Transfer Fees That Changed Football

Soccer is a sport that has seen money affect more than any other sport of a similar size. The inflation of money and the market change over the years has seen players move for extortionate money and the record transfer has been beaten many times.  Some deals over the last decade have changed the sport for the worse and this continues to happen now, with deals being a lot more expensive than they would’ve been a decade prior. 

Money in football has always been an issue and the player wages have always been a part of this, with some players being some of the richest people in their country’s history and now, decades on from when players like Roy Keane were getting offered £250,000 ($318,000) a week, now this has translated to the fees of players and it is getting out of hand. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the transfer fees that shocked and ruined football. 

Neymar 2017, £198m ($250m)

This is gonna hurt to say because Neymar is one of my all-time favorite players but this deal was the one that started the decline of the market with this deal breaking the transfer record by over £100 million. This deal was really great for Barcelona and helped them with their already struggling finances which helped them make more money signings. Looking at the club now we can see that this deal was probably more harmful for the club. 

Neymar made this movie because he wanted to be the best player in the world and for a year he was one of the best. Unfortunately, the lack of Champions Leagues and the constant injuries made Nerymar’s move more lackluster than people would have imagined. 

Philippe Coutinho 2018, £142m ($180m)

One of the deals that was made when Neymar left Barcelona was the signing of Coutinho, this deal was one that shocked the world and caused half of Merseyside to be filled with sadness and the other half happiness. At the time, this deal seemed like it wounded Liverpool and made Barcelona that much stronger, but, in hindsight it had the opposite effect. 

Liverpool used this money and strengthened their team in key positions which made them one of the best teams in the world for half a decade and always one of the favorites for the EPL betting odds and created a great rivalry between Liverpool and Man City. Barcelona went the other way and got worse with the signing, falling into a massive load of debt and later loaning Coutinho to Bayern Munich. In the same season, Coutinho scored in a game that humiliated Barcelona as they lost 8-2.

Paul Pogba 2016, £89m ($114m)

This fee is a lot smaller than the other two deals we mentioned but at the time, this broke the Premier League record for the biggest fee in the league’s history. The deal was one that had a long story behind it, with Paul Pogba being a Man United academy graduate before moving to Juventus for free and rising to become one of the best midfielders in the world.

His performances in Italy got him a big money back to Man United the same year Jose Mourinho took over the role. This summer and season felt like a big shift in Manchester United as they looked to be returning back to the club people once knew them as. After Mourinho lost his job and other managers came in, it was clear that Pogba’s move back to where his career started was a bleak one.

Constant injuries and bad performances led to United not renewing his contract and him leaving on a free transfer, where though? Back to Juventus! Unfortunately, this time it didn’t work out as well and injuries mixed with behind-the-scenes issues, meant his career was going to end sooner than people would’ve wanted.