Neymar (foto: Getty Images)
These are the most expensive footballers in history!
At the top of the list is Neymar. His transfers have cost clubs a total of €400 million. In the summer of 2013, Barcelona paid Santos €88 million for his signature, in 2017, PSG shelled out a record €222 million for his transfer, and last year, Al-Hilal signed him for €90 million.
An interesting name in second place for total transfer fees is Romelu Lukaku! An incredible €339 million has been paid for his transfers, with Chelsea paying the largest share for the Belgian striker, a total of €128 million over two separate transfers. Clubs have paid huge sums for Lukaku on three occasions - Manchester United paid Everton €84.7 million in 2017, two years later he transferred to Inter for €74 million, and in the summer of 2022, Chelsea paid €113 million to bring him back to Stamford Bridge.
In third place for total transfer fees is Cristiano Ronaldo, whose transfers have collectively cost €247 million, with roughly half of that amount being his transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus for €117 million.
Fourth on the list is Ousmane Dembélé, whose transfers have amounted to €220 million, the majority being his move from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona for €135 million in the summer of 2017, which remains the third-highest transfer fee in football history.
With his transfer from Atletico Madrid to Milan, paid for €13 million, Alvaro Morata has become the fifth most expensive player in football history in terms of total transfer fees. Altogether, clubs (Juventus, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Atletico, and Milan) have paid €202 million for his transfers.
Following Morata on the list of the most expensive players in football history is Antoine Griezmann, whose transfers have cost €182 million in total, including €120 million for his move from Atletico to Barcelona.
Kylian Mbappé has had only one transfer fee paid for him, when PSG paid Monaco €180 million, putting him in seventh place for total transfer fees.
Philippe Coutinho also reached €180 million, but over five transfers, with the largest part being his €135 million move from Liverpool to Barcelona in January 2018.
Ángel Di María follows with a total of €179 million paid for his transfers, and the top 10 concludes with Zlatan Ibrahimović, whose transfer fees amount to €169 million. The largest part of that was his €69.6 million transfer from Inter to Barcelona in the summer of 2009.
One of the greatest in the history of the game, Lionel Messi, is predictably not on this or similar lists. Having spent his entire career at Barcelona before moving to Miami at the age of 35, not a single euro has been paid in transfer fees for him.