List of most expensive association football transfers

This article is about association football as played by men. For transfers of women's association football players, see List of most expensive women's association football transfers.
Neymar, who completed the most expensive transfer ever

The following is a list of most expensive association football transfers, which details the highest transfer fees ever paid for players, as well as transfers which set new world transfer records. The first confirmed record transfer was of Willie Groves from West Bromwich Albion to Aston Villa for £100 in 1893[1] (equivalent to £14,000 in 2023). This occurred just eight years after the introduction of professionalism by the Football Association in 1885.[2] The current transfer record was set by the transfer of Neymar from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for €222 million (£200 million) in August 2017.[3][4]

  1. ^ Barclay, Patrick (2014). The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman. Hachette. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-297-86851-4. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  2. ^ Glendenning, Barry; Murray, Scott; Bagchi, Rob; Steinberg, Jacob (30 August 2013). "The Joy of Six: record transfers". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Neymar: Paris St-Germain sign Barcelona forward for world record 222m euros". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference GuardianNeymar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).