchester United	England Derby County	24,000	–	832,884	4

1949	England Eddie Quigley	England Sheffield Wednesday	England Preston North End	26,500	–	919,643	10

1950	Wales Trevor Ford	England Aston Villa	England Sunderland	30,000	–	1,009,666	13

1951	England Jackie Sewell	England Notts County	England Sheffield Wednesday	34,500	–	1,064,404	15

1952	Sweden Hans Jeppson	Italy Atalanta	Italy Napoli	52,000	–	1,469,665	51

1954	Uruguay Juan Schiaffino	Uruguay Peñarol	Italy Milan	72,000	–	1,936,282	38

1957	Argentina Enrique Omar Sivori	Argentina River Plate	Italy Juventus	93,000	–	2,202,393	29

1961	Spain Luis Suárez	Spain Barcelona	Italy Internazionale	152,000	–	3,323,390	63

1963	Italy Angelo Sormani	Italy Mantova	Italy Roma	250,000	–	5,142,046	64

1967	Denmark Harald Nielsen	Italy Bologna	Italy Internazionale	300,000	–	5,348,485	20

1968	Italy Pietro Anastasi	Italy Varese	Italy Juventus	500,000	–	8,517,449	67

1973	Netherlands Johan Cruyff	Netherlands Ajax	Spain Barcelona	922,000	–	10,952,250	84

1975	Italy Giuseppe Savoldi	Italy Bologna	Italy Napoli	1,200,000	–	9,887,262	30

1976	Italy Paolo Rossi	Italy Vicenza	Italy Juventus	1,750,000	–	12,371,913	46

1982	Argentina Diego Maradona	Argentina Boca Juniors	Spain Barcelona	3,000,000	–	10,399,301	71

1984	Argentina Diego Maradona	Spain Barcelona	Italy Napoli	5,000,000	–	15,785,390	67

1987	Netherlands Ruud Gullit	Netherlands PSV Eindhoven	Italy Milan	6,000,000	–	16,577,101	20

1990	Italy Roberto Baggio	Italy Fiorentina	Italy Juventus	8,000,000	–	17,859,888	33

1992	France Jean-Pierre Papin	France Marseille	Italy Milan	10,000,000	–	20,326,840	25

1992	Italy Gianluca Vialli	Italy Sampdoria	Italy Juventus	12,000,000	–	24,392,207	20

1992	Italy Gianluigi Lentini	Italy Torino	Italy Milan	13,000,000	–	26,424,891	8

1996	Brazil Ronaldo	Netherlands PSV Eindhoven	Spain Barcelona	13,200,000	–	24,337,107	2

1996	England Alan Shearer	England Blackburn Rovers	England Newcastle United	15,000,000	–	27,655,804	14

1997	Brazil Ronaldo	Spain Barcelona	Italy Internazionale	19,500,000	–	34,858,914	30

1998	Brazil Denílson	Brazil São Paulo	Spain Real Betis	21,500,000	–	37,160,344	10

1999	Italy Christian Vieri	Italy Lazio	Italy Internazionale	32,000,000	49,000,000	54,639,156	49

2000	Argentina Hernán Crespo	Italy Parma	Italy Lazio	35,500,000	55,000,000	58,690,854	11

2000	Portugal Luís Figo	Spain Barcelona	Spain Real Madrid	37,000,000	62,000,000	61,170,749	4

2001	France Zinedine Zidane	Italy Juventus	Spain Real Madrid	46,600,000	77,500,000	74,725,821	26

2009	Brazil Kaká	Italy Milan	Spain Real Madrid	56,000,000	67,000,000	73,780,289	20

2009	Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo	England Manchester United	Spain Real Madrid	80,000,000	94,000,000	105,400,412	43

2013	Wales Gareth Bale	England Tottenham Hotspur	Spain Real Madrid	86,000,000	100,000,000	96,815,536	8

2016	France Paul Pogba	Italy Juventus	England Manchester United	89,000,000	105,000,000	89,000,000	3

2017	Brazil Neymar	Spain Barcelona	France Paris Saint-Germain	198,000,000	222,000,000	198,000,000	125

Sentence(s)

Denílson de Oliveira Araújo from São Paulo became one of the world's most expensive player when he signed for Real Betis in 1998.

final_sentence: Denílson de Oliveira Araújo from São Paulo became one of the world's most expensive player when he signed for Real Betis in 1998.