Hit/ miss/ par Top 25 most expensive signings

[UnitedFire]

Source transfer market
# player Season Nat. New club Fee
1
Neymar Neymar
Left Winger
17/18 Brazil Paris Saint-Germain £199.80m

59 goals In 80 games in the league
90 goals in 130 all games
Ligue 1: 2017–18,[360] 2018–19,[361] 2019–20
Coupe de France: 2017–18,[362] 2019–20,[151] 2020–21[363]
Coupe de la Ligue: 2017–18,[364] 2019–20[152]
Trophée des Champions: 2018,[365] 2020[366]

Par? Undoubtedly brought in to win a Champions League, which hasn't happened. Commercially I'm sure he has been a hit and a huge profile raiser for PSG. But for almost £200m he hasn't been pulling up Messi or Ronaldo stats.

2
Kylian Mbappé Kylian Mbappé
Centre-Forward
18/19 France Paris Saint-Germain £130.50m

88 goals in 99 in the league
130 in 154 total
Easy hit. Bargain given age and easily worth more than they brought him for by some margin.

3
Ousmane Dembélé Ousmane Dembélé
Right Winger
17/18 France
Mauritania FC Barcelona £126.00m
Big Fail Miss

4
Philippe Coutinho Philippe Coutinho
Left Winger
17/18 Brazil
Portugal FC Barcelona £121.50m
Big Fail Miss

5
João Félix João Félix
Second Striker
19/20 Portugal Atlético de Madrid £114.48m
Major fail. 15 goals in 70 league, 22 in 94 total
Still young, but those stats are no better than you'd expect from some random youth team promoted striker.

6
Antoine Griezmann Antoine Griezmann
Second Striker
19/20 France FC Barcelona £108.00m
Fail. 22 league goals in 74, 35 in 102 total
Soon to turn 31. Simply not a world beater that the price tag dictated and basically caused Barca to be too broke to keep Messi.

7
Jack Grealish Jack Grealish
Left Winger
21/22 England
Ireland Manchester City £105.75m
Too soon. Par at best so far.

8
Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo
Centre-Forward
18/19 Portugal Juventus FC £105.30m
Hit for the stats and records and trophies and commercial hit for sure. But very costly for his time.

9
Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku
Centre-Forward
21/22 Belgium
DR Congo Chelsea FC £103.50m
Miss

10
Eden Hazard Eden Hazard
Left Winger
19/20 Belgium Real Madrid £103.50m
Massive miss

11
Paul Pogba Paul Pogba
Central Midfield
16/17 France
Guinea Manchester United £94.50m
Basically just a big miss

12
Gareth Bale Gareth Bale
Right Winger
13/14 Wales Real Madrid £90.90m
Hit and miss!

13
Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo
Centre-Forward
09/10 Portugal Real Madrid £84.60m
Probably the best signing ever for the price. Even made a profit.. Crazy!

14
Gonzalo Higuaín Gonzalo Higuaín
Centre-Forward
16/17 Argentina
France Juventus FC £81.00m
Fair hit 48 goals in 105 league, 66 in 149 total
Got good loan fees for him too.

15
Neymar Neymar
Left Winger
13/14 Brazil FC Barcelona £79.20m
Hit given success and massive profit

16
Harry Maguire Harry Maguire
Centre-Back
19/20 England Manchester United £78.30m
Par to fail
He did improve things, but has never justified the price tag. That was a funny year for defenders, bad time to be in the market.

17
Frenkie de Jong Frenkie de Jong
Central Midfield
19/20 Netherlands FC Barcelona £77.40m
Mixed views here, Ill let others answer.

18
Matthijs de Ligt Matthijs de Ligt
Centre-Back
19/20 Netherlands Juventus FC £76.95m
Not sure?

19
Jadon Sancho Jadon Sancho
Left Winger
21/22 England
Trinidad and Tobago Manchester United £76.50m
Too soon, fail so far

20
Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku
Centre-Forward
17/18 Belgium
DR Congo Manchester United £76.23m
Good stats, but mostly a fail

21
Virgil van Dijk Virgil van Dijk
Centre-Back
17/18 Netherlands
Suriname Liverpool FC £76.19m
One of the best signings ever

22
Luis Suárez Luis Suárez
Centre-Forward
14/15 Uruguay FC Barcelona £73.55m
Outrageous hit
147 goals in 191 in the league, 198 in 283


23
Kai Havertz Kai Havertz
Attacking Midfield
20/21 Germany Chelsea FC £72.00m
Too soon still, fair hit

24
Lucas Hernández Lucas Hernández
Centre-Back
19/20 France
Spain Bayern Munich £72.00m
Hit?

25
Nicolas Pépé Nicolas Pépé
Right Winger
19/20 Cote d'Ivoire
France Arsenal FC £72.00m
Miss

Interesting split here. Spending massively can be a real gamble, but you get it right it can be a game changer for the right players.

 

[Powderfinger]

The strongest trend is that buying players aged 27 and over for really big money tends to be a mistake: Hazard, Griezmann, Higuaín, Ronaldo to Juve, Lukaku to Chelsea. You get many of their decline years while paying a price that reflects their peak years, then they leave for peanuts.

 

[Maluco]

I think Bale is 100% a success. Two La Ligas, four Champions Leagues and a highlight reel of superb moments (including 2 crucial goals in separate CL finals). 13 trophies in all.

Interestingly, he scored more goals than Ronaldo R9 for Madrid and had more assists than Becks.

It’s ended badly but he is about as big a success as you could have.

 

[Wolf1992]

I think Bale is 100% a success. Two La Ligas, four Champions Leagues and a highlight reel of superb moments (including 2 crucial goals in separate CL finals). 13 trophies in all.

Interestingly, he scored more goals than Ronaldo R9 for Madrid and had more assists than Becks.

It’s ended badly but he is about as big a success as you could have.

Bale was definitely more important for Real Madrid than R9 and Beckham, those two would have been crucified here for their performances in big games with Real, if the forum was popular back then.

Bale is definitely ahead of R9 and Beckham in Real's history, despite all the criticism for playing golf while injured and not giving a feck about learning spanish.

 

[Acheron]

I prefer the lists when they are adjusted for inflation although since Neymar's move to PSG the quantities have been insane for some of these players.

 

[Bebestation]

And then people act like its only the English players that are overrated and overpriced whilst they can spend summer's and winter's crying out to sign Greizmann for absurd prices.

 

[The Boy]

I prefer the lists when they are adjusted for inflation although since Neymar's move to PSG the quantities have been insane for some of these players.

PSG have a lot to answer for, they managed to distort and inflate an already massively overpriced market.

 

[Tee27]

Whilst I agree mbappe is a hit, if he leaves on a free at the end of the season without helping them win the champions league would his signing have been a massive success on psgs part or fall in the par category?

Sure he’s scored alot of goals for them but even without mbappe they would have won the league titles they won given the disparity of competition in that league. (Even though they managed to even bottle that last year)

It’s been a great move for mbappe himself but I’m not sure I’d say it was a massive success for PSG if it it unfolds this way.

 

[AussieDevil]

Bale was a huge hit.

Scored the deciding goals in two UCL finals. Also scored a cracking winner against Barca in a Copa del Rey final.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

So the most underpriced (massive hit) player there is the one we sold!

 

[Lay]

We almost signed Griezemann too

 

[Bondi77]

It would have been so good if we had Bale in his peak years.
He could lay claim to the best ever British player......at club level.

 

[Gio]

Good list. Would only quibble with Higauin at Juventus (2 good-if-not-quite-Napoli-level seasons and then finished - not a great return for 80m) and Bale as others have said.

 

[Lay]

Felix at another club would be great I feel. Doesn’t seem like a Simeone player.

 

[DWelbz19]

PSG have a lot to answer for, they managed to distort and inflate an already massively overpriced market.

The fact that Barcelona had 3 £100m+ straight up misses that they were never able to recuperate even a fraction of the cost for is insane. If you did a thread like this just solely for Barcelona signings in the past 5-6 years, I don’t think you’ll find more than 3 hits

 

[Trequarista10]

Pogba has undoubtedly been a miss for us, but compared to most of the top 10 he's been a resounding success!

Can't call Sancho a miss just yet.

 

[TenonTen]

Many of these transfers have been pretty unsuccessful. Big money transfer implies big risk but high reward.

I think a successful formula simply can't be defined when it comes to big transfers.
I reckon its mostly about instinct and planning beforehand: how the signing would actually fit in tactically and personality wise.
Liverpool wanted VVD as the leader of their defense so they went all in and got him assuming he'd make the jump from playing at a Southampton to playing for a Liverpool. His player profile was extremely vital for Klopp's high line system where his pace, strength, intelligence and sheer dominance in one on one duels are crucial.

Some players are just better suited being big fishes in smaller ponds like Griezmann and Hazard. I guess Harry Kane will be same and City should look at others. A lot is about the personality and adaptability.

I'd say its definitely worth taking the risk with youngsters like Haaland, Vlahovic, Chiesa at this point for any big club really.

 

[BrilliantOrange]

De Ligt is a HIT, de Jong is PAR

 

[Iker Quesadillas]

Kylian Mbappé
Easy hit. Bargain given age and easily worth more than they brought him for by some margin.

I would downgrade Mbappe for the simple reason that he's likely to leave PSG for zero money.

 

[Solius]

The formatting on that OP hurt me inside.

 

[Iker Quesadillas]

It’s ended badly but he is about as big a success as you could have.

Careers at Real Madrid rarely end well. Bale is just slightly worse than average, really.

 

[Thunderhead]

The strongest trend is that buying players aged 27 and over for really big money tends to be a mistake: Hazard, Griezmann, Higuaín, Ronaldo to Juve, Lukaku to Chelsea. You get many of their decline years while paying a price that reflects their peak years, then they leave for peanuts.

liked this the other day, Edwin Van Der Sar though, bargain

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[RedRonaldo]

Whilst I agree mbappe is a hit, if he leaves on a free at the end of the season without helping them win the champions league would his signing have been a massive success on psgs part or fall in the par category?

Sure he’s scored alot of goals for them but even without mbappe they would have won the league titles they won given the disparity of competition in that league. (Even though they managed to even bottle that last year)

It’s been a great move for mbappe himself but I’m not sure I’d say it was a massive success for PSG if it it unfolds this way.

PSG could have sold him last summer for a profit. And there’s simply no player there who could guarantee a CL trophy.

 

[Revan]

Hit: Neymar, Mbappe, Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Neymar, De Jong, Van Dijk, Suarez

Mixed: Bale, Higuain, de Ligt, Lukaku (United), Havertz, Hernandez

Miss: Dembele, Coutinho, Griezmann, Grealish (so far), Lukaku (Chelsea, so far), Pogba, Magure, Sancho (so far), Pepe, Felix, Hazard

 

[Hammondo]

I would say Mbappe is a miss, neymar to PSG is a big miss.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I don't think Pogba is 'big miss', but so many here have an agenda against him. Despite that, he has been a bit of a disappointment. Somehow France have always got the best out of him, but successive United managers have failed to consistently get his best. Mind you, no manager since SAF has consistently got the best out of any of our players, so the point is moot. Nevertheless, par at best, but really below par.

 

[WeePat]

Hit: Neymar, Mbappe, Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Neymar, De Jong, Van Dijk, Suarez

Mixed: Bale, Higuain, de Ligt, Lukaku (United), Havertz, Hernandez

Miss: Dembele, Coutinho, Griezmann, Grealish (so far), Lukaku (Chelsea, so far), Pogba, Magure, Sancho (so far), Pepe, Felix, Hazard

Yeah I would say if Grealish is too soon to tell then the same logic applies to Sancho and Lukaku.

 

[A-man]

I think Ibrahimovic to PSG was a great success. He was obviously a very good player, but more important he brought interest around PSG. He was the person most mentioned in French media, even more than the president and critical for their journey and project.

 

[Red the Bear]

If anything, this is an argument against making such signings. Going by your list:

Mbape: success
Ronaldo juve : success but they wanted champions league so kinda disappointing
Ronaldo real: huge success the only one where you can easily say worh every penny
Newmar barca: success also made a nice profit out of it
Van djik: great success

And that's what? 5 out of 25 so a measly success rate of 20 percent a terrible number and horrendous return for the investment. Interestingly enough it's a trend that is actually growing so I'll expect more big budget signings in the future, kinda bizarre.

 

[UnitedFire]

Whilst I agree mbappe is a hit, if he leaves on a free at the end of the season without helping them win the champions league would his signing have been a massive success on psgs part or fall in the par category?

Sure he’s scored alot of goals for them but even without mbappe they would have won the league titles they won given the disparity of competition in that league. (Even though they managed to even bottle that last year)

It’s been a great move for mbappe himself but I’m not sure I’d say it was a massive success for PSG if it it unfolds this way.

Agreed. I completely forgot the contract element, but even that feels like mismanagement similar to Pogba. If it wasn't for the contract a certain hit.

 

[Deery]

More misses than hits really.

 

[UnitedFire]

I would downgrade Mbappe for the simple reason that he's likely to leave PSG for zero money.

Good point

 

[UnitedFire]

The formatting on that OP hurt me inside.

Apologies a copy and paste job to start off with and too late at night to be tidying up! Hard to find a simple list not covered in ads and other mess.

 

[UnitedFire]

I don't think Pogba is 'big miss', but so many here have an agenda against him. Despite that, he has been a bit of a disappointment. Somehow France have always got the best out of him, but successive United managers have failed to consistently get his best. Mind you, no manager since SAF has consistently got the best out of any of our players, so the point is moot. Nevertheless, par at best, but really below par.

The knock on impact of Pogba could make him a monumental failure. The whole agent bullshit. The dis-synergy aspect in him seemingly causing more harm than good most of the time he plays.

He has also single handedly won quite a few games and points for us which is always his saving grace. If you have 6 front players and one of them plays a blinder every 6 games then you can win most games. This is very much what Ole had happen with moments of brilliance. The problem is when that cycle slips you start failing. For me we would be better off with a 7/10 every week... Young Matic like player. Won't win you many games, but might make sure the other 5 are better every single week increasing overall odds of winning games.

Right now we seem to need three players to do the job of one good DM/ playmaker. McPogFred are basically the equivalent of a Keane and even that is very generous. I'd argue Keane did more on his own!

 

[UnitedFire]

More misses than hits really.

That's why I did the list, good to review the history to consider where Man Utd should be focused.

I'm far more up for one or two £30-40m midfielders with genuine potential, rather than £100m Rice. If one flops you go again. If Rice flops you are lumbered with him and inevitably high wages, as well as lack of willingness to take a big L on the transfer fee.

Maguire was never worth £80m, albeit that was a funny year for CBs so in context it wasn't ridiculous, but we might have been better taking a chance on one or two youngsters and having more mistakes, but getting the equivalent of the next Evra/ Vidic. Takes a season or two, but then you have a much better outcome to build on. Maguire just feels like a problem that was always going to be there. Can't change the lack of pace or ability.

 

[Mb194dc]

Top 10 are all misses?, so far anyway.

Mbappe and Neymar bought in to win CL and didn't do it yet.

A lot of the top 10 have been disastrous.

Kind of makes me think football has totally lost its way due to too much money. Big reform is needed.

 

[Dan_F]

The thing that stood out most for me is how few league games Neymar has played. 80 in four and half years, no more than 20 in any of those full seasons.

 

[tenpoless]

Why are their names doubled?

 

[dinostar77]

Why does grealish get a pass for it being too soon to judge but lukaku back to Chelsea from inter is a fail?

Ronaldo to juventus for me is a fail. Bought in to win CL.

Bale was a massive hit for madrid as others have said.

Neymar at PSG is a fail. Massive potential wasted.

Maguire is a fail, overpriced at £40mil nevermind £80mil.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Most have disappointed.

Ronaldo to Real is the one I think really bucks the trend, we all knew he was amazing but he set new levels there.

VVD obviously a very good buy but then I think that price for a CB is really as high as you should go. The fact we bough Maguire for more than that just tells you all you need to know about our transfer strategy.

The thing that stood out most for me is how few league games Neymar has played. 80 in four and half years, no more than 20 in any of those full seasons.

[insert joke about his sister's party here]