£259m Mbappe to usurp Neymar? World transfer record progression features Pogba, Cruyff, Rossi

Paris Saint-Germain have reportedly accepted a £259million bid from Saudi side Al-Hilal for Kylian Mbappe. This will be the most expensive transfer of all time if the player agrees to join. It’s a bit f**ked in truth.

Starting in the 19th century, here is the progression of the world-record transfer.

 

Willie Groves – West Brom to Aston Villa, £100 (1893)
Willie Groves gets things up and running.

 

Fred Wheldon – Small Heath to Aston Villa, £350-£500 (1896)
Stupid Aston Villa; ruining football since day one.

 

Ben Green – Barnsley to Small Heath, £500 (1903)
Small Heath got around to spending the Wheldon money seven years later.

 

Alf Common – Sheffield United to Sunderland, £520 (1904)
Born in Sunderland, Common played for the Black Cats, then Sheffield United, then the Black Cats again.

 

Andy McCombie – Sunderland to Newcastle United, £700 (1904)
The modern-day equivalent of Newcastle paying £200million for Jack Clarke. They probably would if it wasn’t for FFP, just for the sh*ts and gigs.

 

Alf Common – Sunderland to Middlesbrough, £1,000 (1905)
Common made history here, becoming the world-record transfer for the second time while being the first player to cost a four-figure sum. On a side note, Sunderland did love selling to their apparent ‘rivals’ back in the day.

 

Daniel Shea – West Ham to Blackburn Rovers, £2,000 (1913)
We’re confused, where are the Big Six?

 

Tommy Barber – Bolton to Aston Villa, £2,000 (1913)
English football has been ruining the sport from day one, it would seem.

 

Percy Dawson – Hearts to Blackburn Rovers, £2,500 (1914)
Hearts were the first non-English side involved in a world-record deal.

 

David Jack – Plymouth to Bolton, £3,500 (1920)
David Jack? He’s got two first names.

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Tom Hamilton – Kilmarnock to Preston, £4,600 (1921)
Hamilton was a right-back. Who says full-back has only recently become a crucial role?

 

Syd Puddefoot – West Ham to Falkirk, £5,000 (1922)
Falkirk became the first non-English side to pay a world-record fee for a player but were quickly surpassed by…

 

Warney Cresswell – South Shields to Sunderland, £5,500 (1922)
The Black Cats made a statement by paying a local team big bucks for their star player. Have that, Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

 

Bob Kelly – Burnley to Sunderland, £6,500 (1925)
Alright, lads. We get it.

 

David Jack – Bolton to Arsenal, £10,890 (1928)
A big jump here as one of the Big Six finally flexed their financial muscles.

 

Bernabe Ferreyra – Tigre to River Plate, £23,000 (1932)
River Plate obliterated the transfer record in 1932. They signed Ferreyra from Argentine rivals Tigre.

 

Johnny Morris – Manchester United to Derby, £24,000 (1949)
It took 17 years to usurp Ferreyra’s move to River.

 

Eddie Quigley – Sheffield Wednesday to Preston, £26,500 (1949)
And then it only took a few months for the world record to be broken again.

 

Trevor Ford – Aston Villa to Sunderland, £30,000 (1950)
Two of our stalwarts return as Ford became the first Welshman to cost a world-record fee.

 

Jackie Sewell – Notts County to Sheffield Wednesday, £34,500 (1951)
Sewell will be the last English player we see for another 45 years.

 

Hans Jeppson – Atalanta to Napoli, £52,000 (1952)
Strap yourselves in for some Italian dominance.

 

Juan Schiaffino – Penarol to AC Milan, £72,000 (1954)
Penarol have developed a great reputation for developing young players.

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Omar Sivori – River Plate to Juventus, £93,000 (1957)
Nice to see the Italian clubs sharing the spoils between them, as opposed to one team hogging the record.

 

Luis Suarez – Barcelona to Inter, £152,000 (1961)
Suarez was the first footballer to cost at least six figures. No, not that one.

 

Angelo Sormani – Mantova to Roma, £250,000 (1963)
The world’s first quarter-of-a-million-pound footballer.

 

Harald Nielsen – Bologna to Inter, £300,000 (1967)
The Dane became the second world-record signing bought by Inter, six years after the acquisition of Suarez.

 

Pietro Anastasi – Varese to Juventus, £500,000 (1968)
Anastasi won three Serie A titles with the Old Lady.

 

Johan Cruyff – Ajax to Barcelona, £922,000 (1973)
Cruyff is as iconic as they come. What a player.

 

Giuseppe Savoldi – Bologna to Napoli, £1,200,000 (1975)
We are quickly back in Italy, where Savoldi became the first £1,000,000 footballer.

 

Paolo Rossi – Vicenza to Juventus, £1,750,000 (1976)
Future World Cup winner Rossi made the move to Turin after scoring 60 in 94 for Vicenza.

 

Diego Maradona – Boca Juniors to Barcelona, £3,000,000 (1982)
Any idea who this is, folks? Must have been good to cost three million big ones.

 

Diego Maradona – Barcelona to Napoli, £5,000,000 (1984)
The first time was so nice, he had to do it twice (in a row).

 

Ruud Gullit – PSV to AC Milan, £6,000,000 (1987)
Beautiful haircut. Even more beautiful footballer.

 

Roberto Baggio – Fiorentina to Juventus, £8,000,000 (1990)
Suspect haircut. Brilliant footballer.

 

Jean-Pierre Papin – Marseille to AC Milan, £10,000,000 (1992)
We are into eight-figure sums now. And those pesky Italians just won’t p*ss off.

 

Gianluca Vialli – Sampdoria to Juventus, £12,000,000 (1992)
Vialli is the second man on this list to become player-manager at Chelsea. The other was Gullit, but you knew that already.

 

Gianluigi Lentini – Torino to AC Milan, £13,000,000 (1992)
1992 was a busy year for transfers.

 

Ronaldo – PSV to Barcelona, £13,200,000 (1996)
The Original Ronaldo. Injuries aside, many people’s GOAT.

 

Alan Shearer – Blackburn to Newcastle United, £15,000,000 (1996)
Newcastle United: Ruining football with their riches since 1996.

 

Ronaldo – Barcelona to Inter, £19,500,000 (1997)
After banging them in for Barca, R9 joined Inter. He would later play for Real Madrid and AC Milan. Ballsy.

 

Denilson – Sao Paulo to Real Betis, £21,500,000 (1998)
What were they smoking over there at Estadio Benito Villamarin?

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Christian Vieri – Lazio to Inter, £32,000,000 (1999)
These truly were the golden days of Serie A.

 

Hernan Crespo – Parma to Lazio, £35,500,000 (2000)
It’s the new Millenium, and sh*t is about to get really real, really quick.

 

Luis Figo – Barcelona to Real Madrid, £37,000,000 (2000)
This one did not go down well at the Nou Camp.

 

Zinedine Zidane – Juventus to Real Madrid, £46,600,000 (2001)
Zidane was one of the true Galacticos. This transfer stood as the most expensive for another eight years, before Los Blancos spent big to create another group of Galacticos.

 

Kaka – AC Milan to Real Madrid, £56,000,000 (2009)
2007 Ballon d’Or winner Kaka made the big-money move to the Bernabeu after a wonderful time in Milan.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United to Real Madrid £80,000,000 (2009)
Kaka was the most expensive player of all time for a grand total of three days before Real Madrid signed Ballon d’Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. He did quite well for them.

 

Gareth Bale – Tottenham to Real Madrid, £86,000,000 (2013)
Make that five Madrid signings in a row. You just know this hurt Ronaldo’s ego, don’t you?

 

Paul Pogba – Juventus to Manchester United, £89,000,000 (2016)
Did not quite go to plan, this one. Pogba left United to join Juventus for nothing in 2012, came back for a world-record fee, failed to live up to expectations in six years at Old Trafford, then joined Juve on a free transfer again.

 

Neymar – Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, £198,000,000 (2017)
Look, folks! It’s the transfer that broke football! The question is, will Kylian Mbappe agree to join Al-Hilal after they had a reported £259m bid accepted by PSG?