The record sale progression of every Premier League club
Five or six Premier League clubs could set new benchmarks for record sales in 2022. West Ham have the lowest high, but… Declan Rice.
Arsenal
Paul Merson – £5m (to Middlesbrough in July 1997)
Nicolas Anelka – £22.3m (to Real Madrid in August 1999)
Marc Overmars – £25m (to Barcelona in July 2000)
Cesc Fabregas – £25.4m (to Barcelona in August 2011)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – £35m (to Liverpool in August 2017)
Barca, Real, Liverpool, Boro… nice to see Arsenal only making decent wedge from selling to undeniably bigger clubs.
Aston Villa
Dwight Yorke – £12.6m (to Manchester United in August 1998)
James Milner – £18m, plus a Stephen Ireland (to Manchester City in August 2010)
Stewart Downing – £20m (to Liverpool in July 2011)
Christian Benteke – £32.5m (to Liverpool in July 2015)
Jack Grealish – £100m (to Man City, August 2021)
Grealish’s benchmark looks likely to be passed only when Man Utd panic and spend £150million on John McGinn.
Brentford
Ezri Konsa – £12m (to Aston Villa in July 2019)
Chris Mepham – £12.2m (to Bournemouth in January 2019)
Neal Maupay – £20m (to Brighton in August 2019)
Said Benrahma – £20m plus add-ons (to West Ham in January 2021)
Ollie Watkins – £28m rising to £33m (to Aston Villa in September 2020)
Brentford have absolutely nailed this transfer malarkey. Ivan Toney next?
Brighton
Adam Virgo – £1.8m (to Celtic in July 2005)
Liam Bridcutt – £2.5m (to Sunderland in January 2014)
Leonardo Ulloa – £8m (to Leicester in July 2014)
Anthony Knockaert – £10.5m (to Fulham in July 2020)
Ben White – £50m (to Arsenal in July 2021)
Yves Bissouma and Tariq Lamptey could push White close when they eventually move on.
Burnley
Kyle Lafferty – £3.2m (to Rangers in June 2008)
Steven Fletcher – £6.5m (to Wolves in June 2010)
Jay Rodriguez – £7m (to Southampton in June 2012)
Danny Ings – £8m (to Liverpool in June 2015)
Michael Keane – £30m (to Everton in July 2017)
That is quite the jump. It could go even further if Dwight McNeil gets the move he deserves or Maxwel Cornet continues his current form while the Clarets get relegated.
Chelsea
Juan Mata – £37.1m (to Manchester United in January 2014)
David Luiz – £40m (to PSG in June 2014)
Oscar – £52m (to Shanghai SIPG in January 2017)
Diego Costa – £57.1m (to Atletico Madrid in January 2018)
Eden Hazard – £88m (to Real Madrid in June 2019)
Five players signed for a combined £138m and sold – each for a profit – at a cumulative £274.2m. They’re not too bad at this.
Crystal Palace
Chris Armstrong – £4.5m (to Tottenham in July 1995)
Andy Johnson – £8.6m (to Everton in May 2006)
Wilfried Zaha – £15m (to Manchester United in January 2013)
Yannick Bolasie – £25m (to Everton in August 2016)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka – £45m (to Manchester United in July 2019)
Palace saw Man Utd coming when they sold a full-back who can’t attack for almost £50million. And they made a patsy of the Red Devils when giving them barely half of their money back for Zaha.
Everton
Francis Jeffers – £8.25m (to Arsenal in June 2001)
Wayne Rooney – £27m (to Manchester United in September 2004)
Marouane Fellaini – £27.5m (to Manchester United in September 2013)
John Stones – £47.5m (to Manchester City in August 2016)
Romelu Lukaku – £75m (to Manchester United in July 2017)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin might push Lukaku’s record close, but the Belgian looks pretty snug as the Toffees’ biggest sale.
The transfer record progression of every Premier League club…
Leeds
Eric Cantona – £1.2m (to Manchester United in November 1992)
David Batty – £2.75m (to Blackburn in October 1993)
Gary Speed – £3.5m (to Everton in July 1995)
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – £12m (to Atletico Madrid in August 1999)
Rio Ferdinand – £30m (to Manchester United in July 2002)
Raphinha looks likely to surpass Ferdinand’s record. Or Kalvin Phillips. Another to Man Utd?
Leicester
Emile Heskey – £11m (to Liverpool in March 2000)
N’Golo Kante – £30m (to Chelsea in July 2016)
Danny Drinkwater – £35m (to Chelsea in August 2017)
Riyad Mahrez – £60m (to Manchester City in July 2018)
Harry Maguire – £85m (to Manchester United in August 2019)
Leicester really did make that lark of buying low, selling high and once every year while being upwardly mobile look quite simple.
Liverpool
Robbie Fowler – £12m (to Leeds in November 2001)
Xabi Alonso – £30m (to Real Madrid in August 2009)
Fernando Torres – £50m (to Chelsea in January 2011)
Luis Suarez – £65m (to Barcelona in July 2014)
Philippe Coutinho – £142m (to Barcelona in January 2018)
Liverpool more than doubled their money on Torres, almost tripled it on both Alonso and Suarez, made a fortune on academy product Fowler and did some silly maths with Coutinho. They, too, are quite good at this.
Manchester City
Shaun Wright-Phillips – £21m (to Chelsea in July 2005)
Alvaro Negredo – £23.8m (to Valencia in July 2015)
Danilo – £34.1m (to Juventus in August 2019)
Leroy Sane – £40.9m (to Bayern Munich in July 2020)
Ferran Torres – £46.7m (to Barcelona in January 2021)
The Torres fee could reach £55million – if Barca ever get around to registering the forward upon whom City might bank a £35million profit.
Manchester United
Mark Hughes – £2m (to Barcelona in May 1986)
Paul Ince – £7.5m (to Inter in June 1995)
Jaap Stam – £15.3m (to Lazio in August 2001)
David Beckham – £24.5m (to Real Madrid in June 2003)
Cristiano Ronaldo – £80m (to Real Madrid in June 2009)
It is genuinely intriguing to wonder who will break this Manchester United record and finally dislodge Sparky. Bruno Fernandes?
Newcastle
Paul Gascoigne – £2.2m (to Tottenham in July 1988)
Andy Cole – £6m, plus a Keith Gillespie (to Manchester United in January 1995)
Dietmar Hamann – £8m (to Liverpool in June 1999)
Jonathan Woodgate – £13.4m (to Real Madrid in August 2004)
Andy Carroll – £35m (to Liverpool in January 2011)
Sean Longstaff might have usurped Carroll had Man Utd copped for Mike Ashley’s £50million demand. Everton offered £1million this week.
Norwich
Nathan Redmond – £12m (to Southampton in June 2016)
Robbie Brady – £13m (to Burnley in January 2017)
James Maddison – £24m (to Leicester in June 2018)
Ben Godfrey – £25million (to Everton in October 2020)
Emi Buendia – £30million plus add-ons (to Aston Villa in June 2021)
The Canaries are making a far better fist of buying low and selling high than establishing themselves in the Premier League.
Southampton
Dean Richards – £8.1m (to Tottenham in September 2001)
Gareth Bale – £10m (to Tottenham in May 2007)
Luke Shaw – £27m (to Manchester United in June 2014)
Sadio Mane – £34m (to Liverpool in June 2016)
Virgil van Dijk – £75m (to Liverpool in January 2018)
The last four names on that list could at certain points after leaving St Mary’s justifiably claim to be the best in Europe in their position or, in Van Dijk’s case, any position.
Tottenham
Chris Waddle – £4.5m (to Marseille in July 1989)
Paul Gascoigne – £5.5m (to Lazio in June 1992)
Michael Carrick – £18.6m (to Manchester United in July 2006)
Dimitar Berbatov – £30.75m (to Manchester United in September 2008)
Gareth Bale – £85.3m (to Real Madrid in September 2013)
Those last two entries reek of Daniel Levy. And Chrissy Waddle hangs on in there.
Watford
David James – £1.25m (to Liverpool in July 1992)
Paul Furlong – £2.3m (to Chelsea in June 1994)
Ashley Young – £9.65m (to Aston Villa in January 2007)
Odion Ighalo – £20m (to Changchun Yatai in January 2017)
Richarlison – £40m (to Everton in July 2018)
Assuming Watford get their money back on Ismaila Sarr – why would they sell otherwise? – then David James is on borrowed time.
West Ham
Tony Cottee – £2.2m (to Everton in August 1988)
David Unsworth – £3m (to Aston Villa in June 1998)
John Hartson – £7.5m (to Wimbledon in January 1999)
Rio Ferdinand – £18m (to Leeds in November 2000)
Dimitri Payet – £25m (to Marseille in January 2017)
Declan Rice is almost certain to quadruple – at least – Payet’s record.
Wolves
Robbie Keane – £6m (to Coventry in August 1999)
Matt Jarvis – £10.75m (to West Ham in August 2012)
Steven Fletcher – £14m (to Sunderland in August 2012)
Helder Costa – £16m (to Leeds in July 2020)
Diogo Jota – £41m (to Liverpool in September 2020)
Jota’s move shunted Neil Emblen off the list. Might Adama Traore or Ruben Neves set a new benchmark this month?