All 24 EFL Championship sides' record signing ranked from worst to best | OneFootball

We ranked the record signings of each Championship club from worst to best.

With the Championship season now concluded, attention will soon turn to the summer transfer window.

Whether they achieved promotion, suffered relegation or finished in mid-table, all second tier clubs are likely to be active over the summer as they strengthen their squads ahead of the upcoming campaign.

The transfer window will be structured slightly differently this summer, with clubs able to do business between the 1st and 10th June before the Club World Cup, and then again from the 16th June all the way through to the 1st September.

Many teams are expected to spend big this summer, but that is not always a successful strategy, and we looked back at the record signing of each of the 2024-25 Championship clubs and ranked them from best to worst.

24 Didier Ndong - Sunderland

Sunderland signed midfielder Didier Ndong from French side Lorient in the summer of 2016 for £13.6 million, and as well as being their record signing, he will also go down as one of their worst-ever signings.

The Black Cats suffered relegation from the Premier League in Ndong's first season at the Stadium of Light, and with the club well on the way to back-to-back relegations the following year in the Championship, the Frenchman joined Watford on loan in January 2018.

After Ndong's loan spell at Vicarage Road came to an end, he failed to report back for pre-season training with Sunderland, and following months of continued absence, he was served notice for breach of contract in September 2018.

23 Giannelli Imbula - Stoke City

As Stoke continued to move away from their reputation as a long-ball side, they became known for making more expensive signings under Mark Hughes, and midfielder Giannelli Imbula became the club's record purchase when he joined from Porto for £18.3 million in February 2016.

As well as his spell with the Portuguese giants, Imbula had also spent time on the books of Marseille, so he looked to be an exciting addition for the Potters, but he made just 28 appearances during his four-year stint at the bet365 Stadium.

In fact, Imbula was out on loan for many of those years with Toulouse, Rayo Vallecano and Lecce, and his contract was cancelled by mutual consent in February 2020.

22 Christopher Samba - QPR

Christopher Samba had developed a reputation as a solid Premier League defender during his time at Blackburn Rovers, so he looked to be a strong acquisition for QPR when he made the move to Loftus Road from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala in January 2013.

However, it is fair to say that eyebrows were raised by the £12.5 million fee the R's paid for Samba, as well as his reported £100,000 per week salary, and the sporting director of his former club claimed that the West London outfit had "lost their minds" for breaking the bank to sign him.

As it turned out, he was proven right as Samba made just 10 appearances for the Hoops as they were relegated from the top flight, and he attracted the anger of the fan base after telling them to "get over" the issue of his high wages, but the club were at least able to recoup most of their money when they sold the defender back to Anzhi Makhachkala for £12 million in the summer.

21 Christos Tzolis - Norwich City

After being accused of showing a lack of ambition during their previous spell in the Premier League, Norwich did invest after winning promotion from the Championship in 2021, including spending £8.8 million to sign winger Christos Tzolis from Greek side PAOK.

However, despite his significant price tag, Tzolis struggled to adapt to life at Carrow Road, scoring just three goals in 30 appearances for the Canaries, and after loan spells with Twente and Fortuna Dusseldorf, he joined the latter on a permanent basis last summer.

20 Ole Romeny - Oxford United

Oxford are not a club typically known for spending big fees on players, but they broke their transfer record to sign winger Ole Romeny from Dutch side Utrecht in January for £1.6 million.

As the U's were battling against relegation in the Championship this season, Romeny was not given too many opportunities by manager Gary Rowett, so it is difficult to assess whether he will be a success at this stage, but the Indonesia international certainly has a lot of potential.

As part of an eye-catching January transfer window, Millwall signed winger Camiel Neghli from Dutch outfit Sparta Rotterdam for a fee of £4.5 million, and manager Alex Neil warned of the need for patience with the 23-year-old.

The early stages of Neghli's time at The Den have been severely disrupted by injury, but he has shown glimpses of his ability, scoring one goal in six appearances for the Lions so far, and Neil will be hoping to get the best out of him on a more consistent basis next season.

18 Jordan Rhodes - Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday initially signed striker Jordan Rhodes on loan from Middlesbrough in February 2017, and as part of the deal, they committed to buy him for a club-record fee of £10 million in the summer.

Given that Rhodes was one of the most prolific strikers in EFL history, the Owls were understandably confident that he could fire them to the Premier League, but he endured a tough start to life at Hillsborough, and he even spent the 2018-19 season on loan at Norwich.

Unfortunately for Rhodes, his Wednesday career did not improve after his return from Carrow Road, and after scoring just 20 goals in 112 games, he was released in the summer of 2021 following the club's relegation to League One.

Burnley signed forward Zeki Amdouni from Swiss side Lausanne-Sport for a fee of €18 million (£15.4 million) last summer, and he scored six goals in 37 appearances in his first season in Lancashire last term as the club were relegated from the Premier League.

Amdouni spent this season on loan at Benfica, scoring nine goals in 43 appearances for the Portuguese outfit, but with the Clarets now back in the top flight, he could be given a second chance to impress at Turf Moor and repay the significant investment in him.

After winning promotion from the Championship, Cardiff broke their transfer record when they signed midfielder Gary Medel from Sevilla in the summer of 2013 for a fee of £11 million.

Medel was one of the Bluebirds' standout performers in the 2013-14 season, but he could not prevent their relegation from the Premier League, and after making 35 appearances for the club, he joined Italian giants Inter Milan for just £10 million.

15 Ryan Mason - Hull City

Ryan Mason became Hull's record signing when he made the move to the MKM Stadium from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of around £13 million in August 2016, and the deal for the former England international was something of a coup for the club.

Mason was a regular for the Tigers in the first half of the 2016-17 season, but he suffered a fractured skull in a game at Chelsea in January 2017, and that proved to be the end of his playing career, with the 33-year-old announcing his retirement just over a year later.