Easier to do it this way than to ask who haven't.
Feel free to adjust for inflation for the likes of Zidane and Shearer etc.
Feel free to adjust for inflation for the likes of Zidane and Shearer etc.
How many players sold for £70m+ have justified the fee?
- Thread starter Fortitude
- Start date
Cristiano Ronaldo (United to Madrid)
Gareth Bale
Declan Rice
Harry Kane
Jude Bellingham
Van Dijk
Luis Suarez
Gareth Bale
Declan Rice
Harry Kane
Jude Bellingham
Van Dijk
Luis Suarez
C.Ronaldo
Bruno, Rooney and Rio (I think they are 70 mill or higher adjusted for inflation).
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Depends on how harsh you're being.
Ronaldo - Big Yes
Bale - Yes
Mbappe - Yes
Neymar - Debatable, but I'd tend towards yes
Griezmann - No
Lukaku to United - Yes (2 decent seasons, and recouped the fee)
Lukaku to Inter - Yes
Lukaku to Chelsea - huge no
Pogba to United - I'd say Yes
Hazard to Madrid - No
Dembele to Barcelona - Nope, but still got 50m back and a few league titles? It was worth a punt even if he didn't workout exactly as intended
Coutinho to Barcelona - Hell No
Ronaldo - Big Yes
Bale - Yes
Mbappe - Yes
Neymar - Debatable, but I'd tend towards yes
Griezmann - No
Lukaku to United - Yes (2 decent seasons, and recouped the fee)
Lukaku to Inter - Yes
Lukaku to Chelsea - huge no
Pogba to United - I'd say Yes
Hazard to Madrid - No
Dembele to Barcelona - Nope, but still got 50m back and a few league titles? It was worth a punt even if he didn't workout exactly as intended
Coutinho to Barcelona - Hell No
Rice??
Definitely
Neymar (both times), Mbop, Grealish, Bellingham, Van Dick, Bale, Kane, Ronaldo (GOAT), Zidane, De Jong, Allisson Becker, Rodri, Luis Suarez, Kevin De Brown
Arguably
De Ligt, Higuain, Maguire, O. Dembele, Declan Rice, Tchouameni, James Rodri Giggs
Jury remains at lunch
Gvardiol, Hojlund, Enzo
Neymar (both times), Mbop, Grealish, Bellingham, Van Dick, Bale, Kane, Ronaldo (GOAT), Zidane, De Jong, Allisson Becker, Rodri, Luis Suarez, Kevin De Brown
Arguably
De Ligt, Higuain, Maguire, O. Dembele, Declan Rice, Tchouameni, James Rodri Giggs
Jury remains at lunch
Gvardiol, Hojlund, Enzo
Using this and following this order and being pretty strict: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/transferrekorde
Kylian Mbappe;
Jude Bellingham - unless insane nosedive;
Gareth Bale;
Harry Kane - see Bellingham;
Cristiano Ronaldo (Madrid);
Neymar (Barcelona);
Frenkie de Jong;
Virgil van Dijk;
Luis Suarez;
Zidane;
De Bruyne;
Rodri;
Kylian Mbappe;
Jude Bellingham - unless insane nosedive;
Gareth Bale;
Harry Kane - see Bellingham;
Cristiano Ronaldo (Madrid);
Neymar (Barcelona);
Frenkie de Jong;
Virgil van Dijk;
Luis Suarez;
Zidane;
De Bruyne;
Rodri;
Jack Grealish? Definitely?
Considering he plays in a specialist position, his age, re-sale value and given the quality he's shown the last few seasons, he is good for the price Arsenal paid. It's pretty biased to say otherwise.
In the current market, £100M for a consistent player like Rice is a fair price in a market where Antony is £85M, Lukaku is £100M and Coutinho is £105M.
Very few. Seeing Grealish and Rice listed does make me recognise once again that United fans hold United to a much higher standard. Understandable, but claiming Rice has justified his fee in a matter of months is mental. They're worse off than last season. Grealish is an expensive sub this season, who will have a resale value of nowhere close to 100m. Crazy.
Ronaldo is probably the only certainty. You could make a case for Van Dijk. Bale too has to be considered worth the fee despite the ending.
Ronaldo is probably the only certainty. You could make a case for Van Dijk. Bale too has to be considered worth the fee despite the ending.
But Rice would, City bidding £90M for him in the summer is an indication of it and he's improving as a player.
Maybe Utd fans consider Lukaku, Pogba and Maguire to have justified their fees but I'm sure the majority of the wider public wouldn't.
Don’t think Bruno was 70m was he?
I mean pretty much no Utd fan thinks this but do go on.
I just think its crazy to include him in a conversation about justified fees this early. At best, the jury remains out until he's at least completed one season. It was a huge fee and really needs to result in trophies. Pointing to our many failed high fees doesnt change what should be expected off a 100 million pound player.
Yeah crazy that. None of them justified their fees, same as Grealish so far.
If this was a player who we haven't seen perform for 7 years, week in and week out in the Premier League it would be a different matter. He's very much a sure thing, we've seen his development and know just how consistent he is and this season (still only 24) he's even a better version of himself, he's set to be a Carrick-esque signing bar any serious injury.
People here are pretty happy to include Jude Bellingham in the conversation, and he's in his first season playing in a serious league whilst being a kid, but his performances have warranted it.
Strange take. You’ll be hard pressed to find any Utd fans that consider those signings a success.
Yeah this aint it, Barca yes but i cant accept he wasnt a flop for PSG they signed him to win the CL and same for Mbappe too they didnt sign them players to win Ligue 1 they could have bought players at a fraction of the cost to do that
He's electric is old Jack
No, but adjusted for inflation he definitely cost more than 70m.
Well there are two already in this thread, which is why I mentioned it.Strange take. You’ll be hard pressed to find any Utd fans that consider those signings a success.
Pogba was a sh*show of a signing. He never lived up to the hype - barely even once for a full 90 minutes. Not close to being worth the price.
Lukaku the same - I had hopes for him, but nowhere near good enough.
Maguire - I don’t need an argument.
One is taking the piss and the other is being very generous. Most know none of them were worth the fee.
Lukaku point is a good one, though, we got most of the money back so it was hardly a disaster. Neither Maguire or Pogba were worth it at all
Rice is controversial. You could argue Arsenal have gone backwards since he signed. The style of play is unquestionably worse with him in the side.
Long term he could be a great buy but it's way too early
Long term he could be a great buy but it's way too early
I think Lukaku was an interesting one. The fact that we sold him for a similar price after 2 seasons probably helps 'justify' the fee. Same with Di Maria.
You'd struggle to find any United fans that justify Pogba and Maguires fee. (That are serious and not taking the piss)
Great contribution to the thread
Everyone, including himself, is calling him underwhelming, even himself, but aside from that he is arguably worth the transfer fee? Not close to.
No doubt this elevated the discussion though.
£47m in 2020 is £57m in 2023
Try not to derail the thread. If you’ve got any issues my PM box is always open.
Too early to say for Rice and Bellingham.
Ah, I kept reading the fee with potential add-ons (67 mill). My bad!
Closer to Definitely Not than Definitely justified. €220 million for PSG to reach one Champions League final and leave with barely a memorable CL knockout moment after 6 seasons, after being specifically bought to win the Champions League. Not saying he was particularly bad when he played or anything, but spent a lot of time injured and it was a crazy amount of money that could only be justified for peak Messi/Ronaldo and winning multiple CLs.
All the most expensive United signings have been flops - Pogba, Maguire, Antony, Sancho, Lukaku, Di Maria.
Not much point in rating 2023 players - Kane and Bellingham have been very good, Caicedo not so much. But we're only halfway through one season. Depends how you rate 'justified' for me that puts a higher standard on it - could you have had similar impact from a player half the price? Players like Neymar, Grealish and Maguire I wouldn't say were justified but aren't flops. Flopped is like Antony/Hazard/Coutinho, a complete waste of money. Ronaldo and Zidane to Madrid, Lukaku to Inter and De Bruyne to City are the only big, big successes out of the top 40 transfers in my opinion. Bale, Mbappé, Frenkie De Jong good signings. Some others still to wait on the longer impact like Tchouameni. While you've about a 1 in 4 chance of a complete flop at that price.
Alisson cost Liverpool over €70million, I don't think there's any argument he's justified the fee
Neymar 220 mill success? Really? They gained nothing bar Instagram followers from that move and most of those would have followed them for Mbappe anyway.
He just falls under the £70 million though.
Yes, but I can't imagine any of those add-ons have been achieved. I may be wrong.