Is there a curse on Premier League transfers above £70million? Will Declan Rice be the next player to massively flop? Going off this list, probably. Sorry, Declan.
Including an alarming number of flops, we have ranked the 13 players who cost a Premier League club £70m or more.
13) Romelu Lukaku
What an utterly disastrous signing this turned out to be. Chelsea bought Romelu Lukaku (again) for £97.5m after the Belgian’s troubled stint at Stamford Bridge between 2011 and 2014, when he was loaned out to West Brom and Everton, flew, but failed to impress at his parent club. He then permanently joined Everton (brilliant), Manchester United (not so brilliant) and Inter (brilliant again) before a fabled return to west London in 2021, when he was now the full package and ready to set the Premier League alight.
To say it yet again didn’t work for Lukaku is an understatement. His start was some way short of spectacular but things were relatively smooth until an il-advised interview with Sky Italia in which he openly criticised then-Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel and basically admitted he wanted to return to Inter. Lukaku then fell out of favour and got his wish last summer when he was sent back to Italy on loan for the 2022/23 season.
Inter want to keep Lukaku on a permanent basis, while Chelsea appear to have no interest in trying for a third time with their former record signing. This transfer was supposed to be a banker, but it has ended up becoming one of the worst pieces of business in Premier League history.
12) Jadon Sancho
Manchester United have had some absolute howlers in the transfer market over the years, and my oh my, the signing of Jadon Sancho has been a poor one. The Red Devils chased the England winger for well over a year while he was at Borussia Dortmund, before eventually landing him for around £73m in the summer of 2021.
Sancho is a young player, so he can still turn things around at Old Trafford or elsewhere, but there has not been a great deal to suggest he will. His final season at Dortmund saw him provide 36 goal contributions in 38 games across all competitions. In his first at Old Trafford, he had eight in 38 before improving to 10 in 41. Stats are not everything, but this is not very good. The idea of the ‘Bundesliga tax’ has certainly become more prominent after this transfer.
Tottenham are reportedly interested in signing Sancho in what could be a good move for him. Spurs are in a worse place than United, though, and you get the feeling this season is Sancho’s last to really prove himself to Erik ten Hag.
MORE: Sancho 51st, Ronaldo 9th: Ranking all 55 Manchester United signings since Sir Alex retired
11) Harry Maguire
From one Manchester United flop to another, Harry Maguire was brought in for what remains a world-record fee for a defender when the Premier League giants paid £80m to prise him from Leicester City. Maguire did well enough under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be given the captaincy, which resulted in even more pressure when the colossal transfer fee was already doing a number on him.
Pressure may well be the main reason for Maguire’s downfall. He was obviously a very good player when he joined; some might even say he was borderline world class (depending on your definition). Man United was clearly not a good fit for the England centre-back, who has had a torrid time in truth.
The Red Devils should look to cut ties with Maguire this summer, although the player seems content being Ten Hag’s fifth-choice central defender behind Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof, Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw, which is a bit mental to say about an £80m player. If he stays, he will probably fall even further down the pecking order with Ten Hag looking to sign another player in his position, unless Lindelof and/or Varane depart.
Really, they need him to leave to fund a title challenge.
10) Nicolas Pepe
Into the top ten of this horrendous list we go. There is not an absolute nailed-on success for a while yet to be brutally honest. Arsenal’s record signing (for now) is Nicolas Pepe, who cost the Gunners £72m when he signed from Lille in 2019. There has been talk before and since that then-head coach Unai Emery preferred and wanted to sign Wilfried Zaha, but was given the Crystal Palace star’s Ivory Coast teammate instead. This Arsenal fan right here was ecstatic nonetheless, running around waving his red-and-white scarf like a lunatic. How wrong I was to assume Pepe would be a superstar at the Emirates.
Although Pepe is widely regarded as a massive flop, he did have his moments in an Arsenal shirt. The ex-Nice loanee came up big when Mikel Arteta led the Londoners to FA Cup glory, providing an assist in the semi-final and final against Manchester City and Chelsea. 18 goal contributions in his debut year was an okay return, if not a bit underwhelming for someone who cost so much money.
The following season, Pepe had 21, including 10 goals in 29 Premier League matches. He came second in the voting for Arsenal’s Player of the Year, though they did finish eighth so some perspective is required. 21/22 was rubbish and the Ivorian spent the last 12 months back in France with Nice. He is going to come back to north London but it would not be surprising to see his contract terminated, which is why he is below the next three players on this list. Edu and Arteta need the Saudis to come up clutch with this one.
9) Kepa Arrizabalaga
Kepa would be a world-class goalkeeper if he just improved on his handling, positioning, dominance of his penalty box and distribution. To have so many damning flaws as a goalkeeper is quite worrying. If not for a solid 22/23 season, the Spaniard would probably be outside of the top 10 here.
The former Athletic Bilbao shot-stopper (I use the term loosely) is the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, joining Chelsea for a mind-blowing £72m in August 2018. Since the move, he has only played 12 times for his country, lost his spot as first-choice goalkeeper after two seasons, replaced by a goalkeeper the Blues signed for around £56m less, who would go on to become the best in his position in Europe, before falling off a cliff and giving Kepa another chance to impress.
If Kepa isn’t remembered for his flimsy goalkeeping, he will be remembered for his penalty-saving (and non-penalty saving) antics.
8) Paul Pogba
Ah, Paul Pogba. What a player he has shown he can be. Manchester United broke the world transfer record in 2016 when they paid £89m to sign the player they released four years before. It is safe to say the Red Devils did not get the player they thought they were buying.
Pogba’s first season back at Old Trafford was actually very, very good. He scored nine goals and got six assists as Jose Mourinho’s side won the Carabao Cup and Europa League, which was their most recent trophy until Ten Hag ruined all the fun and made United decent again. The French international played in all 15 Europa matches and scored in the final win over Ajax. But his (second) debut season at the club was as good as it got for Pogba.
17/18 wasn’t too bad, though. 10 assists and six goals in the league was a decent return, but a bit disappointing for a man who was once the most expensive footballer in the world. The following year was more like it as Pogba scored 16 and assisted 11 in 47 games across all competitions, but then the wheels really began to fall off in Solskjaer’s first full season at the helm.
After running the show for France at the World Cup a year before, injuries greatly hindered Pogba’s 19/20 campaign. After another below-average season, Pogba returned to Juventus, joining the Serie A juggernauts on a free transfer for the second time in his career. What a kick to the tits that was for United.
7) Antony
It is relatively hard to judge Antony as he only joined Manchester United last August. Going into his first summer transfer window at the club, Ten Hag decided he would try to bring in some of his former Ajax players, ending up with two and chasing another for three months straight, despite Frenkie de Jong making it abundantly clear he was not leaving Barcelona. Persistence can sometimes be saluted, but not here…definitely not here.
United ended up spending more than they ever have before in a single window, signing Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Antony, who joined for around £80m in a bitter-sweet deal for Ten Hag. Reports suggest the Brazilian was available for significantly less earlier in the transfer window, but the Dutch manager did get his shiny new toy eventually, so every cloud.
Antony scored 10 and assisted five in 47 games as the Red Devils won the Carabao Cup and reached the FA Cup final, a match the £80m man missed through injury. The result probably wouldn’t have been any different against Manchester City if Antony was fit, but they definitely would have had a better chance when you factor in Sancho’s weekly anonymous performance.
READ: Top 10 Premier League transfer overpays of all time includes two Man Utd players
6) Darwin Nunez
A few of the players on this list have been purchased in the last year, so we are in the business of predicting how well they will fare after their big-money moves to the Premier League. For example, it is hard to say who is a better signing out of Darwin Nunez and Antony; they have both spent one season in England and both did a bit meh. They didn’t set the world alight and for sure had their fair share of critics. It was almost a toss-up on who will be a bigger success at their respective clubs and Nunez edges it.
You are much more likely to crumble under the pressure at Manchester United than you are at Liverpool. That is a fact. You look at someone like Peter Crouch, who moved to Anfield and had a horrible goalscoring start, but the club’s fans rallied behind him, made the England striker one of their own and ensured he would become a success. Nunez joined the Reds for a big fee (reported to be as high as £85m) and is already a fan favourite, even though he got sent off in his second league appearance and had a fairly underwhelming debut season.
Nunez is a unique talent while there have been plenty of Antonys in Our League and there will be plenty more. At Old Trafford, there is a greater chance of sinking than swimming after a poor start. At Anfield, the crowd will always throw you a float.
5) Kai Havertz
Chelsea’s biggest problem last season, and there were a lot of them, was putting the ball in the back of the net, with Kai Havertz leading the line. Somehow, they have managed to sell the German attacker to Arsenal for £65m, which is a minor miracle given his form over the last year or so – but there is definitely a player in there.
Having paid around £72m for Havertz, the Blues have only made a £7m loss on a player who was expected to fall out of favour under Mauricio Pochettino. That is pretty good business and one of the reasons the player ranks so high on this list, the other two major factors being how sh*t the standard is, and that Champions League final goal.
Scoring the only goal in a Champions League final against Manchester City ensured Havertz will always be remembered at Stamford Bridge. Without it, Havertz might be one of the biggest flops in Chelsea’s history.
4) Wesley Fofana
Well, this really does say it all. There is surely a curse when it comes to signing players for over £70m. This is not a swipe at Wesley Fofana, who is a great player, but the fact he is fourth here having played one season at Chelsea goes to show how bad big-money transfers tend to be in the English top flight.
Similar to Man United’s signing of Antony, Fofana was pursued by Chelsea for some time before the transfer became official. There was talk of a fee that would eclipse Harry Maguire’s but it did not quite happen. He still, obviously, cost an absolute fortune (around £70m).
Fofana could only manage 17 Premier League appearances in 22/23 but is guaranteed to be an important player for Chelsea for years to come. Something tells me he will complement Levi Colwill very well…
3) Enzo Fernandez
Speaking of players who will be key for Chelsea for a long time, British record transfer Enzo Fernandez joined the Blues in January and barely put a foot wrong in an incohesive shambles of a team for five months.
Fernandez starred for Argentina at the 2022 World Cup, being named Young Player of the Tournament ahead of Croatia’s Josko Gvardiol, prompting Todd Boehly to spend all of January trying to sign him from Benfica. They eventually settled on a record fee paid by a Premier League club, reported to be close to £107m.
The 22-year-old midfielder still has a lot to prove in England, but something tells me he will be just fine. Living up to that price is a whole other story, though. He has to basically be the best in his position for the foreseeable to justify it.
2) Jack Grealish
Well, well, well. Here we are. An actual successful signing?! Who’d have thought it? Saying that, the £100m Manchester City paid for Aston Villa is still an eyebrow-raising fee.
Jack Grealish had a great 22/23 Treble-winning campaign, improving massively on his first season at City, but he still does not look like a £100m footballer. The only leeway he gets in that regard is that he cost what he was worth to Villa, where he was club captain and their best player by a country mile.
Grealish took his time to adapt to life at the Etihad, initially underwhelming fans after City paid a record fee for a British player. Once again, there is a bit of leeway as it is not an overnight process becoming a cog in the Pep Guardiola machine, but at £100m, you would hope for a much more seamless transition.
The England winger played his part as the Cityzens won the Treble last season. He played 50 times across all competitions, which is impressive considering how much Guardiola loves to rotate, notching 16 goal contributions. That sounds a little underwhelming but this guy goes further than stats.
Grealish needs to kick on and get even better with City looking to win it all again next year.
1) Virgil van Dijk
This was never, ever, ever, EVER, in doubt. Liverpool were a bit of a soft touch until big Virg came along, even under heavy-metal manager Jurgen Klopp. Virgil van Dijk’s arrival flicked a switch at Anfield. Those silly dropped points against bottom-half sides like Swansea City and West Brom were behind them the day the Dutchman walked through the door. He sorted out their defence without breaking a sweat and was joined by world-class goalkeeper Alisson six months after he joined, in a transfer that completed the puzzle for Klopp and made the Reds European, and then Premier League champions.
Since joining Liverpool from Southampton for a fee in the region of £76m in January 2018, Van Dijk has won four major trophies, been named PFA Players’ Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, UEFA Men’s Player of the Year, Champions League Defender of the Season, Liverpool Fans’ Player of the Season, Liverpool Players’ Player of the Season, Football Supporters’ Federation Player of the Year, and been in the PFA Team of the Year and UEFA Team of the Year three times. Not too shabby.
He is a rare case of a £70m-plus Premier League signing not turning out to be complete and utter sh*t.
