What Happened To The 20 Most Expensive Football Players?

These are the 20 most expensive players in the history of football, and whilst some have gone on to be great and live up to the price tag, others have proven to be flops and a total waste of money. So we're going to find out why these players sold for so much, if they were worth it, and where they are today. And starting with the cheapest player on this list, Cristiano Ronaldo made a 94 million euro move from Manchester United to Real Madrid back in 2009, which at the time was At 24 years old, Ronaldo had been playing at Man United for six years, where he went from being a nobody to the best player in the world, lifting three Premier League titles, a Champions League, and a Ballon d'Or, not to mention the countless Premier League records he broke in his time there. This level of performance prompted Real Madrid to spend big to bring him to the Bernabeu, and it's safe to say that he was worth every single penny. In just his presentation ceremony, he sold out the Bernabeu as fans were eager to see what he could do, and he did not disappoint, because in his nine years at Madrid, he became the greatest player in the club's history, lifting two La Ligas, four Champions Leagues, and four Ballon d'Ors. Cristiano eventually left Real Madrid at 33 years old to sign for Juventus for an even bigger feat, which we'll get to soon. But for now, we have to talk about Antony, whose 95 million euro transfer makes him one of the biggest flops on this list. To this day, I can't see why Man United spent so much money on the Brazilian winger, because at Ajax, he was good, but he was no world-beater. When Eric Ten Hag arrived in Manchester, he was set on signing Antony and was ready to spend whatever it took to get him, making him the most expensive Eredivisie player in history. But since arriving in England, he just hasn't been able to get going. In his first Premier League season, he played 25 games and only managed to score four goals, and in his second, he played 29 games, where he only scored a single goal. Since arriving from Ajax, his take-on success rate has halved as it seems like the Premier League defenders just haven't figured out. He tries flashy skills and step-overs, but defenders don't bite, meaning he often loses the ball. It also doesn't help that he's very one-footed, making him even more predictable, leading the Man United legend Paul Scholes to describe him as a one-trick pony. But maybe there's still hope that Antony can make it big in Manchester because there is a talented player in him, just like the next player on this list who so far has failed to live up to the price tag, because on the 1st of September 2023, Randall Kolomoane made the move from Eintracht Frankfurt to PSG for a staggering €95 million, which even at the time seemed quite steep for the 24-year-old. He'd been having a great season in Germany as he ended the 22-23 season with 23 goals and 17 assists, which are some impressive figures. Frankfurt were not desperate to sell, so they drove a hard bargain, meaning PSG had to spend big to get their man. As the Frenchman arrived in Paris, things have not exactly gone to plan, as he finished his first season with only 6 league goals in 26 games, so despite lifting the French League, his performances were disappointing to say the least. Discussing his first season, Kolomoane has gone on to say that one day he will prove he is worth every penny, and this could happen with the recent departure of Mbappe, meaning he could step into the role of the main man at PSG. But whilst this €95 million striker had a season of struggle, there was another striker sold for the same amount that season who finished the year as Europe's top scorer, and he goes by the name of Harry Kane. After spending well over a decade at Tottenham Hotspur and becoming one of the best strikers in the world, Harry Kane was sick of trophy-less season after season and looked for a move out of his boyhood club, and luckily for him, Bayern Munich were in the market for a top striker with Robert Lewandowski having just left the club. So just like that, Bayern splashed the cash to bring the English marksman to the club, and Kane took his game to a whole new level. In just his first season, he scored 44 goals and registered 12 assists in 45 games, landing him the European golden boot. But despite his individual brilliance, Kane's trophy-less drought continued as Bayern Munich finished the season empty-handed for the first time in 12 years, which proves that you can take the Kane out of Tottenham, but not the Tottenham out of Kane. But surely the trophy is coming soon for this striker. Just like it came for Gareth Bale, who had a very different first season away from Spurs as he lifted the Champions League and even scored in the final. In May 2007, Bale joined Spurs and was just a 17-year-old left-back at the time. But within six years, he transformed into a right-winger and the Premier League's best player, picking up 26 goals and 10 assists in his final season there. This is when Real Madrid came knocking on the door and offered a whopping 100 million euros, breaking the world record they'd previously set with Ronaldo. In Bale's first season, he was a core part of the team that lifted the Champions League and the Copa del Rey and would go on to another eight years as a Madrid player. Bale's time in Madrid was world-class, and I'd argue he sometimes doesn't get the respect he deserves because of what happened in the later years there. He played 258 games for Real, where he scored 106 goals and 67 assists, along with four Champions League winners' medals and scoring in two separate finals, with the second being one of football's greatest-ever goals. But Bale and the coach Zidane never really got along, so when Zidane returned in 2021 to take charge, Bale's time was up as he had even fallen out of favor with the fans receiving whistles and boos, proving a sad end to what was a great career there. But Jude Bellingham will be hoping his time at Real Madrid will end more positively than that since he signed in the summer of 2023 for 103 million euros. Jude is one of the most exciting young football players in the world and was consistently showing up in big games for Borussia Dortmund, which meant Real Madrid knew exactly what had to be done as they seemed to be forming the new era of the Galacticos, so they had to bring Jude to Madrid. Arriving at Real Madrid at 19 years old brings enormous pressure, but not for Jude as he had the best start in Real Madrid history, winning the La Liga Player of the Month in just his first month there. He went on to score 23 goals that season, but remember, he's a midfielder, which makes this even more impressive. He also won La Liga and the Champions League, and even won the La Liga Player of the Year award, and it doesn't look like he's slowing down anytime soon, meaning at such a young age he could go on to become one of the biggest bargains on this list. But the same can't be said about Paul Pogba, because his world record-breaking transfer was the start of his career downfall, where he is now banned from football for four years. It's safe to say Man United did not get their money's worth on Pogba, but before I tell you why it went so wrong, I'm gonna explain how they could have actually saved some money on the transfer, and how you can save some money too using Surfshark VPN. But what is a VPN? Well, imagine you're at Old Trafford, and you had a private viewing box with tinted windows, and nobody knew you were there. That's like what Surfshark can do, but online, because when it's installed, it prevents online tracking, encrypts all your data, and keeps your privacy as a priority, meaning all your passwords are kept safe from any website or browser. But Surfshark does even more than just that, because they have servers in over 100 countries, which means you can change your location to anywhere in the world, giving you access to region-blocked content on YouTube, Twitter, and any streaming service. But the best part about this is that you can always make sure you get the best price when shopping online, because many online stores, especially airlines, adjust their prices based on the country you're from, so poorer countries get cheaper prices. So maybe if Man United changed their location with Surfshark, they could have gotten a better deal on Pogba, or at least a cheaper flight to bring him in. United missed out on this, but it's not too late for you to make this risk-free signing with a 30-day money-back guarantee. And if you use code TOPPINS at checkout or use my link, you'll get 4 months extra for free. It's available on all platforms and allows unlimited devices, so go and make Surfshark your next bargain signing by clicking the top link in the description. Back to Pogba, who signed for Man United for 105 million euros in 2016. Now, this wasn't Pogba's first time at United because he came through the club as a youth player until he was released on a free to go to Juventus. He then became one of the best midfielders in the world, and when Jose Mourinho arrived at United in 2016, he wanted to bring Pogba back home, making this world-record transfer fee, but soon, their relationship would begin to fall apart. Pogba's time at United was very hit and miss. He would have three months where he was unplayable, then three months where it would have been better not to play him. During this time, Pogba did win a World Cup, playing a crucial role in that French team as he was always a consistent performer with the national team. Pogba eventually ran his Man United contract down after five years there and left the club to return to Juventus on yet another free transfer, but the second time at Juve wasn't so pleasant as he has now been caught for doping and has been banned from professional football for the next four years. I guess this is proof you should never return to your ex and Romelu Lukaku will definitely agree because he returned to his ex for a whopping 113 million euros and it did not go well. On the 12th of August 2021, Chelsea purchased Lukaku from Inter Milan and it's not hard to see why because in Lukaku's two seasons at Inter Milan, he had scored 64 goals as he cemented even winning the Serie A and the Serie A Player of the Year award in his second season there. Chelsea were sure they were getting a top-class striker but something just didn't click. Thing is that this wasn't Lukaku's first stint in the Premier League and not even his first stint with Chelsea because he spent from ages 18 to 21 there but failed to get any minutes getting sent on loan after loan. He eventually joined Everton where he became one of the best strikers in the Premier League until he signed for United where things did not go well for him. So this return to the Premier League did have its risks attached as he didn't have a golden record in England and unfortunately he could not keep up his Inter Milan form or justify his price tag as he only managed to get eight league goals that season until he was no longer part of the plans and was sent out on loan to Roma proving a total waste of money. But this isn't the only time Chelsea have spent silly money for a player to come and underperform because the same might be said for Moises Caicedo who signed for 116 million euros from Brighton at the start of the 23-24 season. Ever since Chelsea were bought out by Todd Billy the money has been flying left right and center and when it came to Moises Caicedo they had to get him at all costs beating Liverpool in a bidding war for the 22-year-old midfielder. At Brighton he was a standout performer in the midfield dominating play and leading the way for tackles and interceptions but when he signed for Chelsea he failed to settle in right away as he lacked the composure and effectiveness that he had been so well known for. Despite a poor start to the season Caicedo did finish strong finding form not to mention begging a beautiful halfway line goal and he's still only 22 years old meaning as much as it's been a disappointing start he can't be written off just yet. But in the same season another defensive midfielder was sold for the exact same price tag but the only difference was that he hit the ground running right away. The further we move up on this list the harder it gets for players to justify these price tags but even for the fee of 116 million euros it's hard to argue that Declan Rice wasn't worth the money. Rice made his Premier League debut at 18 years old for his boyhood club West Ham and would become the best player in that team over the next six years even lifting European silverware. He was consistently dominating the midfield for both club and country so with Arsenal looking to strengthen and push for a title they knew they had to spend big and he just took his game to a whole new level bossing the midfield helping push Arsenal oh so close to the title. Despite playing as holding midfielder Rice was a key player in the attacking force as he pitched in with seven goals and nine assists in the Premier League proving there are some real levels to his game but not every big money player has been able to prove that because we still have to talk about the biggest flop of all time and also the transfer that ruined football but before all those at number 10 on this list Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the only player to make two appearances here because when he left Real Madrid he signed for Juventus for a fee of 117 million euros. Now Ronaldo's time at Juventus is tricky because he was brought in with the main goal being to push them over the line in the Champions League and lift European silverware which unfortunately did not happen but that Juventus team had issues that Ronaldo could not solve. Despite no great success in the Champions League Ronaldo won two Serie A's and the Coppa Italia along with finishing as the Serie A footballer of the year twice in just three years. He scored 101 goals in 134 games and created some iconic moments in Turin like the hat-trick comeback against Atletico after going 2-0 down in the first leg and that header against Sampdoria where he quite literally turned into an Olympic high jumper. Even as Ronaldo was aging playing in Italy until 36 years old he was still consistently one of the best players in Europe until he made his eventual return to Manchester United in 2021. And speaking about Manchester the blue side of the city paid 117 million euros to bring Jack Grealish to the club in the summer of 2021. Grealish had been playing in England his whole life having gone through the academy at Aston Villa where he eventually became their captain not to mention their star man getting better season after season. He was easily one of the best dribblers in the Premier League as defenders found him to be a nightmare to play against but the 117 million euro price tag came about with a heavy English tax especially because Aston Villa were not eager to sell him. Grealish has spent three years in Manchester where he's won three Premier Leagues in a row and in his second season he won the treble playing an integral role that year. But in his third season things seemed to have fallen apart for Jack as he lost his starting position in the team to the likes of Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden. That season's drop off was so severe that he wasn't even called up to the England squad for Euro 2024 and now 28 years old he should be in the prime of his career but it remains a mystery if he'll regain his treble season form or continue to warm the bench for City. But the next player on this list is one of the unluckiest of all time because when Griezmann made his 120 million euro transfer away from Atletico Madrid they won the title that very season. In 2019 Barcelona signed the 28 year old Frenchman when he was just about in his prime but this would prove to be one of the three nightmare signings Barcelona made in the late 2010s. But with Griezmann I can't say he didn't warrant a sizable price tag because he had been consistently one of the best forwards in Spain and Europe for the past six seasons with his worst La Liga output being that of 16 goals. He also won a World Cup, a Europa League with Atletico and even made his way to a Champions League final but when he signed for Barcelona things just didn't work out. The problem here was that at Atletico Griezmann played in the so-called messy role but Barcelona had the real Lionel Messi so Griezmann found it hard to get a comfortable place in the team. In his two full seasons there he only won a whilst Atletico lifted La Liga and he scored 9 and 13 goals in the two years proving a severe drop off prompting Barcelona to descend him back on loan to Atletico and then selling him back fully for a total loss of around 100 million euros as he wasn't able to create a legacy in the no cap. Talk about bad business. The funny part is that now Griezmann seems to have had a career resurgence and is yet again one of the best players in La Liga meaning Griezmann and Barca were just simply a bad fit. Just like Eden Hazard whose career was basically finished the day he left Chelsea to make a 120 million euro transfer to Real Madrid. Hazard spent seven seasons in the Premier League where he was quite simply unplayable. He won two league titles and was named in the team of the season four times and he was hands down the best dribbler as he turned the league into his playground. His best season statistically was his final season where he scored 16 league goals and got 15 league assists and at 28 years old he still should have had some good footballing years left in him so Real Madrid decided they wanted Hazard to be their next Galactico signing. The transfer made perfect sense as Hazard had been hinting at it for a while. Ronaldo had just left Real and Vinicius Junior was not yet ready to become the Los Blancos number seven but unfortunately it seemed like the big money move just killed Hazard's hunger for football but not his hunger the kitchen because he arrived at Real Madrid five kilograms overweight which meant from the start the fans were questioning his commitment. Eden Hazard spent four years in Madrid where he only managed to make 76 appearances scoring seven and assisting 12 as he never got close to his Premier League form. Besides his dropping commitment he also suffered with a recurring ankle injury which really limited him as a player as he was no longer able to rely on explosiveness and trickery as well as he used to and now at 32 years old he announced an early retirement from football making this transfer one of the worst in the history of football. But whilst Hazard has been written off as a flop Enzo Fernandez still has a chance to make it work because in January 2023 Chelsea decided to spend 121 million euros on him who at the time was one of the most exciting prospects in football. Enzo had only just signed for Benfica six months earlier for a fee of 44 million euros and this rapid increase in value definitely came about from his World Cup performances where he won the tournament with Argentina and was named the young player of the tournament award as he simply bossed the midfield. Chelsea definitely paid a World Cup hype tax on him as they brought him just a couple of weeks after the tournament and he's only spent one and a half seasons there till now. He started strong but just like Chelsea he hasn't been perfectly consistent and in his season he played the majority of it carrying a groin injury until his season was cut short having to go for surgery. It's still early days with Enzo and despite a rocky start there's no doubt that he can turn this around and would also help if Chelsea could find some form of their own. But now we're getting to the five most expensive football players of all time but before that I'd really appreciate if you could help me out and subscribe. The goal is a hundred thousand subscribers by the end of this year and I can't do it without you so thank you. Okay now on the 3rd of July 2019 Joao Felix became the fifth most expensive football player of all time when Atletico Madrid spent 127 million euros to bring him to the club as an Antoine Griezmann replacement. He was 19 years old at the time with one season of senior football under his belt at Benfica but in that season he established himself as one of the most exciting young players in the world even being named the golden boy beating out the likes of Haaland, Sancho and Foden to that award. He was a breath of fresh air in Portugal as he was looking like the next Eusebio but he just didn't fit in at Madrid. Halfway through his first season Diego Simeone began to criticize the forward publicly saying as well as talent you need to have commitment and rumors started to flood in about a poor relationship between the pair. There was also a lot of debate around whether Felix actually fit into a team like Atletico Madrid because he was a creative and expressive player and they were a His four seasons in Madrid pretty much went the same where there were glimmers of hope with glimpses of a golden talent but injuries, sickness and long stretches of poor performances were the more common occurrence. In his four seasons there he managed to score 34 goals and register 18 assists in 131 appearances as opposed to the 20 goals and 11 assists in 33 games for Benfica. After four years in Madrid he was loaned to Chelsea then Barcelona and was now sold permanently for 50 million euros to Chelsea where at 24 he's eager to put his career back on track and many parallels can be drawn with the career of Ousmane Dembele who had one great season at Dortmund before Barcelona dropped a whopping 135 million euros on him in the summer of 2017. At 20 years old Dembele was one of the brightest stars in Europe having just been named the young player of the season as he contributed with 10 goals and 26 assists that year. He was a fast and tricky winger and could use both feet effortlessly which is why Barcelona saw him as the perfect Neymar replacement and since Dortmund knew Barcelona now had the funds they drove a very hard bargain. 135 million euros later he was Barcelona's new number 11 but that was pretty much the only similarity between him and Neymar at Barcelona because he did not perform. He had many disciplinary issues and constant reports would come out that he would be playing video games late into the night meaning he would arrive late to training in the morning his diet was poor and he just wasn't committed. Despite his attitude Barcelona gave him countless chances to prove himself but for the most part he never did. It also didn't help that this man is made of glass and in his six years in Spain suffered 15 separate injuries ranging from a week out to half a year meaning throughout his tenure he only averaged 22 appearances a season. Despite all of this he did pick up form under Xavi towards the end of his time there and during his last two seasons he formed a strong partnership with Lewandowski but with all the injuries he could never stick around long enough to truly prove himself. He was then sold to PSG for 50 million euros as Barca managed to recoup some of the money they spent but still they will feel burnt on the transfer as a whole just like they feel burnt with Philippe Coutinho who is the third and most expensive of Barcelona's three transfer nightmares. When Barcelona sold Neymar in 2017 they just started throwing silly money around and Liverpool were one of the lucky receivers but in all fairness he was their best player at the time and he had been for a number of years now. He won the Liverpool player of the year back to back from 2014 to 2016 as he was the shining light in a struggling team. At 25 years old Coutinho started to feel like he couldn't win big at Liverpool and winded out. Little did he know that the two seasons after he left Liverpool would win the Champions League and the Premier League. In Barcelona's eyes this profile of player was a perfect fit. He was a gifted creative player who should have fit right in but this was not the case. Coutinho joined Barcelona in January 2018 but just 18 months later he was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich as he never managed to take a hold of La Liga. At Bayern he actually won the Champions League knocking out Barcelona 8-2 in the process and scoring 2 in that match which is ironic to say the least but despite this he never really lit it up in Germany either and he returned to Barca after one year on loan. The same story continued where Coutinho struggled to nail a regular starting spot until January 2022 when he was loaned out and eventually sold to Aston Villa. He had a good start there but quickly fell away then being sold to Qatar and now he plays his football in Brazil. He ended his time in Barcelona with a trophy cabinet having picked up two La Ligas, a Copa del Rey and a Champions League but he played no major part in any of those failing to leave a lasting legacy and failing to live up to the price tag. But now Kylian Mbappé takes second place on this list because at only 19 years old PSG spent 180 million euros to bring Mbappé to Paris and despite the obscene price tag he was consistently one of the best in the world during his time there. What's really wild is that Mbappé was bought for so much after only playing professional football for one full season. He made his debut for Monaco halfway through the 2015-16 season but it was what he did next season that landed him the big money move. He was a breath of fresh air in the world of football as he quickly became the world's most exciting talent as he was instrumental in a Monaco side that lifted the league and made great strides in the Champions League making it to the semi-final. Mbappé scored 28 goals and got 14 assists that year also being named the golden boy. PSG saw him as the perfect fit, he was the future of French football and they hoped he would turn into the world's best player there and to be honest they weren't far off. In his seven seasons with Paris he lifted six league titles, four Coupe de France and finished as the league's top scorer six times and finished as the league player of the season five times as he quite literally conquered France. The only thing he missed out on was a Champions League which he got oh so close to losing the final in 2020. In the end Kylian ran his contract down and left on a free to Real Madrid but he left the club as the all-time top scorer as he now looks to conquer Spanish football. But whilst Kylian Mbappé was the star in Paris during this time this wasn't what was supposed to happen because in the same season Mbappé signed Neymar left Barcelona to go to PSG in the hopes of becoming the best football player in the world and his transfer cost PSG 220 million euros quite literally breaking the transfer market. 16 of the 20 players on this list were post Neymar and they arguably went for so much because Neymar changed the value of football players. Before him we never saw transfers really rise above 100 million and since him they happen every window. But why did PSG sign him for so much? Well quite simply they wanted him and they had money to burn so they met his release clause and brought him to Paris. Neymar wanted the move as he felt he could never be the star in a team with Lionel Messi playing in it so after four glorious years at Barcelona where Neymar picked up a tremble and cemented himself as a football great he made his way to Paris. He spent six years in Paris and whenever he played he was electric. He was one of the greatest dribblers of all time but the biggest issue was that he just could never stay fit for a full season. The most amount of games he played in a single campaign was 22 meaning that every year he missed practically half the season which didn't bode well for his Ballon d'Or dreams. Despite all of this Neymar made 173 appearances scored 118 goals and registered 77 assists which is more than a goal contribution a game which for any regular player at any regular price tag would have been amazing. But in this case it's just a shame that Neymar jr remains the prince of football who never became king. Now if you want to hear about Neymar's time in Barcelona where he formed part of the world's best front three click the video on screen now and don't forget to check out Surfshark. Top link in the description.