7. Gareth Bale – Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur, £7m, 2007
Bale was hailed as one for the future when he joined Spurs, but it took him long enough to get going and the club even failed to chalk up a win when he was in the squad.
However, he quickly blossomed into not only one of the league’s best players, but one of the world’s too and earned his move to Real Madrid thanks to some scintillating form in Europe.