Presented in FIFA ranking order, we bring you the most expensive players from the top 25 nations…
1) Argentina: Enzo Fernandez (Benfica to Chelsea – £105million)
Obviously a baller, but even for a World Cup winner this was a lot of money. Double the going rate, surely. Not remotely the daftest transfer antics of Chelsea’s last 12 months, though, bless ‘em.
2) France: Kylian Mbappe (Monaco to PSG – £166.4million)
Looks a sound investment for a phenomenal player until the minute he leaves for nothing next summer.
3) Brazil: Neymar (Barcelona to PSG – £198million)
Won eight French trinkets. Has never looked remotely happy or settled.
4) England: Jack Grealish (Aston Villa to Manchester City – £100million)
At least until Arsenal’s lawyers pull their fingers out.
5) Belgium: Eden Hazard (Chelsea to Real Madrid – £103.5m)
Seven goals in 76 games for Real Madrid and now out of contract and without a club. It really didn’t go well.
6) Croatia: Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid to Chelsea – £40.5million)
Three of the six most expensive Croatian transfers of all time are Kovacic. Doesn’t sit quite right, does it?
7) Netherlands: Virgil van Dijk (Southampton to Liverpool – £75million)
Cheap at twice the price. Great pretenders Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong both moved for marginally less.
8) Italy: Jorginho (Napoli to Chelsea – £57million)
Slightly more than Newcastle have paid for Sandro Tonali. We think. Transfer fees and exchange rates being notoriously tricky to pin down.
9) Portugal: Joao Felix (Benfica to Atletico Madrid – £114.5million)
It’s been a bit hit and miss, and the ill-fated loan spell at Chelsea was definitely more miss than hit. Available for purchase/loan once again this summer. It won’t be to Chelsea. Surely. Can never rule out anything with those daft lads, though.
10) Spain: Kepa Arrizabalaga (Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea – £71.6million)
This will never not be funny. Can everyone agree not to sign any Spanish lads for more than this, yeah?
11) USA: Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea – £58.3million)
Heading to Milan for slightly less after a Chelsea career that just never really got going.
12) Switzerland: Granit Xhaka (Borussia Monchengladbach to Arsenal – £33.8million)
It looked like a disaster on about 427 separate occasions but Xhaka finally departed as a member of an excellent and likeable Arsenal side.
13) Morocco: Achraf Hakimi (Inter Milan to PSG – £60million)
Could be on the move again after just two years in Paris. Man City are keen.
14) Mexico: Hirving Lozano (PSV Eindhoven to Napoli – £36million)
There’s no doubt that Napoli would have expected more bang for their buck than 30 goals and 17 assists in 155 games.
15) Germany: Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea – £72million)
Slightly more than Arsenal spent on him this summer, meaning he is Germany’s best two players of all time. That’s just maths.
16) Uruguay: Luis Suarez (Liverpool to Barcelona – £65million)
Just the 195 goals and 113 assists in 283 games for Barcelona make Suarez one of the few undisputed hits on the list.
17) Colombia: James Rodriguez (Monaco to Real Madrid – £71million)
Currently without a club after recent shortish spells in Qatar and Greece.
18) Senegal: Sadio Mane (Southampton to Liverpool – £34million)
A Premier League and a Champions League later, an absolute bargain. His £30m move to Bayern six years later, not so much.
19) Denmark: Joachim Andersen (Sampdoria to Lyon – £21.6million)
There are various Danish players who have moved for very similar fees – Christian Eriksen, Jannik Vestergaard, Kasper Dolberg, Thomas Delaney – but this 2019 deal looks the likeliest to have topped £20m. Lyon had to sell their captain to Crystal Palace two years later at a loss.
20) Japan: Shoya Nakajima (Portimonense to Al-Duhail – £31.5million)
Never heard of him? Of course you haven’t. A Japanese player left a Portuguese club for a Qatari one in February 2019 and joined Porto a few months later for a third of the price. He has since been on loan to a UAE club and Portimonense again before a free transfer to Antalyaspor and, as of right now, is without a club. All sounds perfectly normal and above board.
21) Peru: Juan Manuel Vargas (Catania to Fiorentina – £9.5million)
It’s a record that has stood for 15 years and may well stand for 15 years more.
22) Iran: Alireza Jahanbakhsh (AZ Alkmaar to Brighton – £17million)
Three years later, he was sold for less than £1m to Feyenoord, where he has 16 goals in 83 games. Which is better than the four in 61 he managed at Brighton. They don’t get all of them right.
23) Sweden: Alexander Isak (Real Sociedad to Newcastle – £63million)
So far so good for Isak on Tyneside. He and his club will hope this isn’t the only Zlatan record he breaks.
24) Ukraine: Mykhaylo Mudryk (Shakhtar Donetsk to Chelsea – £62million)
Could be north of £80m with all the add-ons. No need to worry too much about those just yet.
25) Serbia: Dusan Vlahovic (Fiorentina to Juventus – £62.8million)
Joined Juventus last January having been linked heavily with a Premier League move. We’re back to square one on that front with Chelsea and Spurs both reportedly keen but PSG the likeliest because, well, obviously.