Progression of British football transfer fee record

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Bryan Robson was the subject of a record transfer in 1981.

The progression of the British football transfer fee record tracks the increases in the record for the highest transfer fee paid or received by British association football clubs. A transfer fee is the sum of money paid by one club to purchase the contract, and therefore the playing services, of a professional footballer. Fees are not generally formally disclosed by the clubs involved, and discrepancies can occur in figures quoted in the press. Trevor Francis, for example, is regarded as Britain's first £1m player but was officially transferred for £975,000. The generally reported figure of £1,180,000 included Value Added Tax, fees to the Football League and Francis' signing fee.[1] Discrepancies may also occur due to deals which involve additional sums to be paid at a later date after a player has made a certain number of appearances, joint fees for two or more players, or deals in which one player is exchanged for a sum of money plus another player.

The first ever three-figure transfer fee was the £100 paid by Aston Villa in 1893 for Willie Groves. Eleven years later, Alf Common joined Middlesbrough for the first ever four-figure fee, a sum which caused a national sensation and outrage amongst the football authorities.[2] The £5,000 mark was first reached in 1922 when Falkirk paid that amount for West Ham United's Syd Puddefoot, and six years later Arsenal paid the first ever £10,000 fee to acquire David Jack of Bolton Wanderers. After the Second World War, the spending power of clubs in mainland Europe outstripped that of British clubs for the first time, resulting in several substantial jumps in the transfer record. John Charles became the first British player to command a fee of £50,000 when he joined Juventus in 1957, and four years later Denis Law joined Torino in the first £100,000 transaction involving a British club.

The 1970s saw a rapid increase in transfer fees. Martin Peters became the first £200,000 player in 1970, but by 1977 Kevin Keegan's move to West Germany's Hamburger SV had taken the record to £500,000. In January 1979 David Mills became the first player to be purchased for £500,000 by a British club, but just one month later Nottingham Forest paid twice that amount to acquire Birmingham City's Trevor Francis. In 1981 Bryan Robson cost Manchester United £1,500,000, but fees paid by British clubs lagged behind those paid by clubs in Italy, France and Spain to take British players abroad until 1995, when Manchester United paid Newcastle United £7,000,000 for Andy Cole. The fees paid by the Premier League's top clubs began to increase at a rapid rate, with Alan Shearer commanding the first £15,000,000 fee in 1996, and the new millennium heralding the first £30,000,000 transfer, although sources differ as to whether this barrier was broken by Rio Ferdinand's move to Manchester United in 2002 or Andriy Shevchenko's transfer to Chelsea four years later.

On 1 September 2008, Manchester City agreed a reported £32,500,000 fee for Robinho,[3] which remained the record amount paid by a British club until 31 January 2011, when Liverpool paid £35,000,000 for Andy Carroll from Newcastle United, which was also a new record amount paid for a British player. A few hours later, the record amount paid by a British club was broken again when Chelsea paid £50,000,000 for Fernando Torres from Liverpool.

On 11 June 2009, Manchester United announced that they had accepted an £80,000,000 bid from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. The transfer was completed on 1 July 2009, setting not only a new British transfer record, but also a new world record (either in pounds or euros).[4] In turn, that record was broken on 1 September 2013 when Real announced that their £85.3 million (€100 million) purchase of Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur had been completed.[5]

Record progression

Date Player From To Fee Notes
18931893 Scotland Willie Groves England West Bromwich Albion England Aston Villa £100 [6]
1904January 1904 Scotland Andy McCombie England Sunderland England Newcastle United £700 [7]
1905February 1905 England Alf Common England Sunderland England Middlesbrough £1,000 [8]
1911February 1911 England John Simpson Scotland Falkirk England Blackburn Rovers £1,800 [9]
1913November 1913 England George Utley England Barnsley England Sheffield United £2,000 [10]
1914February 1914 England Percy Dawson Scotland Heart of Midlothian England Blackburn Rovers £2,500 [11]
1922 (1)February 1922 England Syd Puddefoot England West Ham United Scotland Falkirk £5,000 [8]
1922 (2)March 1922 England Warney Cresswell England South Shields England Sunderland £5,500 [8]
1925December 1925 England Bob Kelly England Burnley England Sunderland £6,500 [8]
1928October 1928 England David Jack England Bolton Wanderers England Arsenal £10,890 [12]
1938March 1938 Wales Bryn Jones England Wolverhampton Wanderers England Arsenal £14,500 [8]
1947 (1)September 1947 Scotland Billy Steel Scotland Morton England Derby County £15,500 [13]
1947 (2)November 1947 England Tommy Lawton England Chelsea England Notts County £20,000 [14][15]
1948February 1948 England Len Shackleton England Newcastle United England Sunderland £20,500 [16][17]
1949 (1)February 1949 England Johnny Morris England Manchester United England Derby County £24,000 [8]
1949 (2)December 1949 England Eddie Quigley England Sheffield Wednesday England Preston North End £26,500 [8]
1950October 1950 Wales Trevor Ford England Aston Villa England Sunderland £30,000 [18]
1951March 1951 England Jackie Sewell England Notts County England Sheffield Wednesday £34,500 [18]
1955July 1955 Italy Eddie Firmani England Charlton Athletic Italy Sampdoria £35,000 [18]
1957April 1957 Wales John Charles England Leeds United Italy Juventus £65,000 [18]
1961June 1961 Scotland Denis Law England Manchester City Italy Torino £100,000 [18]
1962July 1962 Scotland Denis Law Italy Torino England Manchester United £115,000 [18]
1968June 1968 England Allan Clarke England Fulham England Leicester City £150,000 [18]
1969June 1969 England Allan Clarke England Leicester City England Leeds United £165,000 [18]
1970March 1970 England Martin Peters England West Ham United England Tottenham Hotspur £200,000 [18]
1971December 1971 England Alan Ball England Everton England Arsenal £220,000 [18]
1972August 1972 England David Nish England Leicester City England Derby County £225,000 [19]
1974February 1974 England Bob Latchford England Birmingham City England Everton £350,000 [20]
1977June 1977 England Kevin Keegan England Liverpool Germany Hamburg £500,000 [21]
1979 (1)January 1979 England David Mills England Middlesbrough England West Bromwich Albion £516,000 [21]
1979 (2)February 1979 England Trevor Francis England Birmingham City England Nottingham Forest £1,180,000 [18]
1979 (3)September 1979 England Steve Daley England Wolverhampton Wanderers England Manchester City £1,450,000 [18]
1979 (4)September 1979 Scotland Andy Gray England Aston Villa England Wolverhampton Wanderers £1,469,000 [18]
1981October 1981 England Bryan Robson England West Bromwich Albion England Manchester United £1,500,000 [18]
1984May 1984 England Ray Wilkins England Manchester United Italy Milan £1,500,000 [18]
1986May 1986 Wales Mark Hughes England Manchester United Spain Barcelona £2,300,000 [18]
1987June 1987 Wales Ian Rush England Liverpool Italy Juventus £3,200,000 [18]
1989July 1989 England Chris Waddle England Tottenham Hotspur France Marseille £4,250,000 [18]
1991July 1991 England David Platt England Aston Villa Italy Bari £5,500,000 [18]
1991August 1991 England Trevor Steven Scotland Rangers France Olympique de Marseille £5,500,000 [22]
1992June 1992 England Paul Gascoigne England Tottenham Hotspur Italy Lazio £5,500,000 [18]
1995 (1)January 1995 England Andy Cole England Newcastle United England Manchester United £7,000,000 [23]
1995 (2)June 1995 Netherlands Dennis Bergkamp Italy Internazionale England Arsenal £7,500,000 [18]
1995 (3)June 1995 England Stan Collymore England Nottingham Forest England Liverpool £8,500,000 [24]
1996July 1996 England Alan Shearer England Blackburn Rovers England Newcastle United £15,000,000 [25]
1999August 1999 France Nicolas Anelka England Arsenal Spain Real Madrid £22,500,000 [18]
2001July 2001 Argentina Juan Sebastián Verón Italy Lazio England Manchester United £28,100,000 [26]
2002July 2002 England Rio Ferdinand England Leeds United England Manchester United £29,100,000 [27][28]
2006July 2006 Ukraine Andriy Shevchenko Italy Milan England Chelsea £30,800,000 [29]
2008September 2008 Brazil Robinho Spain Real Madrid England Manchester City £32,500,000 [30]
2009July 2009 Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo England Manchester United Spain Real Madrid £80,000,000 [4]
2013September 2013 Wales Gareth Bale England Tottenham Hotspur Spain Real Madrid £85,300,000 [31]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Barnes (2007), p. 309.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.00 18.01 18.02 18.03 18.04 18.05 18.06 18.07 18.08 18.09 18.10 18.11 18.12 18.13 18.14 18.15 18.16 18.17 18.18 18.19 18.20 18.21 Barnes (2007), p. 310.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Ferdinand's fee was also quoted as £30m (BBC), with the potential to rise to £33.3m based on additional clauses (BBC).
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Bibliography

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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