Ranking the 12 £100million+ transfers in football history from worst to best | OneFootball

With Elliot Anderson set to join Manchester City, he’ll become just the 13th player in transfer history to break the £100million mark.

Anderson is on the verge of a move to the Etihad from Nottingham Forest and will become one of the most expensive players of all time.

But big money does not always guarantee success. Here are the 12 men to have cost £100m or more without add-ons and how they fared:

12. Eden Hazard – £100m – Chelsea to Real Madrid

Hazard was in a perfect environment at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea indulging his talent and the fans adoring his mercurial nature.

This was never likely to click at Real Madrid, the most deadly serious club in world football, and Hazard’s time in Spain was a suitable flop.

11. Joao Felix – £113m – Benfica to Atletico Madrid

Typically billed as the smaller spenders compared to Barcelona and Real Madrid, Atletico do sometimes break the bank but they got their fingers burned badly when they signed Felix in the summer of 2019.

Having seen Griezmann leave for the Camp Nou, Diego Simeone’s club forked out £113m to sign the 19-year-old from Porto but he failed to live up to the standard set by Ateltico’s previous strikers.

He managed just 34 goals in his 131 games for the club before moving around several top clubs such as Chelsea and Barcelona.

He’s now out in Saudi Arabia at the age of 26. A waste.

10. Philippe Coutinho – £105m – Liverpool to Barcelona

Whilst at Anfield, Philippe Coutinho had been one of the best attacking midfielders in the world so it was no surprise to see clubs like Barcelona come calling.

Having failed to land him in the previous summer, the Catalan club struck a deal with Liverpool in January 2018 for a huge fee of £105m but things got off to a rough start when he was diagnosed with a thigh injury during his medical, meaning that he would be out for three weeks.

He ended his first season with the La Liga title but had scored just seven goals in 18 league matches.

The following year that tally dropped to five in 34 and Barcelona decided to ship the Brazilian out on loan to Bayern Munich in 2019. The Camp Nou side then suffered the embarrassment of having Coutinho score against them as Bayern went on to lift the Champions League.

He briefly returned to Barcelona under new coach Ronald Koeman but moved to Aston Villa in January 2022 on loan before joining permanently that summer for a fee of £17m, £88m less than what Barcelona paid for him.

9. Antoine Griezmann – £107m – Atletico Madrid to Barcelona

When Griezmann arrived at Barcelona, there was one obstacle to his success – Lionel Messi.

At Real Sociedad and then Atletico, the Frenchman had developed into one of the best layers in the world but he did not endear himself to Barcelona fans after he appeared in a TV documentary entitled ‘The Decision’, which after a long hour, revealed he was staying at Atletico.

The following year though and he was off to Barcelona, finding himself wanting to operate in the exact same spaces that Messi was.

Griezmann’s time at Barcelona was not a complete disaster, but he returned to Atletico with his tail between his legs in 2021.

8. Florian Wirtz – £100m – Leverkusen to Liverpool

Difficult to assess Wirtz’s Liverpool career to date, given the less-than-optimum conditions of his first year at Anfield.

But, in a way, that’s kind of the point. His talent and fee don’t allow you to be a Goldilocks footballer who only affects games infrequently.

Wirtz seemed to get worse as the season endured, save for a lukewarm patch in mid-winter, and the jury is out whether the attacking midfielder is suitable for the Premier League.

7. Alexander Isak – £125m – Newcastle to Liverpool

Isak ranks above Wirtz due to his Premier League pedigree and injuries that derailed his first Liverpool campaign.

But three goals in the league, even before his season was curtailed before Christmas, was a pathetic return. Needs to do much better, as his overall game isn’t strong enough to mitigate against a strike rate.

6. Jack Grealish – £100m – Aston Villa to Manchester City

Grealish’s time at Manchester City has barely justified his transfer fee, having first made the move in 2021.

Before the Etihad, he was one of the most creative players in the league, but the freedom he was given at Aston Villa was not afforded to him at City.

As Pep Guardiola asked more and more of him, Grealish struggled to be at his best. He played an important role in City’s treble win but found his game time limited.

5. Enzo Fernandez – £107m – Benfica to Chelsea

The jury remains out on Fernandez, who has yet to live up to his price tag but also has not been a complete disaster.

Arriving from Benfica, the World Cup winner has become one of Chelsea’s main creative outlets and also the scorer of some important goals for the club. However, there is still a feeling he could do more given the money he cost.

4. Neymar – £200m – Barcelona to PSG

In modern football terms, there is a before Neymar and an after Neymar, such was the seismic shock his transfer sent through the game.

A release clause of £200m had been put into his Barcelona contract, and with a number that high, the Camp Nou club could never have dreamt that someone would pay it – in stepped PSG.

With Neymar wanting to get out of Messi’s shadow, he agreed to the move to the French capital in a transfer that forever changed fees.

But was his time a success? Five league titles and 118 goals in 173 games would suggest so, but Neymar was brought to Paris with one goal – win the Champions League.

His best effort came in 2020 when PSG reached the final, but Neymar would be long gone before they finally lifted the trophy.

3. Moises Caicedo – £100m – Brighton to Chelsea

After a horror debut that saw him give away a last-minute penalty, Caicedo has grown into one of Chelsea’s most important players.

Having looked like he was Liverpool-bound, he instead joined Chelsea for £100m and played every game of their league campaign last year.

His versatility has been a big strength for Enzo Maresca, with the Ecuadorian even featuring at right back. At the age of 23, Caicedo looks like he is only going to get better.

2. Kylian Mbappe – £165.7m – Monaco to PSG

For PSG, it was simply unthinkable to have France’s biggest star playing anywhere else.

Bursting onto the scene in Monaco, the Pairsians forked out £165.7m to bring the teenager to the Parc des Princes and whilst there, he developed into one of the best players in the world.

He scored 256 goals in 308 games, won seven league titles and was the five-time Ligue 1 player of the season. But, like Neymar, the Champions League eluded him.

He also cost PSG a fortune, even after his transfer was complete. With speculation that he would leave on a free to Madrid, Mbappe signed a new deal in 2022 that saw him receive £1m a week.

Even that though could not stop him from leaving for the Bernabeu but in his first season away from the club, it was PSG – not Madrid – that lifted Europe’s biggest prize.

1. Declan Rice – £105m – West Ham to Arsenal

Calling a player who cost £105m a bargain seems foolish, but Rice has become one of the world’s best midfielders since making the move to the Emirates.

He has been Arsenal’s best player since joining, won the league title in 2026 and nobody can forget his two free-kicks against Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, West Ham squandered the transfer fee and find themselves in the Championship.