Every £20m+ signing ever made by a Premier League club

Matt Stead

We did this in June, and plenty has changed since. Before we begin, here’s a quick quiz question: Which seven players have moved to Premier League clubs for a fee of at least £20million more than once? The answer will be down below…

And if you’re feeling really sexy/low on things to do, try and name all 111 times a Premier League club has spent at least £20m on a player. It’s a fun quiz to try with your friends. If you have any. I don’t have any…

 

Southampton, Newcastle, West Brom, Huddersfield, Brighton, Watford, Stoke City, Burnley and Swansea City – 0

Step it up, fellas.

 

Bournemouth – 1
Nathan Ake – £20m (June 2017)

Bournemouth are the latest side to join the £20m+ club. Congratulations to them.

 

Crystal Palace – 2
Christian Benteke – £27m (August 2016)
Mamadou Sakho – £26m (August 2017)

One of three Premier League clubs to join the £20m+ club last summer, Crystal Palace more than doubled their club-record fee when signing Benteke from Liverpool. They then gave the same club almost as much for Sakho.

 

Leicester – 2
Islam Slimani – £29m (August 2016)
Kelechi Iheanacho – £25m (August 2017)

A signing that screams ‘well, we can, so we might as well’ is when newly-crowned Premier League champions Leicester spent almost £30m on a 28-year-old Slimani last year. Hopefully Iheanacho will work out a little better.

 

West Ham – 2
Andre Ayew – £20m (August 2016)
Marko Arnautovic – £20m (August 2017)

Davids Gold and Sullivan courted a number of strikers across Europe last year, but eventually landed on a goal-laden combination of Simone Zaza and Swansea forward Andre Ayew. They then then paid £20m for Arnautovic (elbows included)…

 

Arsenal – 5
Mesut Ozil – £42.4m (September 2013)
Alexis Sanchez – £35m (July 2014)
Granit Xhaka – £33.8m (May 2016)
Shkodran Mustafi – £35m (August 2016)
Alexandre Lacazette – £47m (July 2017)

Arsenal have only spent £20m or more on five players in their history. Still, go and get ‘Cohesion 10’ on the back of a shirt and shut up…

 

Tottenham – 6
Roberto Soldado – £26m (August 2013)
Erik Lamela – £25.8m (August 2013)
Heung-min Son – £22m (August 2015)
Moussa Sissoko – £30m (September 2016)
Serge Aurier – £22m (August 2017)
Davinson Sanchez – £37m (August 2017)

Each of these deals were completed around a week or less before the end of the transfer window. Good old Daniel Levy. Still, they did increase this list by 50% over the course of the summer…

 

Everton – 7
Romelu Lukaku – £28m (July 2014)
Yannick Bolasie – £25m (August 2016)
Morgan Schneiderlin – £24m (January 2017)
Jordan Pickford – £25m (June 2017)
Davy Klaassen – £23.6m (June 2017)
Michael Keane – £25m (July 2017)
Gylfi Sigurdsson – £45m (August 2017)

Above both Arsenal and Tottenham are Everton, with Ronald Koeman accounting for six of their seven £20m+ signings. That’s ambition (and a billionaire investor combined with ridiculous TV deals and selling players for loads of money) for you…

 

Liverpool – 14
Fernando Torres – £20m (July 2007)
Alberto Aquilani – £20m (August 2009)
Luis Suarez – £22.3m (January 2011)
Andy Carroll – £35m (January 2011)
Stewart Downing – £20m (July 2011)
Adam Lallana – £25m (July 2014)
Lazar Markovic – £20m (July 2014)
Dejan Lovren – £20m (July 2014)
Roberto Firmino – £29m (June 2015)
Christian Benteke – £32.5m (July 2015)
Sadio Mane – £34m (June 2016)
Georginio Wijnaldum – £25m (July 2016)
Mohamed Salah – £34.3m (June 2017)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – £35m (August 2017)

In a pretty unspectacular list of huge hits and massive misses, one thing stands out: Liverpool went three years (and six transfer windows) without spending more than £20m on any one player from July 2011 to July 2014. Fingers were burned by Stewart Downing, and that is understandable…

 

Manchester United – 19
Juan Sebastian Veron – £28.1m (July 2001)
Rio Ferdinand – £30m (July 2002)
Wayne Rooney – £27m (September 2004)
Dimitar Berbatov – £30.75m (September 2008)
Robin van Persie – £22m (August 2012)
Marouane Fellaini – £27.5m (September 2013)
Juan Mata – £37.1m (January 2014)
Ander Herrera – £29m (June 2014)
Luke Shaw – £27m (June 2014)
Angel di Maria – £59.7m (August 2014)
Memphis Depay – £25m (June 2015)
Morgan Schneiderlin – £25m (July 2015)
Anthony Martial – £36.7m (September 2015)
Eric Bailly – £30m (June 2016)
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – £26.3m (July 2016)
Paul Pogba – £89.3m (August 2016)
Victor Lindelof – £30.75m (June 2017)
Romelu Lukaku – £76m (July 2017)
Nemanja Matic – £40m (August 2017)

Sir Alex Ferguson spent £20m or more on just five players during his 27 years in charge of Manchester United – as many times as David Moyes and Louis van Gaal in the 15 months after his retirement. Jose Mourinho has already done it six times…

 

Chelsea – 25
Didier Drogba – £24m (July 2004)
Shaun Wright-Phillips – £21m (July 2005)
Michael Essien – £24.4m (August 2005)
Andriy Shevchenko – £30.8m (May 2006)
Fernando Torres – £50m (January 2011)
David Luiz – £21.3m (February 2011)
Juan Mata – £23.5m (August 2011)
Romelu Lukaku – £20m (August 2011)
Eden Hazard – £32m (June 2012)
Oscar – £25m (July 2012)
Willian – £30m (August 2013)
Nemanja Matic – £21m (January 2014)
Cesc Fabregas – £30m (June 2014)
Diego Costa – £32m (July 2014)
Juan Cuadrado – £23.3m (February 2015)
Pedro – £21m (August 2015)
Michy Batshuayi – £32.3m (July 2016)
N’Golo Kante – £30m (July 2016)
Marcos Alonso – £24m (August 2016)
David Luiz – £34m (August 2016)
Tiemoue Bakayoko – £36m (August 2017)
Antonio Rudiger – £31m (August 2017)
Alvaro Morata – £57m (August 2017)
David Zappacosta – £25m (August 2017)
Danny Drinkwater – £34m (August 2017)

After all the (valid) talk of Antonio Conte not being backed in the transfer market, he did buy five players for more than £20m this summer. It’s hardly a crisis…

 

Manchester City – 28
Robinho – £32.5m (September 2008)
Carlos Tevez – £25.5m (July 2009)
Emmanuel Adebayor – £25m (July 2009)
Joleon Lescott – £22m (August 2009)
Yaya Toure – £24m (July 2010)
David Silva – £24m (July 2010)
Mario Balotelli – £22.5m (August 2010)
James Milner – £26m (August 2010)
Edin Dzeko – £27m (January 2011)
Sergio Aguero – £38m (July 2011)
Samir Nasri – £25m (August 2011)
Fernandinho – £34m (June 2013)
Alvaro Negredo – £20m (July 2013)
Stevan Jovetic – £22m (July 2013)
Eliaquim Mangala – £42m (August 2014)
Wilfried Bony – £25m (January 2015)
Raheem Sterling – £44m (July 2015)
Nicolas Otamendi – £32m (August 2015)
Kevin de Bruyne – £55m (August 2015)
Ilkay Gundogan – £21m (June 2016)
Leroy Sane – £37m (August 2016)
John Stones – £47.5m (August 2016)
Gabriel Jesus – £27m (January 2017)
Bernardo Silva – £43m (June 2017)
Ederson – £34.9m (June 2017)
Kyle Walker – £46m (July 2017)
Danilo – £37m (July 2017)
Benjamin Mendy – £51m (July 2017)

Since Abu Dhabu United Group completed their takeover of Manchester City in September 2008, the club have spent at least £20m on at least one player in 12 of a possible 19 transfer windows, both summer and winter. Good on ’em…

 

Matt Stead

(You’re looking for Christian Benteke, Morgan Schneiderlin, Romelu Lukaku, Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic)