European football is without a doubt a huge industry. During 2016/17 alone, the market size of European professional football was 25.5B €, according to Statista.

Those of us who grew up watching European football, still remember the times when players were bought for a lot less. I still remember how my imagination went wild as a kid when I heard that Juventus bought Alessandro Del Piero for the unbelievable price of 2.6M € in 1993, and this was for a young player who still needed to prove himself!

It was shocking to hear this number back then, and it is funny how the sums that football clubs pay grew exponentially over the years. Imagine buying a young player such as Kylian Mbappe, for example, for the equivalent of 2.6M € in 1993. That would be buying him for about 4M € today. In the world of European professional football today, however, the reality is that this year Paris SG bought Kylian Mbappe for 135M €.

This week, the CIES football observatory revealed the biggest spending football clubs between the years 2010-2018. It seems we have made a long way since the 90’s, when I was a kid.

So here they are, from bottom to top, the biggest spenders and most expensive transfers of European professional football for the years 2010-2018:

20. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) have spent 531M € in transfer fees since 2010. The most expensive transfer they had was buying André Schürrle from Wolfsburg for 27M €.

19. Bayern München (Ger) have spent 554M € in transfer fees, with the transfer of Corentin Tolisso from Olympique Lyon being the most expensive transfer for them in that period of time. They paid 41.5M € for that transfer.

18. Valencia CF (ESP) have spent 555M € in transfer fees, highest amount was paid to buy Gonçalo Guedes from Paris SG for the amount of 36M €.

17. Napoli (ITA) have spent 579M € in transfer fees, and the highest transfer for them was for Gonzalo Higuaín from Real Madrid. The amount for that transfer was 39M €. 

Fun fact: Gonzalo Higuaín alone was bought for the total staggering amount of 148M € for all transfers in the last 5 years.

16. Tottenham (ENG) have spent 589M € in transfer fees. The highest transfer for them between 2010-2018 was for Davinson Sánchez from Ajax, for 36M €.

15. Everton (ENG) have spent 597M € in transfer fees during these years. Their highest fee for a transfer was 49.4M € for Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea.

14. Arsenal (ENG) have spent 671M € in transfer fees, and their most expensive transfer was buying Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from B. Dortmund for 63.8M €.

13. Milan (ITA) have spent 678M € in transfer fees, highest amount they paid was for Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus, 42M €. Here it is maybe a good place to point out the fact that at the end of last season Bonucci returned to Juventus for 35M €.

12. Monaco (FRA) have spent 706M € in transfer fees, with the transfer of James Rodríguez being the most expensive. They paid Porto 45M € for him.

11. Internazionale Milano (ITA) have spent 748M € in transfer fees. The highest amount was paid to Sporting CP for João Mário. They bought him for 36M €.

Bought for 100M € at the age of 33, and also the presenter of Ferrari, Ronaldo is one of the most profitable players in the history of Professional European football

TOP 10:

10. Atlético Madrid (ESP) have spent 764M € in transfer fees during 2010-2018, and the most expensive transfer for them was buying Thomas Lemar from Monaco for 70M €.

9. Roma (ITA) have spent 809M € in transfer fees, highest amount was paid to buy Steven Nzonzi from Sevilla for the amount of 26.7M €.

8. Real Madrid (ESP) have spent 912M € in transfer fees. The most expensive transfer they had was buying Gareth Bale from Tottenham for 100M €.

7. Liverpool (ENG) have spent 1.07B (!) € in transfer fees, and their most expensive transfer was buying Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for 84M €.

6. Juventus (ITA) have spent 1.08B € in transfer fees, and the highest transfer for them was for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid. The amount for that transfer was 100M €.

Now we are getting to the REALLY high amounts of transfer fees:

5. Manchester United (ENG) have spent 1.1B € in transfer fees, with the transfer of Paul Pogba being the most expensive. They paid Juventus 110M € for him.

4. Paris SG (FRA) have spent 1.24B € in transfer fees during 2010-2018, and the most expensive transfer for them was buying Neymar from Barcelona for 222M € ! This was in fact the most expensive transfer in the history of European professional football.

3. FC Barcelona (ESP) have spent 1.26B € in transfer fees. Their highest fee for a transfer was 120M € for Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool.

2. Chelsea (ENG) have spent 1.31B € in transfer fees, and the highest transfer for them between 2010-2018 was for Kepa from Athletic Bilbao, for 80M €.

1. The team that have spent the highest transfer fees between the years 2010-2018 is Manchester City (ENG) with a striking amount of 1.47B €. Their highest transfer fee was paid to buy Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg for 75M


With the records for highest transfer fees keep breaking, it will be interesting to see where this goes. I, for one, am wondering how much more the top clubs in European professional football will be willing to pay to get the top talents out there in the upcoming years.

Will the sums just keep getting higher, or will there be a change in sentiment?

Let me know what you think in the comments below, would very much like to hear more opinions about this.

Also, if you enjoyed reading this article, please consider voting, commenting, and sharing. Thank you!