With Chelsea centre-back David Luiz having agreed to join mega-rich Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain in a deal that could ultimately rise to as much as £50m, we take a look at the previous five most expensive defenders on Planet Football …
Find out who are the most valuable players in world football.
5) Pepe: FC Porto to Real Madrid, £25m, 2007
The fiery Portugal international left the Estadio Dragao in the summer of 2007 on a five-year deal and has been at the Santiago Bernabeu ever since.
The centre back, who can also operate as a holding midfielder too, has though tended to attract more headlines for his on-pitch confrontations than his actual play.
4) Fabio Coentrao: Benfica to Real Madrid, £27m, 2011
It was the now Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho who agree to break the world-record transfer fee for a full back when he met the full value of the Portugal international’s buyout clause in his deal with Benfica, with the attack-minded left back putting pen to paper on a six-year deal in the Spanish capital.
However, the defender has not found himself as the first choice in his position at the Santiago Bernabeu these past three years due to the presence and form of Brazil international Marcelo.
3) Marquinhos: Roma to PSG, £27m, 2013
The central defender had only joined AS Roma from Corinthians in the summer of 2012 for a fee of just £3.2m.
And yet just 12 months later the Brazil international was on his way to the Parc des Princes in a deal worth a whopping £27m, although it is safe to say that the 20-year-old’s switch to the French capital has not gone quite according to plan, with the youngster spending most of his debut campaign on the bench.
2) Rio Ferdinand: Leeds United to Manchester United, £33.1m, 2002
The silky-smooth centre back joined the Red Devils in the immediate aftermath if the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea where the then England international had shone at the heart of the Three Lions back four.
So much so in fact that United decided to splash out a then British-record transfer fee for any player, with Ferdinand going on to play for the club for the next 12 years, before his departure from Old Trafford this summer.
1) Thiago Silva: Milan to PSG, £35.5m, 2012
The Brazil international moved to the Parc des Princes in the summer of 2012 as part of the same deal that also saw Rossoneri striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic move to the French capital too.
However, the central defender has more than lived up to his whopping price tag in the intervening two-year period and is now rightly regarded as being the best centre back in the world.