Every £20m-plus signing ever made by Prem clubs: Chelsea storm past Man City…

The current 20 Premier League clubs have made 260 £20m-plus signings. Two clubs are responsible for 82 of them, while Everton have made more than you think…

Brentford – 0
The Bees have stubbornly stayed under the £20million mark, with Aaron Hickey their record signing at around £18million.

Southampton – 1
Danny Ings – £20m (July 2019)

Thirteen signings over the last two windows for Saints, but none for more than the £12million they paid Manchester City for Gavin Bazunu.

Nottingham Forest – 2
Emmanuel Dennis – £20m (August 2022)
Morgan Gibbs-White – £25m (August 2022)

The Gibbs-White fee was just the initial amount. Forest could pay an additional £17million if they become liable for all the add-ons. 

Brighton – 3
Adam Webster – £20m (August 2019)
Neal Maupay – £20m (August 2019)
Enock Mwepu – £20.7m (July 2021)

Brighton briefly got a taste for spending big when Graham Potter turned up. Three days after smashing their transfer record with Webster, they spent the same again on Maupay. Then came Zambian Mwepu.

Bournemouth – 3
Nathan Ake – £20m (June 2017)
Jefferson Lerma – £25m (August 2018)
Dango Ouattara – £20m (January 2023)

The Cherries’ new owners introduced themselves by making the club’s first £20million signing in four and a half years.

Crystal Palace – 3
Christian Benteke – £27m (August 2016)
Mamadou Sakho – £26m (August 2017)
Marc Guehi – £21m (July 2021)

Palace have been far too kind to Liverpool, depositing the equivalent of Naby Keita into the Reds’ coffers. Cheick Doucoure could be added to this list if he prompts Palace to pay two-thirds of the add-ons they agreed an £18million initial deal, with £3million possibly to follow. 

Fulham – 4
Jean Michael Seri – £25m (July 2018)
Aleksandar Mitrovic – £22m (July 2018)
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa – £22.8m (August 2018)
Joao Palhinha – £20m (July 2022)

Fulham outspent Manchester United and Manchester City in summer 2018 – fat lot of good it did them. After chucking over £100m around, they finished second-bottom of the league.

Wolves – 6
Raul Jimenez – £30m (June 2018)
Fabio Silva – £35.6m (September 2020)
Nelson Semedo – £28m (September 2020)
Nathan Collins – £20.5m (June 2021)
Goncalo Guedes – £25.3m (August 2022)
Matheus Nunes – £38m (August 2022)

Stinks of Jorge Mendes, this. Aside from Collins. Coming from Burnley, he probably has the faint whiff of gravy. Guedes has already gone, temporarily at least

Leeds United – 6
Rodrigo – £27m (August 2020)
Dan James – £25m (August 2021)
Brenden Aaronson – £29.5m (May 2022)
Luis Sinisterra – £21m (July 2022)
Tyler Adams – £20m (July 2022)
Georginio Rutter – £24.8m (January 2023)

Not put off by the lack of value for money gained from their previous two £20m-plus signings, financed by the sales of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips, Leeds have splurged three times last summer summer and again this month.

Aston Villa – 8
Wesley Moraes – £22m (June 2019)
Tyrone Mings – £20m (July 2019)
Ollie Watkins – £28m (September 2020)
Emi Buendia – £35m (June 2021)
Leon Bailey – £25m (August 2021)
Danny Ings – £25m (August 2021)
Lucas Digne – £23m (Jan 2022)
Diego Carlos – £28m (May 2022)

Hit and miss from Villa here, though Diego Carlos might be a decent signing once he recovers from injury. And the fact Philippe Coutinho doesn’t make this list reflects dreadfully on Barcelona.

Newcastle – 9
Miguel Almiron £21m (January 2019)
Joelinton – £40m (July 2019)
Callum Wilson – £20m (September 2020)
Joe Willock – £25m (August 2021)
Bruno Guimaraes – £40m (January 2022)
Chris Wood – £25m (January 2022)
Sven Botman – £33.3m, (July 2022)
Alexander Isak – £59m (August 2022)
Anthony Gordon – £40m (January 2023)

They’ve only been in Toon just over a year but Gordon’s arrival means they have paid £20million or more for more players than Mike Ashley ever did.

Leicester City – 10
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)
Ayoze Perez – £30m (July 2019)
Youri Tielemans – £40m (July 2019)
Timothy Castagne – £21.5m (September 2020)
Wesley Fofana – £30m (October 2020)
Patson Daka – £23m (June 2021)

Leicester don’t do £20m-plus signings these days. Their biggest signings of last summer (Wout Faes) and this month (Victor Kristiansen) cost £28million combined.

West Ham – 12
Andre Ayew – £20m (August 2016)
Marko Arnautovic – £20m (August 2017)
Issa Diop – £22m (June 2018)
Felipe Anderson – £36m (July 2018)
Pablo Fornals – £24m (June 2019)
Sebastien Haller – £45m (July 2019)
Said Benrahma – £25m (January 2021)
Kurt Zouma – £29.8m (August 2021)
Nikola Vlasic – £26.8m (August 2021)
Nayef Aguerd – £30m (June 2022)
Gianluca Scamacca – £30.5m (July 2022)
Lucas Paqueta – £36.5m (August 2022)

The Hammers really splashed the cash last summer. Fat lot of good it has done them.

Tottenham – 17
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)
Tanguy Ndombele – £53.7m (July 2019)
Ryan Sessegnon – £25m (August 2019)
Steven Bergwijn – £27m (January 2020)
Giovani Lo Celso – £28.8m (July 2020)
Sergio Reguilon – £27m (September 2020)
Emerson Royal – £25.8m (2021)
Richarlison – £53m (June 2022)
Yves Bissouma – £25m (June 2022)
Djed Spence – £20m (July 2022)
Christian Romero – £40m (August 2022)

Arnaut Danjuma could be added to this list in the summer if Spurs see fit to exercise their option to buy the winger for anything between £21million and £27million, depending which report you believe.

Arsenal – 19
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)
William Saliba – £27m (July 2019)
Nicolas Pepe – £72m (August 2019)
Kieran Tierney – £25m (August 2019)
Gabriel Magalhaes – £23.1m (September, 2020)
Thomas Partey – £45m (October 2020)
Martin Odegaard – £30m (August 2021)
Aaron Ramsdale – £25m (August 2021)
Ben White – £50m (August 2021)
Fabio Vieira – £34m (June 2022)
Gabriel Jesus – £45m, (July 2022)
Oleksandr Zinchenko – £30m (July 2022)
Leandro Trossard – £21m (January 2023)

Mikel Arteta wants Moises Caicedo to be his 10th £20million-plus signing. But it seems they’ll have to make the midfielder the second-most expensive player ever to move in January if Brighton are to be tempted.

Everton – 22
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)
Richarlison – £35m (July 2018)
Yerry Mina – £27.1m (August 2018)
Andre Gomes – £22m (June 2019)
Jean-Philippe Gbamin – £25m (August 2019)
Moise Kean – £25.1m (August 2019)
Alex Iwobi – £28m (August 2019)
Allan – £21m (September 2020)
James Rodriguez – £22m (September 2020)
Abdoulaye Doucoure – £20m (September 2020)
Ben Godfrey – £25m (October 2020)
Vitali Myolenko – £21.1m (January 2022)
Amadou Onana – £33m (August 2022)
Dwight McNeil – £20m (August 2022)

That’s a whole lot of money to achieve, well, nothing. You can’t argue with Farhad Moshiri’s assertion that he’s spent big money, but it’s generally been on sh*te. They could turn a profit on Onana, though. Imagine if he followed Anthony Gordon through the door this month… Goodison would burn.

Liverpool – 24
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)
Alisson – £56m (July 2018)
Thiago Alcantara – £20m (September 2020)
Diogo Jota – £45m (September 2020)
Ibrahima Konate – £36m (June 2020)
Luis Diaz – £37.5m (January 2022)
Darwin Nunez – £64m (June 2022)
Cody Gakpo – £35.4m (January 2023)

It is still hilarious that Stewart Downing was so utterly sh*t that Liverpool refused to spend such a fee on anyone for another three years and six transfer windows. It’s gone rather better since, even if they really need to add a midfielder or two to this list.

Manchester United – 29
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)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka – £50m (June 2019)
Harry Maguire – £80m (August 2019)
Bruno Fernandes – £47m (January 2020)
Donny van de Beek – £35m (September 2020)
Jadon Sancho – £76.5m (July 2021)
Raphael Varane – £41m (August 2021)
Lisandro Martinez – £48.5m (July 2022)
Casemiro – £60m (August 2022)
Antony – £85m (August 2022)

Some good, a lot bad, too many ugly. Though Erik ten Hag’s contributions have fared pretty well, even if Antony needs a little patience.

Manchester City – 38
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 – £50m (July 2017)
Danilo – £37m (July 2017)
Benjamin Mendy – £51m (July 2017)
Aymeric Laporte – £57.2m (January 2018)
Riyad Mahrez – £60m (July 2018)
Rodri – £62.8m (July 2019)
Joao Cancelo – £60m (August 2019)
Ferran Torres – £20.9m (August 2020)
Nathan Ake – £41m (August 2020)
Ruben Dias – £62m (September 2020)
Jack Grealish – £100m (August 2021)
Erling Haaland – £53m (June 2022)
Kalvin Phillips – £42m (June 2022)

The champions were one ahead of Chelsea at the top of this list. Maybe Kalvin Phillips has put City off spending big money ever again…

Chelsea – 44
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)
Kepa Arrizabalaga – £71m (August 2018)
Christian Pulisic – £58m (January 2019)
Mateo Kovacic – £40m (July 2019)
Hakim Ziyech – £36m (July 2020)
Timo Werner – £47.7m (July 2020)
Ben Chilwell – £45m (August 2020)
Kai Havertz (£71m, September 2020)
Edouard Mendy (£22m, September 2020).
Romelu Lukaku – £97.5m (August 2021)
Raheem Sterling – £47.5m (July 2022)
Kalidou Koulibaly – £34m (July 2022)
Carney Chukwuemeka – £20m (August 2022)
Marc Cucurella – £62m (August 2022)
Wesley Fofana – £70m (August 2022)
Benoit Badiashile – £33m (January 2023)
Mykhaylo Mudryk – £62m (January 2023)
Noni Madueke – £30m (January 2023)
Malo Gusto – £26.3m (January 2023)

Chelsea have surged to the top of the this list since Todd Boehly turned up with the revolutionary idea of 28-year contracts.