Wirtz transfer threatens English record – the most expensive transfers involving Premier League clubs and how they worked out | OneFootball

With the 2024/25 Premier League season now in the rear-view mirror, fans’ attentions have quickly turned to who their clubs may be signing.

The transfer rumour mill is in overdrive, and a host of moves have already been secured, among them Bournemouth defender Dean Huijsen’s eye-catching £50m move to Real Madrid, plus Chelsea’s double capture £18.8m Dario Essugo from Sporting and £30m Liam Delap from Ipswich.

There have also been a number of high-profile departures on free transfers upon the expiration of contracts. Two bona fide Premier League legends in the shape of Kevin De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold are moving on to pastures new.

With the season finished, sports betting sites are focussing their markets on the lucrative player transfer marker, and a quick scan of the sites right now shows some top soccer picks for today, including the futures of players of the calibre of Harry Kane, Ronaldo and Raphinha.

There are some potentially massive moves on the cards in the Premier League too. Arsenal have been linked with a striker for some time and could make big-money moves for either Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig or Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting. Manchester United have signed Wolves’ Matheus Cunha for a fee north of £50m, and you can be sure the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea will be making substantial acquisitions too.

Yet potentially the biggest deal of the summer involving a Premier League club could be Champions’ Liverpool’s move for German boy wonder Florian Wirtz, who could complete a transfer to Anfield for a fee beyond an incredible £100m.

If this does indeed transpire, then Wirtz will join an exclusive list of names to move either to or from an English Premier League club for a nine-digit fee. We’ve decided to take a look at the other £100m+ transfers in Premier League history.

Eden Hazard, Chelsea to Real Madrid, €120.8m 2019

Hazard was a superstar at Chelsea, winning two titles, an FA Cup and two Europa Leagues during a seven-year stay. Hazard was also one of the most technically gifted players to ever grace the league, so it was no surprise when perennial big spenders Real Madrid came along and picked up the Belgian for what remains a record fee involving an English club. Injury prevented the player recreating his success in Spain.

Enzo Fernandez, Benfica to Chelsea, £106.8m, 2023

Current Chelsea battler Fernandez remains the most expensive player ever signed by an English club. His performances at the World Cup in Qatar played a key role in Argentina’s journey to becoming champions.

Phillipe Coutinho, Liverpool to Barcelona, £105m, 2018

Another of the Premier League’s most gifted imports, Coutinho enjoyed a couple of standout seasons at Liverpool before securing an eye-catching move to Barcelona. However, it all unravelled pretty quickly from there for the Brazilian, who returned to the Premier League for an uninspiring stint at Villa.

Jack Grealish, Aston Villa to Manchester City, £100m, 2021

The first Englishman on this list, and the first to move between two English clubs, Grealish will always be remembered as an integral cog in the machine that drove City to an historic treble in 2022/23. His form has fallen off a cliff since, though.

Declan Rice, West Ham to Arsenal, £100m, 2023

Another Englishman, Rice’s performances in Arsenal’s midfield since his £100m move from London rivals West Ham have certainly justified the fee the Gunners paid. Now his club just need to win something.

Moises Caicedo, Brighton & Hove Albion to Chelsea, £100m, 2023

Another player in the Chelsea engine room, Caicedo’s transfer raised plenty of eyebrows when he made the move from Brighton, especially as the Seagulls had signed the Ecuadorian for much less than that.

How do these transfers compare to global record?

There’s no doubt that the Premier League is the richest league in the world in terms of the combined material wealth of its clubs (outside of the likes of Saudi Arabia, perhaps). Yet even with that being the case, Premier League clubs are a long way off matching the highest fees ever paid for a player.

Perennial French Champions Paris Saint-Germain have been responsible for the two biggest deals in football history, and those deals are way beyond anything anyone else has ever spent. Back in 2017 the Parisian club forked out an astronomical £200m for Brazilian superstar Neymar in order to secure his services from Barcelona. And just one year later the club made another huge splash in the market by securing the signature of French wonderkid Kylian Mbappe from domestic rivals Monaco. The fee was £163m.

Atletico Madrid were involved in the third and fourth most expensive transfers of all time (measured in Sterling). In 2019 the club from the Spanish capital splurged a whopping £112.9m on Benfica’s Joao Felix, yet that was to replace departing star Antoine Griezmann, who was signed by Barcelona in that same window for £107m. In Sterling at least, Chelsea’s capture of Fernandez sits fifth on the all-time list and remains the most expensive signing in Premier League history. Will the deal for Wirtz surpass this record?