The article ranks the most successful world record transfers in football over the past 50 years, focusing on the £200m fee paid for Neymar Jr by Paris Saint-Germain. It discusses the historical context and trends in football transfer fees.
Key points
Neymar's transfer fee of £200m is the highest in football history.
The record has stood for almost a decade.
The article tracks the evolution of world record fees.
It discusses trends in football power and dominance.
Historical contexts include the Italian golden era and Real Madrid's spending.
Records are there to be broken, but that figure has stood as football's most expensive sum for almost a decade now and it is hard to see anyone topping it soon.
Yet tracking the progression of the world record fee offers an insight into evolving trends of power and dominance in global football - from the Italian golden era to Real Madrid's Galactico splurge and, ultimately, Parisian riches.
In the past half century, since Vicenza made jointly-owned Paolo Rossi the most expensive player when acquiring him from Juventus, the record has been broken 20 times, most recently in 2017.
The names glitter like their price tags, Diego Maradona and Brazilian Ronaldo both there twice - being the world's most expensive footballer places you in an elite club where goals, glory and prestige are currency.
Not all premium purchases pack a punch, of course. Neymar brought profile and panache to Paris but could not deliver the holy grail of European success, Denilson's trickery failed to help Real Betis beat the drop, a car crash curtailed Gigi Lentini's buccaneering brilliance.
But let's look at those record deals that prove a hit - value for money, if you like, moves that would have money saving expert Martin Lewis nodding approvingly.
Q&A
What was the highest transfer fee in football history?
The highest transfer fee in football history is £200m, paid by Paris Saint-Germain for Neymar Jr.
How long has the Neymar transfer fee record stood?
The Neymar transfer fee record has stood for almost a decade.
What trends in football transfers are highlighted in the article?
The article highlights trends from the Italian golden era, Real Madrid's Galactico splurge, and the rise of Parisian riches.
Will the Neymar transfer fee ever be surpassed?
It is currently hard to see anyone topping Neymar's transfer fee of £200m soon.
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"Wales, Golf, Madrid." Gareth Bale wasn't always adored at the Bernabeu, and when former Real Madrid star Predrag Mijatovic suggested those were the order of the Welshman's priorities, it stuck.
For all the noise that he didn't care, though, Bale left Madrid with five European crowns.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo has more than his three Champions League final goals and arguably no one has done it better than Bale's 2018 bicycle kick against Liverpool.
His legacy among Madridistas may have been scorched by his penchant for the putting green, but Bale's ability to deliver big moments, and 106 goals in total, eked enough from his £86m arrival in 2013 to reach number 10 on this list.
Gareth Bale
Gareth Bale joined Real Madrid from Tottenham for £86m in 2013 - he won five Champions Leagues, scoring in two finals, as well as three La Liga titles, a Copa del Rey and numberous super cups [Getty Images]
Which one of Ronaldo's world record moves was better? When he burst into the global footballing conscious with 47 goals in 49 games during a single season at Barcelona after arriving from PSV for £13.2m?
Or the debut campaign at Inter where, up against the pound-for-pound best defenders in the world, he toyed with Serie A markers and netted 34 goals in all competitions?
His first Ballon d'Or in 1997 straddled those electric campaigns, starring in Barcelona's Cup Winners' Cup and Copa del Rey triumphs, and at the Nou Camp they were certainly wowed - the Catalan giants just wish they could have held on to 'The Phenomenon' for longer.
Inter, having stumped up the Brazilian's buyout clause, got a 20-year-old with the world at his record-breaking feet who would lead them to Uefa Cup glory that season and later captain the Nerazzurri.
Ronaldo lifts Cup Winners' Cup
Ronaldo's Barcelona stint only lasted one season, but saw him score 47 goals in 49 games for Bobby Robson's side. At Inter, he netted 59 in 99 games [Getty Images]
But Ronaldo's dreaded knee injuries meant his time at San Siro never realised the glorious heights of that first scintillating season.
After the initial injury in November 1999, by which point Inter had paid another world record fee for Christian Vieri, Ronaldo managed only 10 Serie A games in two years before joining Real Madrid after Brazil's 2002 World Cup triumph.
With that in mind, Ronaldo's Barcelona transfer pips his Inter move to come in at eight. If his mesmerising spell in Blaugrana had lasted longer, it would be a lot higher…
Alan Shearer celebrates
Alan Shearer scored 206 goals in 405 games during 10 seasons at Newcastle, after joining from Blackburn for £15m in 1996 - a fee that with inflation has been suggested would be worth more than £200m today [Getty Images]
The summer of 1996 was a fruitful one for club accountants. Before July was out, Newcastle United broke the record again to take Alan Shearer from Blackburn Rovers.
Shearer - after three successive seasons scoring more than 30 Premier League goals and a Euro 96 Golden Boot - had his pick of Manchester United or Real Madrid.
Instead he chose a £15m homecoming, looking to propel Kevin Keegan's Toon outfit from runners-up to title winners.
The goals flowed even if the silverware didn't - 206 in total, the England striker charged around St James', arm aloft, to become Newcastle and the Premier League's all-time top scorer.
Netting the most satisfying volley in Champions League final history is perhaps worth the £46.6m Real Madrid paid Juventus for Zinedine Zidane alone. Real purchased peak Zizou and got an immediate delivery on their dough that season.
The Frenchman joins this list at six as, despite that being his only European triumph as a player, Zidane's affiliation with the club saw him return to lead Madrid to three successive crowns from the dugout.
Luis Figo
Barca fans threw objects, including a pig's head, at former star Luis Figo every time he took a corner during the Clasico in November 2002 - such was the volume of objects thrown that play was suspended at the Nou Camp for almost 20 minutes in the second half [Getty Images]
The transfer that altered the course of Real Madrid's modern history, though, was snagging Luis Figo from bitter rivals Barcelona in 2000, heralding the dawn of Florentino Perez's presidency and the club's Galactico era, breaking the transfer record five times in a row over the next 13 years.
Perez, bidding to be elected, bet all his chips on bringing Figo to Madrid as the Portugal star's contract talks at the Nou Camp stalled.
Figo unwittingly found himself embroiled in a soap opera of a transfer saga - power in the hands of those who wanted a slice of his talent and crazed by the cash that came with it.
Figo looked dazed and bewildered at his unveiling but showed his class once he hit the Bernabeu turf. Winning the Ballon d'Or months after arriving in Madrid, in part for his form at Barcelona, was further salt in the Catalan club's wounds.
Barca's Culers responded with a pig's head.
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio scored 115 goals in 200 games at Juventus during an Italian era characterised by frugal defending. Baggio won the Uefa Cup and Serie A title, as well as landing the Ballon d'Or while in Turin [Getty Images]
The story goes Fiorentina president Flavio Pontello had to barricade himself inside Stadio Artemio Franchi as a rioting mob of angry La Viola fans protested the sale of star Roberto Baggio to rivals Juventus for a world record £8m in May 1990.
The same wrath greeted Baggio on his return to Florence even as 'The Divine Ponytail', who converted to Buddhism after a career-threatening injury, refused to take a spot-kick against his old club and then wrapped one of the purple scarves thrown towards him around his neck.
That did nothing to satisfy supporters in Turin, who felt Baggio was reluctant to join anyway, even if the diminutive Italian's brilliance helped drag Juventus to a Uefa Cup triumph in 1993 and overcome Milan's Serie A dominance two years later.
Baggio left Stadio delle Alpi with 115 goals and 54 assists in 200 games, but the 1993 Ballon d'Or winner's contribution cannot be determined merely by stats.
Following Baggio at three is Ruud Gullit, a transformative cog in Silvio Berlusconi's own all-star cast assembled at San Siro after joining AC Milan from PSV for £6m in 1987.
Shortly after touching down in Milan, the versatile 'total footballer' who could play anywhere and do almost anything with his poise, skill and formidable frame, won the Ballon d'Or and helped the Rossoneri clinch a first Scudetto in a decade.
Gullit was one of three famed Dutchmen in the side that then ended Milan's 20-year wait for a European Cup in 1989, him and Marco van Basten both scoring twice in the final, before retaining that crown the following summer.
The elegant all-rounder, though, says a knee problem during that first European success took away some of his edge.
Between injury issues and Italian football's limit on foreign players, he missed the 1993 Champions League final and eventually left Serie A, via Sampdoria, for Chelsea.
Ruud Gullit
Ruud Gullit played 171 times for AC Milan, scoring 56 goals. He won two European Cups, two Serie A titles and a Ballon d'Or during his time at San Siro [Getty Images]
For all Diego Maradona twinkled at the Nou Camp, his time in Catalonia is characterised by all-night parties and the brawl with Athletic Club players that brought a three-month ban and convinced Barca chiefs they no longer wanted to indulge the game's most-gifted star.
In Naples, fans contributed to help get a world record £5m deal over the line and Maradona found a city reflecting his own flaws, beautiful but broken - one in the Camorra's grip and recovering from a deadly earthquake.
Maradona guided Napoli to a first ever Scudetto and added another three years later. He won the Uefa Cup and Coppa Italia and when his stunning individual performances lifted Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, Neapolitans proudly declared him theirs.
His legacy transcends football because of how he resonated with the people of Naples, the anti-establishment 'Pibe' who echoed their principles. It's why he's still worshipped today - from the stadium bearing his name to the dizzying Quartieri Spagnoli streets lined with murals and memorabilia.
Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona spent seven seasons at Napoli, winning Serie A twice, a Coppa Italia and the Uefa Cup [Getty Images]
In at number one, though, is a force who made the £80m Real Madrid coughed up to prise him from Manchester United in 2009 look like pennies. To think 33 goals in 35 games during his first season at the Bernabeu would prove the least prolific.
Cristiano Ronaldo channelled every ounce of energy into becoming the best in the world - phenomenal with the ball, technically sublime yet a physical specimen who could jump higher, run faster and out-battle almost any defender on the planet.
The Portugal legend scored 450 goals in 438 games over nine seasons. He won four Champions Leagues and four Ballons d'Or while in Madrid, and when the time came to sell the 33-year-old to Juventus in 2018, Real still made a £13m profit.
