Highest Fees
For more details on historical highest fees, see World football transfer record.The following table shows the top 25 highest transfer fees ever paid in GBP. Lists in other currencies differ due to exchange rate fluctuations.
European football experienced a "transfer bubble" fueled by rapidly rising television rights sales between 1999 and 2002, and fees then fell away significantly, before rising again towards the end of the 2000s. The three most expensive transfers since that time were all made by Spanish clubs in 2009, two by Real Madrid and one by Barcelona. In June 2009, Real Madrid purchased Kaká from Milan for a fee of £56 million, followed shortly thereafter by their £80 million purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.
Transfer fees are not always officially confirmed by the transacting clubs, and figures published by unofficial sources may or may not take into account various fees (e.g. to agents), performance related elements of the fee, and the notional value of any players included in part exchange. This leads to different figures being given by different sources. Performance related clauses have become more common in recent years, meaning that it is harder to produce definitive lists of the largest transfer fees than was the case in the past.
Read more about this topic: Transfer (association Football)
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