We find ourselves in an era where transfers exceeding £100 million are common place – a figure that was previously nigh-unfathomable before the turn of the 2010’s. Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand claimed he’d be worth close to £200 million in today’s market, so we are rewinding the clock by exploring the most expensive transfers in football before 2010, but adjusted for inflation to match today’s true value.
- As the headline suggests, we are taking into account transfers that were completed up until 2010.
- Adjusted for inflation, six of the 10 deals below would rank in the top 10 all-time most expensive transfers.
- Serie A’s heyday in the late 1990’s and into the early naughties saw huge figures being exchanged; seven of the 10 involve a player leaving or joining an Italian club.
Most Expensive Transfers in Football Before 2010 Adjusted For Inflation
Using Hargreaves Lansdown’s calculator, we have been able to show the effect of inflation on the transfers listed below, and uncover what they would be worth in today’s money.
10. Rio Ferdinand £64.5m (£30m in 2002)
One of the first of his kind, Rio Ferdinand was an imposing, speedy ball-playing defender that would undoubtedly command a fee in excess of £64m – the world record price for a defender Manchester United paid in 2002, adjusted to today’s inflation.
His recent claim of a £170m price tag is far-fetched to say the least, but a long list of desirable characteristics would make him one of the most sought after defenders in today’s market.
A six-time Premier League Team of the Season inclusion, as well as a six-time recipient of the trophy itself – it is safe to say it was £30m well spent from Manchester United.
9. Gabriel Batistuta – £72m (£32m in 2000)
Argentina’s second-most prolific scorer of all-time often doesn’t get the adulation he deserves, but his £32m move from Fiorentina to Roma at the turn of the millennium typified the might and power of Serie A‘s golden age.
Having fired in 23 goals in 30 appearances in the league, as well as five in 10 in the Champions League, the trophy-starved Romans were eager to bring in the necessary firepower in order to deliver the Scudetto to the capital.
In doing so, they paid £32m for the most feared striker in world football, which also happened to be the most expensive fee ever for a player aged over 30.
It typical fashion, ‘Batigol’ more than lived up to his billing by scoring nine times in his first seven games, before rounding off a title-winning season with a grand total of 20.
8. Andriy Shevchenko – £74m (£39m in 2006)
Having established himself as one of the most potent forwards in Europe, Ukraine’s crowning jewel switched Milan for London in 2006 after Chelsea paid a British record fee of £39m.
Having been awarded the Ballon D’or after guiding AC to a Scudetto two years prior, he rounded off his career in red and black with a staggering 175 goals in 322 games.
He had unquestionably taken up the mantle as the world’s most prolific striker after Gabriel Batistuta entered the twilight of career, and a move to Europe’s new leading division appeared the logical next step.
Despite netting in his opening game in the Community Shield, a niggling injury that had threatened to keep him out of the World Cup that year weighed heavy, and the serial marksman appeared alarmingly sluggish in his debut season.
After playing second fiddle to Didier Drogba for two years, he returned to Milan in the summer of 2008 with a grand total of nine Premier League goals.
7. Christian Vieri – £94.9m (£41m in 1999)
Another of the Serie A’s abundant selection of strikers in the late 1990’s, Christian Vieira was rightly regarded as one of the world’s best in his prime, and his goalscoring return is testament to that.
In his most prolific years, the Italian hit double figures in eight consecutive seasons in Spain and Italy, and after making the switch from Lazio to Inter Milan for a monumental £41m fee in 1999, he would go on to score 123 times in 190 appearances for I Nerazzurri.
It is also worth noting that his nine goals at the World Cup is the same tally as tournament greats Roberto Baggio and Paolo Rossi, who both featured in far more games that Vieri.
Strong, dominant, two-footed and a keen opportunist, he is no doubt one of the most under appreciated forwards of his generation.
6. Kaka – £99m (£56m in 2009)
Just days separated Kaka’s then-world record transfer from AC Milan to Real Madrid, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s £80m switch to the Spanish capital.
The shadow of Madrid’s most prolific scorer loomed large that window, but the enormity of Kaka’s switch to Real can not be underestimated.
A Ballon D’or recipient two years prior, the Brazilian was blessed with exceptional speed given his height and build, which was also complemented by an incomparable, ambidextrous creativity on the ball.
49 goals involvements in 85 La Liga games is a staggering return for a player who is largely forgotten about in Madrid, and although his record transfer didn’t quite pan out as everyone had hoped, Kaka is a household favourite for any keen football fan.
5. Zinedine Zidane – £101.3m (£46.6m in 2001)
The world’s best player became its most expensive when Florentino Perez and Real Madrid paid £46m to bring Zinedine Zidane to Spain.
Upon completing the switch from Juventus, the mercurial Frenchman said: “It is indeed a lot of money. I am fully aware of that and my thoughts on the matter have not changed.”
£46m is a fee now associated with run-of-the-mill-players, but at the time one of the game’s quintessential number 10’s commanded a world record fee which is now worth in excess of £100m.
Although one La Liga and a sole Champions League triumph is perhaps not the trophy haul he had dreamed of when moving to Los Blancos, he was the graceful epicentre of a star-studded ‘Galacticos’ side, and is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders ever.
4. Gianluigi Buffon – £108m (£50m in 2001)
In an era where wavy-haired Serie A strikers commanded the biggest fees in world football, Gianluigi Buffon bucked that trend in 2001 after Juventus paid a world-record sum for the then-Parma goalkeeper.
Incredibly, the 45-year-old is still knocking about at the club where it all started, and made 17 appearances in Italy’s second division this season.
As the man himself claimed in 2019, he turned out to be one of the best investments the Old Lady have ever made, going on to make 685 appearances whilst registering 322 clean sheets.
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovich – £111.5m (£63m in 2009)
One of football’s more colourful, albeit egotistical characters, Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently announced his retirement from football aged 41.
Known for his remarkable self-confidence, the Swede’s £63m to Barcelona in 2009 appeared to be one of the signings of the window, as he joined up with a glittering Blaugrana side headed up by Pep Guardiola.
Despite netting 22 time in 46 appearances, he describes his solitary season in Catalonia as the ‘worst memory’ of his career, admitting that he ‘lost his identity’.
Zlatan Ibrahimović: “My worst memory is Barcelona.” (2022)
José Mourinho, saying he warned Zlatan that he was making a mistake by going to Barcelona and that Inter Milan would be the ones to win the Champions League.pic.twitter.com/uE0k3bCeZD
— IM🇵🇹 (@Iconic_Mourinho) June 28, 2023
A grating relationship with Pep Guardiola underlined his short stint at Barca, describing the double-treble winner as a ‘spineless coward’.
Among some of the notable quotes on his time at the club, this one perhaps typifies why it didn’t work out: “None of the lads acted like superstars, which was strange. Messi, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, the whole gang – they were like schoolboys.”
2. Luis Figo – £120m (£54m in 2000)
At his peak, Luis Figo was the world’s most gifted player, and in 2000 he became its most expensive in one of the wildest transfer stories in history.
His controversial switch from Barcelona to Real Madrid has become such an infamous chapter in the rich tapestry of ‘El Clasico’, that Netflix has even made an entire documentary chronicling the ordeal – certainly worth a watch.
In short, he never intended to move to the capital, and was at the centre of an elaborate political tug-of-war carried out by the Madrid presidential candidate Florentino Pérez, his agent José Veiga and Paulo Futre, who was brokering the transfer.
Of course, his time at Madrid resulted in two La Liga triumphs, a Champions League title and a Ballon D’or, but the football world will always been drawn to the ugly scenes of a pig’s head thrown from the crowd upon his return to the Camp Nou.
An often misunderstood chapter of his career has unfortunately underpinned his time in Madrid, but there is no doubting his place among football’s greats.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – £141.5m (£80m in 2009)
As already mentioned, Real Madrid broke their own world-record just days after seemingly making Kaka their marquee signing of 2009.
However, as history has shown, the world’s best player at the time, Cristiano Ronaldo would prove to be one of, if not the single greatest signing in history after cementing himself as a legend in every sense of the word.
He left for Juventus in 2018 as Los Blancos’ all-time record goalscorer, netting a stupendous return of 450 goals in 438 games. Within that time frame, he also helped himself to four Ballon D’ors, four Champions League titles and two domestic triumphs.
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