From Neymar to Ronaldo - Biggest transfers of each season in the 21st century

The first two decades of the century have witnessed some mind-boggling transfer fees being paid for exceptional talents like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar...

In the early years of the century, Real Madrid were making all the noise in the transfer market, as under the leadership of Florentino Perez, the club was signing the best talents in the world for astronomical fees.

In 2000, Luis Figo was signed from their arch-rivals Barcelona for a then world-record fee of €60m and in the following season, Zinedine Zidane arrived from Juventus for €73.5m. This stood as a record for eight years and then it was Madrid once again who broke the bank for Cristiano Ronaldo. They were chasing the Portuguese for two years and finally in the summer of 2009, he was presented as a Real Madrid player for a world-record fee of €94m.

Although the English clubs were not far behind in making statement transfers like Chelsea paid €59m for Fernando Torres, it was once again the Spanish giants who stamped their authority in 2013 when they signed Gareth Bale from Tottenham for a staggering €101m.

Barcelona were not far behind and they roped in Luis Suarez in 2014 after paying €82m to Liverpool.

In 2016, Manchester United grabbed the headlines when they signed Paul Pogba for €105m to bring the Frenchman back to Old Trafford after allowing him to leave for free a few years back.

In the next summer, all hell broke loose when PSG triggered the €222m release clause of Neymar to land the Brazilian in Paris from Barcelona. He was set to earn €45m/ season for the next five years which took the total outlay to around €450m. In the next season, Kylian Mbappe joined Neymar and PSG forked out another €180m. These two transfers remain the costliest deals to date in the history of football.

2000

Player: Luis Figo Transfer Fee: €60mClubs involved: From Barcelona to Real Madrid

2001

Player: Zinedine ZidaneTransfer Fee: €73.5mClubs involved: From Juventus to Real Madrid

2002

Player: Rio FerdinandTransfer Fee: €43mClubs involved: From Leeds United to Manchester United

2003

Player: David BeckhamTransfer Fee: €37.5mClubs involved: From Manchester United to Real Madrid

2004

Player: Didier DrogbaTransfer Fee: €38.5mClubs involved: From Marseille to Chelsea

2005

Player: Michael EssienTransfer Fee: €38mClubs involved: From Lyon to Chelsea

2006

Player: Andriy ShevchenkoTransfer Fee: €73.5mClubs involved: From AC Milan to Chelsea

2007

Player: Fernando TorresTransfer Fee: €38mClubs involved: From Atletico Madrid to Liverpool

2008

Player: RobinhoTransfer Fee: €34mClubs involved: From Real Madrid to Manchester City

2009

Player: Cristiano RonaldoTransfer Fee: €94mClubs involved: From Manchester United to Real Madrid

2010

Player: Fernando TorresTransfer Fee: €59mClubs involved: From Liverpool to Chelsea

2011

Player: Javier PastoreTransfer Fee: €42mClubs involved: From Palermo to PSG

2012

Player: Thiago SilvaTransfer Fee: €42mClubs involved: From AC Milan to PSG

2013

Player: Gareth BaleTransfer Fee: €101mClubs involved: From Tottenham to Real Madrid

2014

Player: Luis SuarezTransfer Fee: €82mClubs involved: From Liverpool to Barcelona

2015

Player: Kevin De BruyneTransfer Fee: €73.5mClubs involved: From Wolfsburg to Manchester City

2016

Player: Paul PogbaTransfer Fee: €105mClubs involved: From Juventus to Manchester United

2017

Player: NeymarTransfer Fee: €222mClubs involved: From Barcelona to PSG

2018

Player: Kylian MbappeTransfer Fee: €180mClubs involved: From AS Monaco to PSG

2019

Player: Joao FelixTransfer Fee: €126mClubs involved: From Benfica to Atletico Madrid

2020

Player: Kai HavertzTransfer Fee: €80mClubs involved: From Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea

2021

Player: Jack GrealishTransfer Fee: €117.5mClubs involved: From Aston Villa to Manchester City