Lucrative television deals, owners and investors with seemingly bottomless pocke

ts, financial fair play not necessarily being fair

there are numerous reasons fo
r the expeditious rise in Premier League transfer fees.
Forty-five days remain in the transfer window and already last year s record summe
r total of 822.5m appears set to be broken, and it may reach 1bn if mooted moves s
uch as Paul Pogba to Manchester United go through. What this window has been mos
t notable for so far, however, is the arrival of a new barometer: the 30m fee.
Premier League transfers: who has done the best business so far?
There were five 30m-plus transfers last summer but this year an amount unheard of
a decade and a half ago for the world s best has become the norm for good but arg
uably not exceptional
players.
Sadio Man, Granit Xhaka, Eric Bailly, Michy Batshuayi and N Golo Kant have been tran
sferred for around 30m each but what would that amount have bought in the past?
Fifteen years ago
Juan Sebastin Vern became the Premier League s record signing in 2001 when joining M
anchester United from Lazio for 28.1m, a fee still some way off the world record 7
5m (46.6m) Real Madrid paid Juventus for Zinedine Zidane that same year. Twelve m
onths later Rio Ferdinand moved to Old Trafford from Leeds for 29.1m but with add
-ons and fees bringing the total to around 34m, he again broke the British record
and became the world s most expensive defender for a second time after Lilian Thu
ram s move to Juventus had usurped the 18m Leeds United spent on bringing Ferdinand
to Elland Road from West Ham United.
Ten years ago
In a list of the top 50 transfers of all time, what is perhaps most noticeable
a
part from the majority at the top being quite recent is a gap between 2002 and 2
006 where no record fees were set. However, in 2006 Andriy Shevchenko joined Che
lsea for 30.8m and two years later the nouveau riche Manchester City muscled in w
ith the acquisition of Robinho from Real Madrid for 32.5m. City s convoluted signin
g of Carlos Tevez 12 months later for 47.5m took the spend of English clubs to a
new level.
Five years ago
Even in 2011, fees above 30m were not common and were reserved, with only a coupl
e of exceptions, for the world s best players. Cesc Fbregas s return to Barcelona ear
ned Arsenal 38m, while Manchester City spent the same amount on Sergio Agero. An E
nglish record had been set with Fernando Torres s 50m move from Liverpool to Chelse
a on the final day of the winter window, although Andy Carroll moved from Newcas
tle United to Anfield for 35m on the same day. Liverpool, it should be noted, had
also signed Luis Surez on the same day for 22.8m, a price that in hindsight was a
bargain.