The nine biggest spenders in world football over the past ten years.
Every year there are one or two clubs that spend more than is reasonable on new recruits. However, these are the prices that clubs need to pay in order to be able to compete at the highest level, and as a result some have spent heavily to remain in touch with the top. Below are the nine heaviest hitters when it comes to splaying out on transfer fees.
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9. Zenit St Petersburg – £217.8m
The Russians aren’t shy of cracking open the chequebook, but when you’re backed by a major gas conglomerate you can afford not to be frugal. Super rich chairman Alexander Dyukov sanctioned the £47m transfer of Brazilian forward Hulk from Porto, the £32.5m move for Benfica midfielder Axel Witsel in 2012 and even stumped up the £13m needed to land Manchester City midfielder Javi Garcia over the summer.
8. Bayern Munich – £250.6m
FC Hollywood have had to spend heavily to earn that moniker despite having a very productive youth academy that has contributed heavily to their success over the last ten years. Bayern splashed out £29m on Mario Gotze from arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund last term, and managed to follow his arrival up with the signings of Xabi Alonso, Juan Bernat and Mehdi Benatia this summer, though they did manage to snap Robert Lewandowski up on a free.
7. Liverpool – £258m
The Reds were largely bankrolled by the £75m sale of star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona this summer, but that didn’t stop them splashing out a whopping £137m this summer on the likes of Adam Lallana, Emre Can, Dejan Lovren, Mario Balotelli, Alberto Moreno, Lazar Markovic, Rickie Lambert and Divock Origi. Add that to the huge sums they spent on Suarez, Jordan Henderson, Stuart Downing and, of course, Andy Carroll then that catapults the Reds high into the top ten.
6. Barcelona – £336.4m
Last summer the Catalan giants shelled out around £68m on Neymar and quickly followed that up by bagging Luis Suarez for £75m. This summer they also made additions in the shape of Ivan Rakitic, Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu, all for pricey fees. When adding these names to previous signings like Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez then their numbers rise significantly.
5. Manchester United – £344.8m
The Red Devils have always been relatively big spenders, but it wasn’t really until this summer that their numbers were sent into overdrive. Spending huge sums on Marcos Rojo, Angel Di Maria, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera came quickly on the back of moves for Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata last season. They will of course be hoping that these moves pay off, or risk looking like one expensive mistake.
4. Paris Saint Germain – £378.1m
With new money a flurry of transfer activity often quickly follows. Over the last few years their output on transfers has rocketed with some high profile signings, including £15.7m for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, £25m for Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, £17.9m for midfielder Javier Pastore, £55m on striker Edinson Cavani, £33m for Brazil skipper Thiago Silva and a world record £50m fee for a defender after they signed David Luiz.
3. Chelsea – £396.6m
The Blues have been heavy spenders ever since Roman Abramovic took over a little over a decade ago. Most of Chelsea’s biggest signings have worked out in their favour, but two stand out as particularly costly. The £50m signing of Liverpool’s Fernando Torres didn’t work out as many had hoped, and that comes after the club shelled out just over £30m for the unimpressive Andreiy Shevchenko from AC Milan in 2006.
2. Real Madrid – £515m
Perennial big movers in the transfer market, the Spaniards have been outdoing themselves recently. Having bagged Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m in 2009, they followed up by landing Gareth Bale for a world record £86m just last summer, with moves for £63m James Rodriguez and £56m Kaka coming either side. They have also recruited heavily this summer with Toni Kroos joining from Bayern Munich. They have been lucky enough to balance this out, though, thanks to the heavy sales of Mesut Ozil, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria.
1. Manchester City – £619m
Manuel Pellegrini’s men have been turned into a real force over the last few years, and the main reason for that has been thanks to the vast wealth of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Abu Dhabi United Group, who took control of City back in 2008. They kicked off their reign by signing Robinho, and followed up by landing Sergio Aguero, Eliaquim Mangala and Fernandinho have all been signed for £30million or over in the last few campaigns. A further 12 players have all been bought for over £20m, highlighting just how trigger happy the club are when it comes to spending.