The history of the most expensive player in the world
Timeline
1905 Alf Common - Sunderland to Middlesbrough. £1,000.
1922 Syd Puddefoot - West Ham to Falkirk. £5,000.
1922 Warney Cresswell - South Shields to Sunderland. £5,500.
1928 David Jack -Bolton Wanderers to Arsenal. £10,890.
1932 Bernabé Ferreyra - Tigre BA to River Plate for £23,000 (Wonderfully nicknamed The Mortar of Rufino).
1952 Hans Jeppson - Atalanta B.C. to SSC Napoli. £52,000.
1954 Juan Schiaffino - Penarol to A.C. Milan. £72,000
1957 Enrique Omar Sivori - River Plate to Juventus. £93,000
1961 Luis Suárez - FC Barcelona to Inter Milan. £152,000
1963 Angelo Sormani - Mantova to Roma. £250,000
1968 Pietro Anastasi - Varese to Juventus. £500,000
1973 Johan Cruyff - Ajax to Barcelona. £922,000
1975 Giuseppe Savoldi - Bologna to SSC Napoli. £1m
1976 Paolo Rossi - Juventus to Vicenza. £1m
1982 Diego Maradona - Boca Juniors to Barcelona. £3m
1984 Diego Maradona - Barcelona to SSC Napoli. £5m
1987 Ruud Gullit - PSV Eindhoven to A.C. Milan. £6m
1990 Roberto Baggio - Fiorentina to Juventus. £8m
1992 Jean-Pierre Papin - Marseille to A.C. Milan. £10m
1992 Gianluca Vialli - Sampdoria to Juventus. £12m
1992 Gianluigi Lentini - Torino to A.C. Milan. £13m
1996 Alan Shearer - Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United. £15m
1997 Ronaldo - Barcelona to Inter Milan. £19.5m
1998 Denílson de Oliveira Araújo - São Paulo to Real Betis for £23m
1999 Christian Vieri - Lazio to Inter Milan. £31m
2000 Hernán Crespo - Parma to Lazio. £36m
2000 Luís Figo - Barcelona to Real Madrid. £37m
2001 Zinedine Zidane - Juventus to Real Madrid. £46m
2009 Kaka - AC Milan to Real Madrid. £56m
2009 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United to Real Madrid. £80m
Reference
