Best 'expensive transfer' by non-elites

RyRoc

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Recent ones that come to my head are:

Maddison to Leicester for around £25 million in 2018 which I think was a record for a Championship player - he's probably worth three times that amount now

Higuain to Napoli( debatable whether Napoli are Elite but I would suggest they haven't been for well over 20 years now) - signed for around £40 million scored 90 goals in three seasons before being sold for nearly double the money

Richarlison to Everton - Fee was around £45 million a couple of years ago and just seemed at least 15 million too much but his performances have been very good and I would suggest you'd have to pay at least £25 million more to land him now
 

Green_Red

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You wash your dirty mouth out! :lol:
Think about it. Villa had the same amount of top flight titles and European cups as us. Forest had 2 European cups. Tottenham had more FA cups. So at that time, where we an elite club? I dont think so.
 

Green_Red

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Well fill us in then on what makes an elite club because if being comparable in terms of success with a load of clubs around you then you're hardly elite. Dont forget English football didnt have the far reach that it has now so most of the clubs supporters were probably in the UK and Ireland so we weren't claiming the "most supported"/Biggest club in the world in those days.
 

mariachi-19

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I may be the devil, but i'm not a monster
Looking at the 'Expensive Transfers that Worked' thread got me thinking about big money signings that weren't made by the traditional biggest clubs or the current moneybags. When you look at the list of the biggest transfers of all time, obviously it's primarily the usual suspects - United and City, Real and Barcelona, Juventus, PSG etc.

There are famous flops that went to clubs outside the top bracket - Denilson at Betis, or Mendieta and to a lesser extent Crespo (who did well but won nothing) at Lazio. When you take in the biggest moves to clubs in China, it can be harder to quantify their success to the level and the lesser profile over here, but a lot of them seem to have done just 'fine' - either playing well but not racking up trophies, moving when they're past their best, or not sticking around -would Paulinho be the most successful?

Are there good examples of clubs outside the typical European elites putting their necks out there to make a massive money signing and having it pay off in terms of bringing in trophies, moving them up a level or the player staying on for a long time? Batistuta going to Roma for 35m-ish in 2000 had the RVP effect, getting them over the line for a Serie A. Any others?
Wonder Pigeon.... you're alive!

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saintquin

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A more common thing before top clubs monopolised the talent.

Maradona to Napoli
Keegan to Hamburg - hadn't finished higher than 6th in 2 decades, won the Bundesliga and reached the final of the European Cup
How about Keegan from Hamburg to Saints. Massive signing for us!