List of most expensive association football transfers

All selling clubs involved in transfers on this list are under UEFA's jurisdiction. Most players transfer to clubs from the Big Five Leagues, with half of them being Premier League clubs. Saudi Arabian clubs are the only purchasing clubs not under UEFA's jurisdiction. Overall, Manchester United has made the list nine times for player purchases, the most among all clubs. Romelu Lukaku appears on this list three times for moves to Manchester United, Inter Milan, and Chelsea. Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo appear on the list twice. All of the players on the list are of European (UEFA), South American (CONMEBOL) or African (CAF) origin. There are currently no players on the list from the remaining regions; North America (CONCACAF), Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC). Ten French players have made their name on the list, the most among all countries. Most transfer fees listed are not officially disclosed by the trading clubs and are reported by reliable mainstream media. Different media outlets may report varying transfer fees. The transfer fees are ranked in Euro (€) and based on the exchange rate at the time of the transfer. Statistics Most expensive player by confederation File:20180610 FIFA Friendly Match Austria vs. Brazil Neymar 850 1705.jpg|Neymar, the most expensive South American (CONMEBOL) File:2019-07-17 SG Dynamo Dresden vs. Paris Saint-Germain by Sandro Halank–129 (cropped).jpg|Kylian Mbappé, the most expensive European player (UEFA) File:Nicolas Pepe LOSC (cropped).jpg|Nicolas Pépé, the most expensive African player (CAF) File:USMNT vs. Trinidad and Tobago (48125059622) (cropped).jpg|Christian Pulisic, the most expensive North American player (CONCACAF) File:토트넘-유벤투스 이적설에 직접 답한 김민재 1m 42s.jpg|Kim Min-jae, the most expensive Asian player (AFC) File:Russia-New Zeland (17).jpg|Chris Wood, the most expensive Oceania player (OFC) ==World football transfer record==

The first player to ever be transferred for a fee of over £100 was Scottish striker Willie Groves when he together with Jack Reynolds (£50) made the switch from West Bromwich Albion to Aston Villa in 1893, It was not until 1928 that the first five-figure transfer took place. David Jack of Bolton Wanderers was the subject of interest from Arsenal, and in order to negotiate the fee down, Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman got the Bolton representatives drunk. Subsequently, David Jack was transferred for a world record fee when Arsenal paid £10,890 to Bolton for his services, after Bolton had asked for £13,000, which was double the previous record made when Sunderland signed Burnley's Bob Kelly a fee of for £6,500. kickstarted a year-by-year succession of record breaking transfers: Ronaldo moved the following year to Inter Milan from Barcelona for a fee of £17m, which was followed in 1998 by the shock transfer of his fellow countryman Denílson from São Paulo to Real Betis for a fee of approximately £21m. In 1999 and 2000, Italian clubs returned to their record-breaking ways, with Christian Vieri transferring from Lazio to Inter Milan for £28m, while Hernán Crespo's transfer from Parma to Lazio ensured he became the first player to cost more than £30m. The transfer prompted the BBC to ask "has the world gone mad"? It took two weeks for the record to be broken when Luís Figo made a controversial £37m move from Barcelona to rivals Real Madrid. A year later, Real increased the record again with a signing of Zinedine Zidane for £48m. Zidane's record stood for 8 years, the longest since the 1940s. Real Madrid continued with the Galácticos policy by buying Kaká from Milan for €67m (£56m), which was the world record in pound sterling. However, both world record in euro and in pound sterling were broken by Real themselves when signing Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m (€94m) from Manchester United in the same transfer window, Four years later Real Madrid broke the record again after completed the signing of Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013. Although Real initially insisted that the transfer cost €91.59m, slightly less than the Ronaldo fee, the deal was widely reported to be around €100m (around £85.1m). Documents leaked in 2016 by Football Leaks revealed that instalments brought the final Bale fee up to a total of €100,759,418. In 2016, Manchester United eventually took the record away from Real Madrid, signing French midfielder Paul Pogba for €105m (£89m), four years after having released him to Juventus for training compensation. A year after the Pogba transfer, however, there was a major jump in the record fee. Paris Saint-Germain matched the €222m buyout fee of Barcelona's Neymar, converted to a reported £198m by different sources, or £200m more than double the previous record. This was the first time that the record fee was paid by a French club. Overall, Barcelona has broken the record for the highest transfer fee received four times, while Real Madrid has broken the record for the highest transfer fee paid for a player five times. Historical progression The transfer fees fluctuate due to exchange rate variations and are based on the exchange rate at the time of the transfer. Number of record players by country ==Managers==

While players are often purchased for high fees, the fee to release a manager from their contract is a lot less. Usually described as a "compensation fee", the amount paid to the manager's current club is based around several factors including the total salary for the current length of his contract, as well as potential bonuses and sponsorship deals, and additional fees if the club also need to pay compensation to hire a new manager. The transfer fees fluctuate due to exchange rate variations and are based on the exchange rate at the time of the transfer. ==Women==

This list only includes transfers where a fee amount is reported publicly. The transfer fees are ranked in Pound (£) and based on the exchange rate at the time of the transfer. Fees are in thousands. ==Gallery==

File:Chelsea vs. Arsenal, 29 May 2019 21 (cropped).jpg|Kepa Arrizabalaga, the most expensive goalkeeper File:2021 Joško Gvardiol 2 (cropped2).jpg|Joško Gvardiol, the most expensive defender File:Enzo_Fernández_2025_FIFA_Club_World_Cup_Final.jpg|Enzo Fernández, the most expensive midfielder File:20180610 FIFA Friendly Match Austria vs. Brazil Neymar 850 1705.jpg|Neymar, the most expensive forward and the most expensive footballer File:2019-07-17 SG Dynamo Dresden vs. Paris Saint-Germain by Sandro Halank–129 (cropped).jpg|Kylian Mbappé, the most expensive teenager and the most expensive player in a domestic transfer File:2019-07-12 Fußball; Freundschaftsspiel RB Leipzig - FC Zürich 1DX 1124 by Stepro (cropped).jpg|Julian Nagelsmann, the most expensive manager File:Grace_Geyoro_(PSG_in_Qatar).png|Grace Geyoro, the most expensive women's player File:NC_Courage_vs_Tigres_(Jul_2025)_032_(cropped).jpg|Lizbeth Ovalle, the second most expensive women's player ==See also==