Manchester City look set to cash in on Argentina star Julian Alvarez after a deal was agreed with Atletico Madrid.
The Spanish side are set to splash £83m on the Premier League and World Cup winner - making him the most expensive sale in City’s history, although PSG are also interested. Regardless of his destination, any move would see Alvarez become one of the most expensive exports of the Premier League era.
Some to have come before him have gone on to even more success. But that’s not quite true of them all.
So, Mirror Sport has decided to take a look at the costliest Premier League exits over the past three decades and how they got on immediately after bidding farewell to English football.
We start with two big sales from Chelsea - and two stars who are still popular at Stamford Bridge. The Blues secured £51.6m when they sold Brazilian playmaker Oscar to Shanghai SIPG in 2017.
They then banked the same amount at the end of that year after Diego Costa's explosive return to Atletico Madrid. It hasn’t quite been the same for both players since.
Oscar - to his credit - is a two-time Chinese Super League champion having gone on to make 231 appearances for Shanghai, where he remains. The move however saw the end of his international career and the Brazilian has never returned to Europe.
Meanwhile, Costa, now, 35, scored 19 goals in 81 appearances back with Atleti before moving to Atletico Mineiro, Wolves, Botafogo and Gremio. Ex-Villa man Moussa Diaby could claim a spot on this list but has been with Al-Ittihad for too little time to really judge his time in Saudi Arabia.
Ah, Angel, what could have been? The Argentine superstar spent just one season with Man United before being flogged to PSG for a loss.
To their credit, the Red Devils still banked £54m for the winger. And it is hard to argue that his move away from Old Trafford wasn’t the right one for Di Maria.
He stayed in the French capital for seven years, winning the league on five occasions, alongside a whole host of other trophies. Di Maria left to join Juventus and then sealed an emotional return to former club Benfica, scoring 17 goals in all competitions.
Di Maria toasted arguably one of the best achievements of his career in 2022 after helping Argentina to their third World Cup success.
Staying at Old Trafford, Man United also chose to sell one of their big-money signings just shortly after signing him. After just two years with the Red Devils, Belgian forward Lukaku joined Inter Milan for £60m and was an instant success.
He netted 64 goals in 95 games for the Italian giants and helped them to the Serie A crown in 2021. His form was good enough for former side Chelsea to splash the cash on Lukaku.
But that’s where things went wrong for the Belgian frontman who spent just a year in West London before rejoining Inter on loan. He netted 14 goals for the Italians before signing for Roma in a similar deal last term.
Lukaku was slightly more prolific having netted 21 goals. The now 31-year-old appears to have little future with Chelsea and has been linked with yet another move back to Italy - Napoli reportedly interested in signing him.
Arguably one of the most successful names on this list, Uruguayan frontman Luis Suarez had become one of the most lethal strikers in the world with Liverpool. Unfortunately his time in England with the Reds were numbered.
Barcelona secured his services for £70m ahead of the 2014/15 campaign and every penny was money well spent. Suarez now sits second in Barca’s all-time top scorers list with 283 strikes.
He won four La Liga titles, four Spanish cups and the Champions League during his time at the Camp Nou. Suarez won another league title after being allowed to join Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid in 2020.
The veteran forward has since moved to Nacional, Gremio and Inter Miami - where he has been reunited with Lionel Messi in the MLS.
Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo completed a £80m move to Real Madrid in 2008, it always looked like a bargain. The Portuguese forward completed a move away from Man United and went on to become one of the best players in history.
He is now Real Madrid's all-time record goalscorer with 450 goals, winning four Champions League titles in the process. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner then spent three years with Juventus before making an emotional return to Old Trafford in 2021.
Ronaldo spent just 18 months with the Red Devils as an explosive interview with Piers Morgan saw his contract cancelled. The veteran forward then completed a record-breaking move to Saudi side Al-Nassr.
He has continued to plunder the goals with 64 goals in 70 appearances and lifted the Arab Club Champions Cup last year.
One of the most recent deals on this list, Tottenham and England icon Harry Kane completed a £81.7m move to German giants Bayern Munich last summer. And from a personal standpoint, Kane’s move has been perfect.
He plundered an eye-watering 44 goals in just 45 games in all competitions. Unfortunately for him, his Bayern teammates weren’t quite able to match his lofty standards.
For the first time since 2011, they finished the season without a trophy. That also saw their huge domination of the Bundesliga come to an end having finished third.
Kane had another chance to finally win his first trophy this summer having reached another Euros final with England but the Three Lions lost out to Spain.
From one big Spurs sale to another, Gareth Bale completed a £86.9m move to Real Madrid in 2013. The Welshman’s first few seasons in Spain were a dream, scoring 58 goals and helping the side win their tenth European crown.
Bale was a Real Madrid player for eight seasons in all but injuries hugely limited his contributions. He also endured a tricky relationship with the club’s demanding supporter base.
The winger was even allowed to return to former side Tottenham during the 2020/21 campaign, scoring 16 goals in 34 appearances in all competitions. The five-time European champion rounded his career off with MLS side LAFC.
And it was a dream end for Bale as he scored in extra-time to secure the side their first-ever title. He retired in 2023 and is one of only two stars on this list to have hung his boots up.
While Bale’s time at the Bernabeu was frustrating, Eden Hazard’s spell with the Spanish club was an unmitigated disaster. The Belgian had become one the Premier League’s best ahead of joining Real Madrid for £103.9m.
Hazard scored just one goal during his debut campaign in Spain, injuries ruining his first season. Things did not really get much better for Hazard having scored just seven goals in 76 appearances in all for Real.
His contract with the club was terminated by mutual consent in June 2023 and Hazard announced his decision to retire just months later. The former winger has been seen on the pitch recently at Soccer Aid. It is hard to argue that his move to Real Madrid was anything but a catastrophe.
There’s just something about moves to Spain and not working out for some of the Premier League’s best players. Philippe Coutinho had become a star for Liverpool across his five-year spell with the Reds.
Off the back of a brilliant half-season in which he had scored 12 goals in 20 appearances, he moved to Barcelona for £116m. And the early signs were bright for Coutinho at the Camp Nou.
He scored ten goals in 22 appearances across his first half-season but things went downhill from there. Coutinho was sent out on loan moves to Bayern Munich - with which he won the Champions League - and Aston Villa. A permanent move to the Premier League then followed but Coutinho has since moved temporarily to Al-Duhail and most recently Vasco da Gama.