The 20 most expensive strikers ever: Two former Man United stars make up half the top ten | OneFootball

Alexander Isak knocked himself out of the top 20 most expensive strikers ever, with half of the top ten comprised of two players,

Sweden international Isak broke the British transfer record by finally getting his move to Liverpool.

But he did not take the top spot in terms of the most expensive striker ever in world football, even if he leapfrogged a Premier League legend.

1) Kylian Mbappe – £165.7m/€180m (Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain, July 2018)

How weird is it that PSG signed their all-time record goalscorer on loan eight years ago? How funny is it that he became basically more powerful than anyone else at the club, as well as the actual French president? How brilliant is it that they won the Champions League as soon as he left to be phenomenal for Real Madrid, having flirted with the Spaniards for ages?

2) Alexander Isak – £125m/€144.6m (Newcastle United to Liverpool, September 2025)

This sorry transfer saga finally concluded on deadline day of the 2025 summer window, with Liverpool paying a British record fee to sign Isak from Newcastle. Luke Edwards nailed it.

3) Harry Kane – £100m/€115.8m (Tottenham to Bayern Munich, August 2023)

Daniel Levy did his level best to make things awkward but Bayern were determined enough to make the England captain their most expensive player ever that they put up with the nonsense and showed up with the cash. It could even be as much as £120m if add-ons are activated, which they surely will be with Kane let loose on the Bundesliga and finally ending his trophy drought.

4) Cristiano Ronaldo – £99.2m/€112m (Real Madrid to Juventus, July 2018)

Entirely bored of being knocked out of the Champions League by Ronaldo, Juventus decided that if you can’t beat them then he must join you. And while the Portuguese added a couple of new league titles to his collection, he never could guide The Old Lady further than a European quarter-final.

5) Romelu Lukaku – £97.5m/€115m (Inter to Chelsea, August 2021)

Far from the teenaged Lukaku who rocked up at Stamford Bridge in 2011, the Belgian was far more experienced, well-rounded and refined, albeit just as apparently incompatible with Chelsea as ever as his business remained unfinished.

6) Cristiano Ronaldo – £80m/€94m (Man Utd to Real Madrid, June 2009)

Perhaps one of the greatest signings ever, considering Real somehow ultimately made a profit on their record goalscorer after nine phenomenally efficient years and 15 trophies.

7) Randal Kolo Muani – £76.4m/€90m (Eintracht Frankfurt to PSG, September 2023)

The France striker went on strike in the final days of the transfer window to force through a move to his hometown club. Eintracht eventually relented on deadline day, despite their struggles to source a replacement, but PSG had to pay a premium for the 24-year-old. The Parisians stumped up £64.2million up front with a further £12.2million due in potential add-ons, which will go untriggered as he is firmly out of the picture.

6) Gonzalo Higuain – £75.6m/€90m (Napoli to Juventus, July 2016)

When Real exercised their buy-back clause on Alvaro Morata in summer 2016, Juventus hatched a foolproof plan to simply glance at the list of Serie A top scorers for the previous season and sign them. Bringing in Higuain came with the added bonus of weakening runners-up Napoli but he ultimately didn’t change an awful lot despite a solid personal record.

9) Romelu Lukaku – £75m/€84.7m (Everton to Man Utd, July 2017)

As a belated reward for retiring Sir Alex Ferguson with a perfect hat-trick, Lukaku was given another shot at the big time after impressing for Everton. Forty-two goals in 96 games was a decent return but neither party looks back on those two years fondly.

10) Romelu Lukaku – £74m/€80m (Man Utd to Inter, August 2019)

The most expensive footballer ever in cumulative fees has an awkwardly mutually unsatisfactory career path behind him, but the move to Inter went so well – 64 goals in 95 games and a Serie A title – that Lukaku has parlayed it into one of the great Italian top-flight careers.

11) Victor Osimhen – £72m/€80m (Lille to Napoli, July 2020)

Napoli chairman Aurelio de Laurentiis officially confirmed an “investment of €70m euros plus another €10m bonuses” in the financial death grip of the coronavirus crisis, but one can safely assume 76 goals in 133 games and a Capocannoniere and league double have triggered add-ons Napoli were only too happy to pay until they decided they’d had enough.

12) Hugo Ekitike – £69m/€79.5m (Eintracht Frankfurt to Liverpool, July 2025)

There could yet be another £10m added to this deal, which is an awful lot of money for a player who moved for less than £27m in the summer of 2024. That leap in value came after a 22-goal season for the German club.

13) Benjamin Sesko – £66.2m/€76.5m (RB Leipzig to Manchester United, August 2025)

The hope is that Sesko can be enough of a success in his first permanent spell outside the Red Bull bubble to trigger a further £7.36m in add-ons in this ongoing Manchester United rebuild. Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have set the bar high.

14) Nick Woltemade – £65m/€75.1m (Stuttgart to Newcastle, August 2025)

Newcastle plugged away after suffering a long list of rejections until finally they looked beyond the Premier League, covered their transfer homework so Manchester United couldn’t copy it and stumped up the sort of fee Bayern Munich baulked at for Woltemade.

The bloke is 6ft 6ins, has dancing feet and might not throw his toys out of the pram if he senses interest from Liverpool. They will love him.

15) Luis Suarez – £64.9m/€82.3m (Liverpool to Barcelona, July 2014)

After sinking his teeth into Premier League defences with one of the great individual seasons for Liverpool in 2013/14, Suarez took a World Cup chunk out of Giorgio Chiellini just to test how much Barcelona wanted him. Still plenty, it turned out, and the Uruguayan repaid that faith with 13 trophies and a ranking of third in their all-time top scorers list.

16) Victor Osimhen – £64.8m/€75m (Napoli to Galatasaray, July 2025)

A decent haul of 37 goals and eight assists in 41 games on loan inspired Galatasaray to a league and cup double while convincing them Osimhen was entirely worth absolutely obliterating a Turkish transfer record which had previously stood at around €20m.

17) Jhon Duran – £64.5m/€77m (Aston Villa to Al-Nassr, January 2025)

One explosive half-season not quite earning an assured starting place with Aston Villa was enough for Duran to up sticks and take the Saudi cash for a while. It feels like he’ll be back in Europe sooner rather than later after sitting under the Ronaldo tree.

18) Darwin Nunez – £64m/€75m (Benfica to Liverpool, June 2022)

Two trophies, 40 goals and 26 assists in 143 appearances might well have activated clauses taking the deal to the full £85m in cost but Liverpool will be thrilled to get half their money back from Al-Hilal in truth.

19) Rasmus Hojlund – £64m/€73.9m (Atalanta to Man Utd, August 2023)

The fee could rise another £8m with add-ons but two years in it looks as though Man Utd speculating to accumulate has backfired. The 22-year-old’s confidence looks shot after scoring 26 goals in 95 games. He’s definitely going to Real Madrid on loan, though.

20) Dusan Vlahovic – £62.8m/€75m (Fiorentina to Juventus, January 2022)

Once again spotting an Arsenal-linked striker excelling elsewhere in the league, Juventus put a whole load of money down on Vlahovic to be their Ronaldo replacement. That they have spent most of the time since trying to sell him suggests how well that has gone.