In the movie throw punch, Denis Lemieux wants to go to Florida because “that’s where the motto is”. But as a footballer you have to go to England, even if Cristiano Ronaldo left there to turn a ball on his nose in Saudi Arabia.
The winter transfer window ended in Europe on Tuesday and you don’t have to look far to find out where the big bucks are.
The ten biggest transfers of the season were to a Premier League club.
And in any case we are talking about nice sums. Enzo Fernandez helped Benfica to a home run in a late £107m (CA$175.4m) transfer to Chelsea, a new record for a buyout by a Premier League team.
Chelsea active
Chelsea regularly top the Premier League table and have been in the top five for the last five seasons.
The south-west London-based club were last left out of the top 10 in 1995/96 but currently lie in tenth place and could therefore see their winning streak broken.
So we decided to loosen the wallets to end the season strong. Five of the six largest transfers have been made by Chelsea.
The club spent £259.1m (CA$424.6m) to acquire Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke and Malo Gusto.
Since the club was taken over by a consortium led by American Todd Boehly, Chelsea have taken over 18 players in just two windows for a total of £602m (C$986.7m).
A lot of money
If we only consider the ten biggest transfers made in this latest window, £404.33m (520.5M$ CA) was spent, and that was by English clubs only.
So we’re talking more than half a billion dollars invested in ten players. We hardly dare to imagine the sum of all movements recorded in the last month.
If sports organizations have suffered from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be said that they stand behind the main English clubs who are spending like it’s Boxing Day stretching.
And that trend is likely to continue as long as money continues to flow into the coffers of the Premier League, the circuit most attractive to players and huge numbers of fans around the world and not just in the UK.
Consequent
All of this is in line with the Global Transfer Market 2022 report published by FIFA last week.
In particular, we learned that in 2022 we surpassed 20,000 international transfers for men for the first time.
The report also revealed that an all-time high of 71,002 international transfers were completed in 2022, with 21,764 involving professional players and 49,238 involving amateurs.
In 2022, 20,209 international money transfers were completed among men, an increase of 11.6% compared to 2021. This is also a higher number than in 2019 before the pandemic.
A total of 17,291 professional players changed clubs in 2022.
And unsurprisingly, it was English clubs that were the biggest spenders in 2022, breaking the $2 billion mark for the first time, spending $2.2 billion (CA$2.9 billion) set a new record.
The ten biggest transfers in January 2023
1.ENZO FERNANDEZ
- Benfica (POR) to Chelsea (ENG)
- 107 million pounds (C$175.4 million)
2. MICHAILO MUDRYK
Screenshot from the CHELSEA website
- From Shakhter Donetsk (UKR) to Chelsea (ENG)
- £61.5 million (C$100.8 million)
3.ANTHONY GORDON
- Everton (ENG) to Newcastle (ENG)
- £40.2 million (C$65.9 million)
4.CODY GAKPO
- From PSV Eindhoven (PB) to Liverpool (ENG)
- £37.2million (C$60.9 million)
5.BENOIT BADIASHILE
- AS Monaco (FRA) to Chelsea (ENG)
- £33.4 million (C$54.6M)
6. NONI MADÜKE
- From PSV Eindhoven (PB) at Chelsea (CLOSELY)
- £30.8 million (C$50.5 million)
7. Malo flavor
- From Lyon (FRA) at Chelsea (ENG)
- £26.4 million (CA$43.3 million)
8. GEORGINO RUTTER
Photo from the BUNDESLIGA website
- From TS Hoffenheim (GER) to Leeds United (ENG)
- £24.6 million (CA$40.3 million)
9. JAKUB KIWIOR
- From Spezia (ITA) to Arsenal (ENG)
- £22.03 million (C$36.1 million)
10.LEANDRO TROSSARD
- Brighton (ENG) to Arsenal (ENG)
- £21.2million (C$34.6 million)
The ten most expensive players in history
1.NEYMAR
- Barcelona (ESP) to Paris Saint Germain (FRA)
- 222 million euros (C$320.9 million)
- 2017
2. Kylian MBappe
- AS Monaco (FRA) to Paris Saint Germain (FRA)
- 180 million euros (C$260.2 million)
- 2018
3. PHILIPPE COUTINHO
- Liverpool (ANG) to Barcelona (ESP)
- 145 million euros (C$209.6 million)
- 2018
4. JOAO FELIX
- From Benfica Lisbon (POR) to Atlético Madrid (ESP)
- 126 million euros (C$182.2 million)
- 2019
5. ANTOINE GRIEZMANN
- Atlético Madrid (ESP) to Barcelona (ESP)
- 120 million euros (C$173.5M)
- 2019
6. JACK GREALISH
- Aston Villa (ENG) to Manchester City (ENG)
- 117 million euros (C$169.2 million)
- 2021
7. ROMELU LUKAKU
- Inter Milan (ITA) to Chelsea (ENG)
- 115 million euros (C$166.3 million)
- 2021
8.ENZO FERNANDEZ
- Benfica (POR) to Chelsea (ENG)
- 121 million euros (C$175.4 million)
- 2023
9.OUMANE DEMBELE
- From Borussia Dortmund (GER) to Barcelona (ESP)
- 105 million euros (C$151.8 million)
- 2017
9.PAUL POGBA
- From Juventus (ITA) to Manchester United (ENG)
- 105 million euros (C$151.8 million)
- 2016
10. EDEN DANGER
- From Chelsea (ENG) to Real Madrid (ESP)
- 100 million euros (C$144.6 million)
- 2019