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

The current 20 PL clubs have made 129 £20m-plus signings. Liverpool are catching up Man United…

 

Southampton, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Brighton, Watford, Cardiff, Burnley and Wolves – 0

The Saints came bloody close with Guido Carillo; that would have been no way to break their duck.

 

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

Bournemouth joined the £20m+ club last summer. He was their Player of the Year so they might do it again.

 

Fulham – 1
Jean Michael Seri – £25m (July 2018)

Quite a way to break the £20m+ barrier, this. Seri was wanted by Barcelona and most of the big six at various points over the last year. Instead, he’s made the smaller step to Craven Cottage.

 

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

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. Liverpool will be hoping they like the look of Alberto Moreno.

 

West Ham – 4
Andre Ayew – £20m (August 2016)
Marko Arnautovic – £20m (August 2017)
Issa Diop – £22m (June 2018)
Felipe Anderson – £36m (July 2018)

After one £20m signing became the club’s Player of the Year last season, West Ham will be hoping for the same again from their new record purchase.

 

Leicester – 5
Islam Slimani – £29m (August 2016)
Kelechi Iheanacho – £25m (August 2017)
Adrien Silva – £22m (January 2018)
Ricardo Pereira – (£22m, May 2018)
James Maddison – £20m (June 2018)

The first two were far from roaring successes – though Iheanacho could yet thrive if given a chance and hopes are higher for Adrien Silva. James Maddison will also be fascinating to watch this season.

 

Arsenal – 7
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)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – £55m (January 2018)
Lucas Torreira – £26m (July 2018)

And really that should be 8 as the deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan is obviously worth more than £20m. They really did spend a decent whack of money last season to finish sixth. Unai Emery got Bernd Leno and Sokratis Papastathopoulos for a little under £20m each before breaking that barrier for Uruguay enforcer Torreira.

 

Tottenham – 7
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)
Lucas Moura – £20m (January 2018)

Each of these deals were completed around a week or less before the end of the transfer window. Good old Daniel Levy…

 

Everton – 9
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)
Cenk Tosun – £27m (January 2018)
Theo Walcott – £20m (January 2018)

So in less than two years, they have made eight signings of over £20m. And still they are sh*te. Marco Silva has tried to spend some money but with little joy so far.

 

Liverpool – 17
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)
Virgil van Dijk – £70m (January 2018)
Naby Keita – £53m (July 2018)
Fabinho – £43.7m (July 2018)

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. Right now, they are flying…

 

Manchester United – 20
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)
Fred – £52m (June 2018)

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 seven times – and we are generously not counting Alexis Sanchez.

 

Chelsea – 26
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)
Jorginho – £57m (July 2018)

Antonio Conte bought (or was bought) five £20m-plus players last summer; only two of them started the FA Cup final. That tells a story. Maurizio Sarri started his reign by spluffing an Alvaro Morata-sized fee on Jorginho

 

Manchester City – 30
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)
Aymeric Laporte – £57.2m (January 2018)
Riyad Mahrez – £60m (July 2018)

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 14 of a possible 21 transfer windows, both summer and winter. Good on ’em…