The 13 Biggest Player Transfers in Sports History
One of these fees was paid in 1920; the rest belong to this century. The argument is which one actually moved a sport.
1Babe Ruth to the New York YankeesThe 1920 sale that sent baseball's best pitcher to New York for $100,000 and turned him into its first great slugger.
2Neymar to Paris Saint-GermainThe 2017 move that broke the world transfer record at 222 million euros and still stands as football's largest fee.
3Cristiano Ronaldo to Real MadridThe 2009 world-record move from Manchester United that began nine years of Champions League dominance.
4Luis Figo to Real MadridThe 2000 world-record transfer straight from Barcelona, the most hated switch in Spanish football.
5Zinedine Zidane to Real MadridA 2001 record fee from Juventus, repaid a year later with a volley in the Champions League final.
6Diego Maradona to NapoliThe 1984 record signing that dragged an unfashionable southern club to two Italian titles.
7Philippe Coutinho to BarcelonaBarcelona's 2018 club-record spend on a Liverpool playmaker who never settled.
8Joao Felix to Atletico MadridA 126 million euro teenager in 2019, and one of the most argued-over fees of the era.
9Enzo Fernandez to ChelseaThe 2023 British record deadline-day signing after a World Cup that made him famous.
10Jack Grealish to Manchester CityThe first 100 million pound transfer between two English clubs, in 2021.
11Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles KingsThe 1988 trade that sent hockey's greatest player from Edmonton to California and opened the sport to the American south.
12The Herschel Walker tradeEighteen players and picks moved in 1989, the haul that built the Dallas Cowboys dynasty.
13Kaka to Real MadridThe 2009 signing from Milan that arrived weeks before Ronaldo and was eclipsed almost immediately.
Comments
Announced on January 5, 1920: a hundred thousand dollars in four instalments, and eighty-six years before Boston won again: https://youpick.best/articles/babe-ruth-ranked-many-ways
