Transfer fees have well and truly skyrocketed in recent years. A Premier League player that was worth £20 million in the mid-2000s may have been worth five, six or even seven times that amount in today’s market.

Even at the turn of the 2010s, £50 million felt like an astronomical amount of money for a Premier League club to spend on a player. Now we see it happen regularly, sometimes on footballers who aren’t anywhere near the world-class category.

Five Premier League footballers have been signed for £100 million or more at the time of writing: Jack Grealish to Manchester City (£100 million), Declan Rice to Arsenal (£105 million), Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea (£106.8 million), Moises Caicedo to Chelsea (£115 million), Florian Wirtz to Liverpool (£116 million) and Alexander Isak to Liverpool (£125 million). However, none of them would make the top 10 most expensive Premier League transfers of all time when you take inflation into consideration.

Courtesy of finance expert Kieran Maguire’s data, here are the 20 most expensive Premier League players ever based on inflation-adjusted transfer fees. You might want to grab a tissue before these figures are eye-watering.

21

Les Ferdinand | Newcastle United (1995)

Original fee: £6 million. Inflated fee: £117.6million

Perhaps Keegan was so prepared to let Cole go because he knew he had Les Ferdinand in his ranks. Having joined from QPR for £6 million, the move was seen as a major coup for Newcastle, who were looking to build a title-contending side under them and had just added one of the best front-men in the country to the squad. Ferdinand had been a consistent goalscorer at QPR, and expectations were high.

At his new club, Ferdinand quickly proved his worth, forming a lethal partnership with David Ginola and later Alan Shearer, and scoring 29 goals in his debut season.

20

Michael Essien | Chelsea (2005)

Original fee: £24.4 million. Inflated fee: £119.9 million

After winning the Premier League at a canter in the 2004/05 campaign, Jose Mourinho decided he wanted a midfielder who he could pair alongside Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard.

He settled on Michael Essien, who joined the club in a £24.4 million deal from Lyon. A combative footballer who could defend as well as attack, the Ghanaian played a pivotal role as Chelsea retained their Premier League title in the 2005/06 season.

Essien was plagued with injury problems towards the end of his nine-year stint at Chelsea, limiting his impact. But, by the time he had left the club in 2014, he had more than justified his price-tag.

19

Enzo Fernandez | Chelsea (2022)

Original fee: £106.8 million. Inflated fee: £120.2 million

Enzo Fernandez became a man in demand following his performances at the 2022 World Cup. He was given the FIFA World Cup Young Player Award following his brilliance in Qatar.

A month later, in the January transfer window, Chelsea made their move. The Blues desperately wanted to sign the Benfica star and, after a lengthy saga, they eventually got their man on transfer deadline day as he completed a £106.8m move, a then British transfer record.

Has Fernandez lived up to expectations? That is debatable. He has had his moments in a blue shirt, though, and remains a key player for the club going forward.

18

Angel Di Maria | Manchester United (2014)

Original fee: £59.7 million. Inflated fee: £121.3 million

Angel Di Maria has unquestionably been a wonderful player during his illustrious career. Now a World Cup winner, the Argentina winger will surely have regrets over how his ill-fated move to Manchester United panned out.

Quite simply, Louis van Gaal was completely the wrong manager for Di Maria, who was unable to flourish under a coach who wanted his United players to perform like robots. Fans at Old Trafford only saw flashes of brilliance from the former Real Madrid star, whose family were unfortunately subjected to a traumatic burglary incident during their time living in Manchester.

17

Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea (2022)

Original fee: £97.5 million. Inflated fee: £122 million

If there’s a player who knows a thing or two about demanding hefty transfer fees, it’s Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian has made some serious moves in his career for some serious cash, and not many were more high-profile than when he joined Chelsea for the second time in 2021.

His signing turned out to be a disaster, though. Just months after signing, he gave an incredible interview where he hit out at manager Thomas Tuchel and underlined his unhappiness at the club.

The following summer, he completed a season-long loan move back to Inter Milan. After another season-long loan at Roma, he made a €30 million to Napoli in the summer of 2024.

16

Moises Caicedo | Chelsea (2023)

Original fee: £115 million. Inflated fee: £123.6 million

Moises Caicedo became one of the most expensive players in Premier League history when he joined Chelsea. The poster boy of Brighton’s buy-low, sell-high methodology in the transfer market, the Ecuadorian saw his value skyrocket during his time on the South Coast, which eventually led to his £115 million move in 2023 to Stamford Bridge.

Given that this was only three years ago, the inflated price was never going to be as dramatic as fees in the nineties or noughties. Yet, in a short space of time, the midfielder’s fee has risen by nearly £10 million, earning him a place at the bottom of this pile.

15

Didier Drogba | Chelsea (2004)

Original fee: £24 million. Inflated fee: £123.9 million.

Arguably the greatest player in Chelsea’s history, with the possible exception of Frank Lampard and John Terry, Didier Drogba was worth every penny of the £24 million that the Blues paid Marseille in 2004. In 381 appearances for the club, Drogba scored 163 goals – 104 of which were netted in the Premier League.

Would a club in 2025 pay £126 million for a 26-year-old Drogba? It’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility. There aren’t too many centre-forwards like Drogba in today’s game and there’s no doubt that he’d score plenty of goals in both the Premier League and the Champions League.

14

Alexander Isak | Liverpool (2025)

Original fee: £125 million. Inflated fee: £125 million

After winning the Premier League in 2024/25, Arne Slot and Liverpool decided to splash the cash. One of the positions they wanted to improve was at striker. The Reds signed Hugo Ekitike, while they also registered their interest in Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak.

Made aware of Liverpool’s interest, Isak informed Newcastle that he wished to explore a move away from the club. The following month, he went on strike in an attempt to force through a move to the Reds and also made his unhappiness public. He finally got his way later that summer as Liverpool made him the third-most expensive player of all-time.

Big things were expected of Isak in his first campaign at the Reds, but he had a nightmare campaign, with fitness problems limiting him to just four goals. Time will tell whether he comes good.

13

Jack Grealish | Manchester City (2021)

Original fee: £100 million. Inflated fee: £125.1 million

Everything about Jack Grealish‘s move to Manchester City screamed expensive. Premier League clubs always have to pay a premium for top English talent, and at the time, there was no one with more spotlight on them than the Aston Villa captain. The Midlands club were not accepting anything less than his £100 million release clause which is now worth £125 million thanks to inflation.

With Grealish’s future at the Etihad now up in the air, there is no doubt that City will fail to recoup similar money as the Englishman has not performed to the level that the fee would’ve demanded of him.

12

Rio Ferdinand | Leeds United (2000)

Original fee: £18 million. Inflated fee: £131.8 million

Rio Ferdinand quickly established himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League after making his debut for West Ham United in 1995. Five years later, Ferdinand joined Leeds United for £18 million. The move smashed the British transfer record, while he also became the world’s most expensive defender.

Leeds were confident that Ferdinand represented good value for money, and they were proved to be correct. Unfortunately for Leeds, their dire financial situation meant they were forced to sell the Englishman just a few years later. In 2022, he departed the club in a £30 million move to Manchester United.