Who Holds the Record for the Most Expensive Player in Premier League History?
The Premier League is widely recognized as the most prosperous modern football league globally. While it doesn’t hold the record for the highest transfer fee ever, a significant amount of money has certainly flowed into and, more often, out of clubs based in England.
With a budget similar to that of the league’s top spending, you could either acquire the most expensive player in Premier League history or grab over 15 million editions of eScored magazine from your nearest newsstand – we know which option we’d choose.
In 1979, Trevor Francis made history as the first-ever £1m player in Britain; fast forward just over four decades, and Jack Grealish was transferred for a staggering amount one hundred times more. Remarkably, transfer fees continue to climb…
Who is the most expensive Premier League player of all time?
The most expensive player ever acquired by a Premier League team is Enzo Fernandez, who was signed by Chelsea for an astonishing £106.8m on deadline day of the January transfer window in 2023 from Portuguese club Benfica.
Although that is an eye-watering sum, it appears minimal compared to the total expenditure of the club since the new ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital began, which has reached billions within a short span.
Who held the Premier League all-time transfer record before Enzo?
The £100m milestone has only been surpassed four times in the Premier League, and Chelsea accounted for two of these in 2023. Moises Caicedo’s £100m plus £15m in add-ons could potentially make him more expensive than Enzo for the west London side in the long term.
The prior record holder was Manchester City’s transfer of Jack Grealish, with the Sky Blues triggering his £100m release clause from Aston Villa to bring him to the Etihad Stadium.
Before that, the record was held across town, when Manchester United re-signed Paul Pogba from Juventus for a fee estimated at around £89m.
There has been only one more occasion where a Premier League team has breached the £100m threshold, which occurred after Enzo’s transfer, with Declan Rice moving from West Ham United to Arsenal.
The complete list of the top 10 most expensive Premier League players of all time
