Morgan Rogers’ £117m move from Aston Villa to Chelsea and Elliot Anderson’s £116m move from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City both broke the record for the most expensive British player ever in July 2026.
However, new figures show that none of the transfers threaten the world’s most expensive moves ever Premier League When adjusted for inflation.
Football finance experts Fallopal We have compiled a list of trades in today’s money based on a set of comprehensively calculated data.
Here’s how we rank the most expensive Premier League signing of all time, plus a look at where the newest signings fit on the all-time list.
10) Paul Pogba – Manchester United, £141.6m (£89.3m)
Originally part of United’s academy squad, Pogba left United for Juventus as a 19-year-old in 2012 and returned from the Italian club for a world-record fee in 2016, when Jose Mourinho saw him as an integral part of his vision of success.
The Europa League and EFL Cup titles in his first season were Pogba’s only silverware at the club, and he leaves on a free transfer in 2022, having won the World Cup with France in 2018.
9) Dwight Yorke – Manchester United, £144.7m (£12.6m)
“If I had a gun back then, I would have shot him,” John Gregory, then Aston Villa manager, said of Dwight Yorke’s request to leave the club, which led to the striker becoming United’s then-record signing in August 1998.
Yorke won the Premier League Player of the Year award and the Golden Boot along with a hat-trick with his new club the following season, becoming league champions again in each of the following two seasons.
The Trinidad and Tobago international was exiled after a coaching dispute with United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in September 2001 and moved to Blackburn Rovers for £2 million the following July, later winning the A-League with Sydney and the Championship with Sunderland.
8) Andriy Shevchenko – Chelsea £152.6m (£30.8m)
Mourinho described signing Shevchenko, who won the 2004 Ballon d’Or among a host of individual and team titles at Milan, as a “dream” in 2006.
Ukraine’s all-time top scorer Shevchenko was averaging less than a goal in every five league games by the time he left for Dynamo Kyiv in 2009, and was released from his £121,000-a-week contract 11 months early under Carlo Ancelotti.
7) Andy Cole – Manchester United, £153.8m (£7m)
Newcastle fans protested when the unusually prolific Cole made a surprise move to United in January 1997, breaking the British transfer record in a swap for winger Keith Gillespie.
Cole was part of United’s treble-winning side in the 1998/99 season and won four more Premier League titles and two FA Cups, with only Alan Shearer and Yorke producing more goals or being directly involved in goals in the Premier League than the England international during his time with the club.
No player has ever scored more goals for a Premier League team without taking any penalties, but Cole’s dissatisfaction with being dropped from United led to him joining Blackburn for £7.6 million in December 2001.
6) Dennis Bergkamp – Arsenal, £156m (£7.5m)
Bergkamp’s addition came as a record signing for Arsenal in 1995, a year before the transformational manager arrived. Arsene Wengerwho justifiably described the Gunners icon as the club’s “first push” into the modern international era.
The subject of a statue outside the Emirates Stadium, Bergkamp won the Premier League three times and the FA Cup four times before ending his career at Arsenal and starting the first game at their new stadium in his testimonial against former club Ajax in 2006.
5) Fernando Torres – Chelsea, £157.8m (£50m)
Chelsea broke the British record in January 2011 in favor of Torres, the 2008 European Championship and 2010 World Cup winner with Spain, who scored 81 goals in 142 matches during three and a half years with Liverpool.
Torres was noticeably less productive than he had been with the Reds and Atletico Madrid, and still won the Champions League and FA Cup in 2011/12 and the Europa League in 2012/13, as well as contributing 35 assists before initially leaving to join Milan on loan in 2014.
4) Stan Collymore – Liverpool £176.8m (£8.5m)
Rapidly breaking Cole’s British transfer record, Liverpool joined goal machine Nottingham Forest Collymore in July 1995 and were rewarded with a return of 102 goals in two seasons from the England international and his strike partner Robbie Fowler.
Collymore was seen to have attitude problems and admitted he regretted leaving Anfield and moving to his boyhood club Aston Villa two years later, after he had a difficult relationship with manager Roy Evans and found his place threatened by the emergence of teenage sensation Michael Owen.
3) Juan Sebastian Veron – Manchester United, £178.5m (£28.1m)
United made Veron the first non-European player to break the British record when Sir Alex Ferguson decided to sign the Argentina international who had established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world with Lazio.
Veron won the Premier League in 2002-03, but never reached his previous heights with United, who recouped just over half the fee he paid when he left two years later for a marginal spell at Chelsea. The two-time South American Player of the Year said he wished he had stayed at Old Trafford.
2) Rio Ferdinand – Manchester United, £198.5m (£33.3m)
Leeds paid West Ham £18m to make Ferdinand the world’s most expensive defender in November 2000, and United followed suit to sign the 23-year-old from the Whites in July 2002.
The Premier League and England star won the Premier League six times, the 2007/08 Champions League and the EFL Cup twice during a 12-year career with the club, as well as scoring United’s last goal under Ferguson.
1) Alan Shearer – Newcastle, £236.9m (£15m)
A large crowd gathered to celebrate Shearer’s symbolic return to his home city after Newcastle’s win over Manchester United in July 1996, shortly after he had confirmed his place as one of the best strikers in the world during England’s run to the European Championship semi-finals.
Despite failing to add to the Premier League title he won with former club Blackburn Rovers, the Newcastle trialist as a boy won the Premier League Golden Boot in 1997 and remains the division’s all-time top scorer thanks to his time on Tyneside until 2007, returning briefly as caretaker manager in 2009.
The most expensive signings in the English Premier League: top 40
Rogers is 29th and Anderson 32nd with both players joining the top 40 this summer.
In 15th place, Alexander Isak’s move to Liverpool last year puts the former Newcastle striker above both, eight goals ahead of another Reds signing for the 2025/26 season, Florian Wirtz.
| season | player | club | expenses | amendment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96/97 | Alan Shearer | Newcastle | 15 million pounds sterling | £236.9 million |
| 2 | 02/03 | Rio Ferdinand | Man United | £33.3m | £198.5m |
| 3 | 01/02 | Juan Sebastian Veron | Man United | £28.1 million | £178.5m |
| 4 | 95/96 | Stan Collymore | Liverpool | £8.5m | £176.8 million |
| 5 | 10/11 | Fernando Torres | Chelsea | 50 million pounds sterling | £157.8 million |
| 6 | 95/96 | Dennis Bergkamp | Arsenal | £7.5m | 156 million pounds sterling |
| 7 | 94/95 | Andy Cole | Man United | 7 million pounds sterling | £153.8 million |
| 8 | 06/07 | Andrey Shevchenko | Chelsea | £30.8 million | £152.6 million |
| 9 | 98/99 | Dwight Yorke | Man United | £12.6 million | £144.7 million |
| 10 | 16/17 | Paul Pogba | Man United | £89.3m | £141.6 million |
| 11 | 04/05 | Wayne Rooney | Man United | £25.6 million | £140.2m |
| 12 | 00/01 | Rio Ferdinand | Leeds | 18 million pounds sterling | £139.8 million |
| 13 | 95/96 | Tino Asprilla | Newcastle | £6.7 million | £139.3m |
| 14 | 21/22 | Jack Grealish | Man City | 100 million pounds sterling | £132.7 million |
| 15 | 25/26 | Alexander Isaac | Liverpool | 125 million pounds sterling | £132.6 million |
| 16 | 04/05 | Didier Drogba | Chelsea | 24 million pounds sterling | £131.5m |
| 17 | 23/24 | Moises Caicedo | Chelsea | 115 million pounds sterling | £131.2m |
| 18 | 21/22 | Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea | £97.5m | £129.4 million |
| 19 | 14/15 | Angel Di Maria | Man United | £59.7 million | £128.7 million |
| 20 | 22/23 | Enzo Fernandez | Chelsea | £106.8 million | £127.5m |
| 21 | 05/06 | Michael Essien | Chelsea | £24.4 million | £127.2m |
| 22 | 95/96 | Ferdinand | Newcastle | 6 million pounds sterling | £124.8 million |
| 23 | 25/26 | Florian Wirtz | Liverpool | 116 million pounds sterling | £123.1 million |
| 24 | 98/99 | Gabe Stam | Man United | £10.6 million | £121.8 million |
| 25 | 08/09 | Robinho | Man City | £32.5m | £121.7 million |
| 26 | 01/02 | Ruud van Nistelrooy | Man United | 19 million pounds sterling | 120.7 million pounds sterling |
| 27 | 23/24 | Declan Rice | Arsenal | 105 million pounds sterling | £119.8 million |
| 28 | 11/12 | Sergio Aguero | Man City | 38 million pounds sterling | £117.3m |
| 29 | 26/27 | Morgan Rogers | Chelsea | 117 million pounds sterling | 117 million pounds sterling |
| 30 | 00/01 | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink | Chelsea | 15 million pounds sterling | £116.5m |
| 31 | 92/93 | Alan Shearer | Blackburn | £3.3m | £116.5m |
| 32 | 26/27 | Elliot Anderson | Man City | 116 million pounds sterling | 116 million pounds sterling |
| 33 | 08/09 | Dimitar Berbatov | Man United | £30.8 million | £115.1 million |
| 34 | 17/18 | Romelu Lukaku | Man United | £75m | £112.6 million |
| 35 | 17/18 | Virgil van Dijk | Liverpool | £75m | £112.6 million |
| 36 | 19/20 | Harry Maguire | Man United | 80 million pounds sterling | £112.4 million |
| 37 | 96/97 | Fabrizio Rafanelli | Middlesbrough | 7 million pounds sterling | £110.6 million |
| 38 | 10/11 | Andy Carroll | Liverpool | £35m | £110.4 million |
| 39 | 94/95 | Chris Sutton | Blackburn | £5m | £109.9 million |
| 40 | 04/05 | Ricardo Carvalho | Chelsea | 20 million pounds sterling | £109.6 million |
All data: Fallopal
