# 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.

*By YPB Team · Published August 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-13-biggest-player-transfers-in-sports-history*

---

## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees**
   The 1920 sale that sent baseball's best pitcher to New York for $100,000 and turned him into its first great slugger.
2. **Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain**
   The 2017 move that broke the world transfer record at 222 million euros and still stands as football's largest fee.
3. **Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid**
   The 2009 world-record move from Manchester United that began nine years of Champions League dominance.
4. **Luis Figo to Real Madrid**
   The 2000 world-record transfer straight from Barcelona, the most hated switch in Spanish football.
5. **Zinedine Zidane to Real Madrid**
   A 2001 record fee from Juventus, repaid a year later with a volley in the Champions League final.
6. **Diego Maradona to Napoli**
   The 1984 record signing that dragged an unfashionable southern club to two Italian titles.
7. **Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona**
   Barcelona's 2018 club-record spend on a Liverpool playmaker who never settled.
8. **Joao Felix to Atletico Madrid**
   A 126 million euro teenager in 2019, and one of the most argued-over fees of the era.
9. **Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea**
   The 2023 British record deadline-day signing after a World Cup that made him famous.
10. **Jack Grealish to Manchester City**
   The first 100 million pound transfer between two English clubs, in 2021.
11. **Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings**
   The 1988 trade that sent hockey's greatest player from Edmonton to California and opened the sport to the American south.
12. **The Herschel Walker trade**
   Eighteen players and picks moved in 1989, the haul that built the Dallas Cowboys dynasty.
13. **Kaka to Real Madrid**
   The 2009 signing from Milan that arrived weeks before Ronaldo and was eclipsed almost immediately.

Tags: sports, baseball, football, all-time, transfers