Football’s Most Expensive Signings and How They Turned Out for Their Club.

Football is one of the most popular sports in the world, with fans of the sport ranging from every corner of the world. With this level of recognition, it is certain to see a ton of money being earned and spent.

With the clubs earning more and more money, the transfer market becomes more and more competitive with every passing year. Throughout the recent years, we have witnessed some of the most money spent. Whether they are one of the most popular players or the up-and-coming talents with a ton of potential.

Today we will talk about the top 5 most expensive signings made by top clubs around the world and how the players turned out for their team.

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5. João Félix: 127.2 Million Euros

João Félix may come as a shock in this list. The player hasn’t met the expectations that were made of him. João Félix was at a time one of the most promising talents in the world. But the player hasn’t yet reached his potential.

The player first broke through from the under-15 team of FC Porto. The player quickly garnered attention from top clubs around the world. In the summer transfer window of 2019, the Portuguese forward moved From Benfica to Spanish giants Atletico Madrid for a staggering 127.2 million Euros. It was the record signing for the club by a long stretch. Atletico Madrid is not known to make expensive signings in the market and João Félix was their first signing of that calibre.

João Félix made 131 appearances for Atletico Madrid scoring 34 goals and 18 assists. These stats don’t really justify the amount of money spent on the player. With the amount of money spent on him, João Félix was not performing as well as the club would’ve imagined when signing him. Although he gave evidence of the player being worth the money he was brought in for, he failed to meet the numbers or the impact that the fans thought he would bring.

João Félix remained at Atletico Madrid for five seasons, being a core player for the club. But he failed to be the player he was expected to be by so many fans and other clubs. Felix now is at Chelsea after signing for the club in the 23/24 season.

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4. Ousmane Dembélé: 135 Million Euros

Ousmane Dembélé was one of the most promising talents coming up in the world of football in 2017. The player proved his worth with his explosive speed and skills to skip defenders with his will.

When Neymar Jr left Barcelona in 2017, the club needed someone to try and fill the shoes left by Neymar. And Dembélé seemed to be the man they needed with the profile of the player he was. So Barcelona went ahead and signed Ousmane Dembélé for a transfer fee of 135 million plus add-ons. Dembélé came from Dortmund after playing two seasons with the German side. The player was yet to prove his worth though now that he was in one of the Biggest Clubs in the world.

However, things didn’t go as Dembélé would’ve wanted it to. The player suffered from multiple injuries throughout his career at Barcelona. Starting from his Debut season to the season he left Barcelona, Dembélé was sidelined for a total of 699 days, more than two years. This was the main reason the player didn’t perform on the level he was expected to. Dembélé scored 40 times and assisted 43 times in his 183 appearances for the Spanish side. In the 23/24 transfer window, Dembélé moved to PSG

Ousmane Dembélé definitely had the ability to make the impact he was brought to make. But it was perhaps bad luck that stood in his way. Fans consider Dembélé a failure which is probably right considering the sum of money he was brought in from. However, it would be wrong to disregard the injury crisis he experienced at Barcelona.

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3. Philippe Coutinho: 135 Million Euros

Another big-money signing made by Barcelona in the same year was Philippe Coutinho. The signing was also made after the departure of Neymar Jr.

Coutinho came from Liverpool after 5 seasons there and impressed everyone with his skills and creativity in the attacking Midfielder position. Although his desire to move to the Catalan club predated the Neymar transfer, Liverpool still managed to squeeze Barcelona for a transfer fee of 135 million Euros. Coutinho arrived at Barcelona with high expectations like Dembélé with the same transfer fee spent on him.

Coutinho started well at Barcelona winning the Laliga title in 2018 and 2019. But Coutinho struggled to fit into the team managed by Ernesto Valverde and was loaned to Bayern Munich for a year, When he returned he struggled to get frequent minutes on the pitch and was eventually sold to Aston Villa in the summer of 2022 now playing at Vasco da Gama at the Brazilian first division.

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2. Kylian Mbappé: 180 Million Euros

One of the best if not the best talent of this generation, Kylian Mbappé, had been a Real Madrid fanboy throughout his career. Although he is now playing at Real Madrid, he was first brought up by Paris Saint-Germain. Mbappé shook the world football by storm with his explosive speed and extensive goalscoring ability and was brought in on loan from Monaco to PSG in 2017 with an option to buy. PSG didn’t make mistakes by letting go of the world-class talent and they signed the Frenchman for a mouth-watering 180 million euro fee.

Mbappé stayed at PSG for seven seasons making 308 appearances and scoring an impressive 256 goals and assisting 108 times. The Frenchman helped the Parisians reach the Champions League knockouts multiple times and even a final in 2020. However, Mbappé started to show his frustration of not being able to win the Champions League with his dream Club Real Madrid winning the European championship two times before his eyes.

The club tried to match his demands and agreed to massive amounts of salary and bonuses to keep him at the club for as long as possible, with growing interest from both Real Madrid and the player as well, eventually, he moved to Real Madrid in the 2024 summer transfer window. Mbappé was a difference maker for PSG in every season he played for the French club and his loss will certainly be felt by the fans of PSG.

1. Neymar Jr.: 222 Million Euros

Now coming at the number one spot on this list, is a transfer that would change the transfer market for the future. In the year 2017, After the notorious comeback of Barcelona to beat PSG in which Neymar would play an invaluable role,  Paris Saint-Germain activated the release clause for Neymar which was set at 222 million euros. PSG showed their wealth by acquiring one of the best players at the time from one of the greatest clubs in history. Barcelona were blown a significant hit in their ego having to let go of their star player without a say. Neymar however wasn’t upset at the transfer as he wanted to get out of the shadow of Lionel Messi. So the transfer went through and Barcelona was left with a huge hole in their squad and a quarter of a billion euros to spend.

Neymar started at PSG quickly taking the headlines scoring 28 goals in 30 matches in his debut season at Ligue 1 and scoring 6 goals in 7 Champions League matches. Although Neymar would be cursed with injuries throughout his career at PSG missing a total of 102 games due to injury. This obviously put a dent in his stench at PSG not giving him the chance to prove himself worthy of the highest honours of the game. Neymar made a total of 173 appearances at the French club and scored 118 goals assisting 77 times. Neymar was a crucial part of how PSG played despite frequently being out injured. This tells you that his career at PSG could’ve been so much more if it hadn’t been for the injuries.

All in all, Neymar played an important part at PSG during the time he played for the Parisians. It is sad to see him not being able to touch greatness because of bad luck. Neymar now plays at Saudi club Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League.

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