The $100 million players in football history: Full list of stars to transfer for nine-digit fees

Football transfer fees have continued on a rocketing trajectory in recent years with Europe's major clubs all making moves in the market.

The Premier League remains the biggest-spending league overall since 2018, with the English top flight splashing out eye-watering sums to bring in top talent.

However, Ligue 1 in France and La Liga in Spain have looked to keep pace with their English rivals, with some of the biggest standalone deals involving teams from those countries — albeit involving a small group of teams.

The $100 million mark has been surpassed numerous times with some of the biggest names in world football securing nine-figure transfer fees.

Here is the list of those deals, in order of the most expensive in history.

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Most expensive football transfer

Despite the gradual move towards $100m deals becoming more mainstream, the most expensive transfer of all time remains unchallenged since 2017.

Qatar Sports Investment, the entity which owns Paris Saint-Germain, had its eye on a ground breaking transfer that could elevate PSG's position on the global stage. Six years ago, they made a move that forever changed the landscape of football transfers.

In the summer window of 2017, PSG signed Neymar from Barcelona after agreeing to match his release clause of €222 million ($252m). It remains history's most expensive transfer by a distance.

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Most expensive Premier League transfer

Although the Premier League is by far the top spenders in European top-flights, the most expensive transfer to a team from England ranks only sixth in the global list.

The enormous January 2023 spending at Chelsea was capped off by a move for 2022 World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.

After weeks of negotiations at the start of the year, Chelsea eventually paid out €121m ($135.8m) for the 22-year-old midfielder.

Moises Caicedo's move in August 2023, however, is likely to beat the record. Chelsea initially paid £100m ($127m) for the Brighton & Hove Albion sensation, which will rise to £115m ($146m) based on appearances.

Jack Grealish is the only other Premier League signing to break the nine-figure mark, Man City having agreed to pay his £100m ($127m) release clause to bring him in from Aston Villa in August 2021.

Arsenal's deal for Rice will reach a maximum of £105m ($137.5m) including add-ons, which would place him ahead of Grealish on this list.

In terms of combined transfer fees over the course of a career, Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku leads the way with an overall £285.8m/$363.1m having been paid for the man who spent last season on loan at Inter Milan.

$100m football transfers list

The $100m dollar transfer ceiling has been broken through several times, before and after Neymar's move to Paris, even accounting for currency fluctuations between the US dollar and British pound/euro.

The below table lists the transfers for more than $100m, ranked by the fee paid in USD. The conversion from euros to US dollars is based on the exchange rate at the time the transfer was completed.

*Fees taken from transfermarkt