Most valuable player

[Crusader Royal]

Which player had been sold for the highest sum BEFORE Joining us ?
Presumably one of our Prenier League loans ?

[Hendo]

Drenthe moved from Feyenoord to Real Madrid for €14m - that's got to be up there.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Danny Drinkwater cost Chelski £35million

[Snowflake Royal]

At least one of Les Ferdinand, Anton Ferdinand, Martin Keown, John Salako and Yakubu must have gone for a pretty penny in their day.

[SCIAG]

Yeah, Drinkwater has this comfortably.

Les Ferdinand went for £6m twice. Anton Ferdinand was £8m for Sunderland.

Baba Rahman was signed by Chelsea for £14m rising to £22m, though given how successful he was, one suspects it didn't actually rise. Similarly Piazon was £5m rising to £10m, so £5m.

Wayne Bridge was £10m for Man City and £7m plus Graham Le Saux for Chelsea, so beats Rahman over his career but not in one transfer.

Lewis Grabban went for £8m when signing for Bournemouth the second time. Billy Sharp had three moves in the £1-2.5m range.

Ola John was a €9m signing for Benfica.

Alen Halilovic - huge variation in estimates of his two moves but probably €10m total.

Yakubu signed for Portsmouth for £4m, Middlesbrough for £7.5m, Everton for £11.75m, and Blackburn for £1.5m.

Chris Baird wins the battle of the right-backs ahead of Chris Gunter.

Liverpool paid £7m for Ilori.

Highest fee I could find for a keeper was Ali Al-Habsi going to Wigan for £4m.

Hmm. I make that five players to sign for us after a £10m+ fee, of whom three (Drenthe, Bridge, and Rahman) were signed by their clubs as left backs. Then there's Yakubu and Drinkwater.

XI based on highest individual fees:

Al-Habsi
Baird, Ilori, A. Ferdinand, Bridge
Drenthe, Drinkwater, Piazon, Rahman
Yakubu, Grabban

[morganb]

The transfer fee for Andy Carroll to Liverpool from Newcastle United in 2011 was £35 million

At the time, this made Carroll the most expensive British footballer ever.

[Crusader Royal]

The transfer fee for Andy Carroll to Liverpool from Newcastle United in 2011 was £35 million

At the time, this made Carroll the most expensive British footballer ever.

I think we’ve had 3 players move for that figure or more AFTER playing for us…..

[SCIAG]

The transfer fee for Andy Carroll to Liverpool from Newcastle United in 2011 was £35 million

At the time, this made Carroll the most expensive British footballer ever.

Completely forgot about Carroll, and a lot of players of his vintage. Yeah, he’s up there with Drinkwater. £15m fee in his move to West Ham, too.



That made me think of Tom Ince (£4.75m to Derby followed by £10m to Stoke), Scott Dann (~£1m to Coventry, £3.5m to Birmingham, £7m to Blackburn, and ~£1m to Palace), and most controversially, Shane Long. Before signing for us in 2022, Long had moved for £6.5m, £7m, and £12m. But obviously those were all after playing for us. Same for Dave Kitson who had moved for £6.5m six months before signing for us on loan.