The Ultimate Premier League Transfers: Shevchenko and Ferdinand Dominate All-Time Inflation-Adjusted Fees

The British transfer record has already been broken twice this year and four times in the last two years. Who knows if it will be broken again before the transfer window closes in two days?

The most expensive Premier League player of all time has remained unchanged for nearly 20 years, even when adjusting for inflation. Andriy Shevchenko, the Ukrainian striker and a preferred player of former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, holds this distinction.

Chelsea's acquisition of him from AC Milan in 2006 for £31 million would hold a present-day value of £215 million, making it the only transfer surpassing the £200 million mark when adjusted to 2023 prices.

As revealed by data analysis from Sky News and We News, Rio Ferdinand secures the second spot on the list and stands as the priciest defender by a considerable margin. His fee of £29 million in 2002 is equivalent to £199 million in today's terms.

Fernando Torres, Alan Shearer, and Wayne Rooney, three renowned strikers, occupy the top five positions. However, Chelsea's recent acquisition Moises Caicedo, who joined from Brighton for a staggering £115m this summer, does not even secure a spot within the top 30.

Most expensive Premier League XI

The new calculated top 10 has been updated, providing a comprehensive overview. To enhance your experience, you can now filter the results by club or season by simply clicking on the column headers. Additionally, you can conveniently search for specific players or teams that pique your interest. Notably, amongst the most expensive all-time Premier League starting line-up, seven players are Chelsea signings, predominantly from the early Abramovich-era. The remaining four players hail from Manchester United.

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The only other club whose signings would make the substitutes' bench in the most expensive Premier League XI of all time, adjusted for inflation, is Manchester City. This is assuming that we are selecting players for their respective positions to ensure a well-balanced match-day squad.

City's acquisitions of Joleon Lescott, Kevin de Bruyne, and Robinho rank among the costliest signings in their respective positions, taking inflation into consideration.

Also, on the bench would be Manchester United's Nani, Jaap Stam, Michael Carrick, David de Gea, and Luke Shaw, the sole current Premier League player in the "squad." Additionally, Fernando Torres from Chelsea would join them.

Which clubs have spent most?

In terms of the worth of footballers in each season, Chelsea emerges as the top spenders throughout the history of the Premier League.

Taking their expenditure in 2003/04 and 2004/05 into consideration - the initial two complete seasons under Abramovich and manager Jose Mourinho - it would be equivalent to £1.5bn in today's value, surpassing even their spending in the last two summers under new owner Todd Boehly.

The remaining positions in the top six consist of the other 'Big Six' clubs, namely Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, and Arsenal, in that particular sequence.

However, this group known as the Big Six hasn't always remained unchanged. Blackburn Rovers were the predecessors to today's Manchester City during the early 1990s.

Which managers spent the most?

In terms of recent expenditures, Newcastle, now owned by Saudi Arabia, has significantly increased its spending. They have joined the ranks of the early pace-setters.

Which managers spent the most?

Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in the Premier League, has unsurprisingly made the highest expenditure when considering inflation.

His total spending would be equivalent to £3.5bn if it all took place this season.

Despite managing almost 500 fewer games, Mourinho comes in just behind.

In addition to his extravagant expenditure during his early years at Chelsea, he further bolstered his spending by acquiring players such as Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku for Manchester United, and to a lesser extent, Sergio Reguilon for Tottenham.

Arsene Wenger, the manager with the highest number of Premier League games managed at 828, ranks third in terms of real-term expenditure.

Mesut Ozil, Wenger's most valuable signing, was acquired for a fee of £47m in 2013, which is equivalent to £125m in today's currency. This surpasses Arsenal's latest record-signing, Declan Rice. Thierry Henry, Wenger's most renowned signing, would have been valued at just over £100m.

Among managers who have overseen more than 50 games, Mourinho, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Mancini, and Unai Emery are the highest-paid, based on cost per game managed. Villas-Boas holds the top spot, spending £11m in today's currency for each game managed, which is £2.5m more than Mourinho in second place.

How does 'football inflation' compare to other rising prices?

On the flip side, in contrast to the likes of Sean Dyche, Sam Allardyce, and Roy Hodgson, who manage with a budget of less than £1.5m per match for new players, we cannot simply stroll into Sainsbury's and casually pick up a Jack Grealish or a Juan Sebastian Veron along with our eggs. However, it's worth noting that the cost of our everyday goods and services has skyrocketed to a 40-year high this year.

Even at its peak of 11.1 percent, recent price increases are significantly overshadowed by the impact of inflation on the football industry over the past three decades.

If the price of a loaf of bread had surged at the same rate as Premier League footballers since 1992, it would now be priced at £24. Similarly, a pint of milk would amount to £11, and a pint of lager would nearly reach a staggering £50.

What makes an expensive footballer?

Christian Schwarz, Head of International at Transfermarkt, a German football website and database which provided much of the information for this article, informed Sky News that nowadays many clubs are aiming to invest their money in players who have the potential to develop.

As an example, clubs often pay more than market value for 16 and 17-year-old Brazilian players, hoping that they will improve over time. Additionally, this investment is fueled by the expectation that the market itself will strengthen, leading to higher returns for the club in the future.

The strength of the club and league also plays a vital role. Newly promoted Premier League clubs now possess similar spending capabilities as German champions Bayern Munich. Additionally, the demand for certain player profiles by clubs of similar size can drive up prices beyond their actual market value due to competition.

This summer, numerous midfielders have been sold for higher prices than usual. For instance, Chelsea felt compelled to pay £70m for Mykhailo Mudryk in January due to the pressure to secure his signing. However, considering his experience, we estimated his market value to be around £40m. Consequently, they ended up spending almost twice the amount.

Each dot on the following chart represents a separate transfer. Observing the chart, it is evident that, aside from a few exceptions, players in their early to mid-20s tend to command the highest fees.

Methodology

Our calculation of football inflation follows the same method employed to determine inflation rates for goods and services.

Instead of comparing the average price of a basket of goods, we analyze the season-on-season changes in the average fee for a Premier League player.

Andriy Shevchenko's move to Chelsea in 2006/07, for a total of £30.8m, exceeded the average Premier League fee of approximately £3.13m.

After 15 additional seasons of record-breaking transfers, the average fee surged to £21.9m, a staggering increase of approximately seven times.

To align Shevchenko's fee with the current transfer market, we multiplied it by seven, resulting in an inflation-adjusted record transfer fee of £215.6m.

All our inflation-adjusted fees were calculated by comparing the average fee for the season in which the transfer occurred to the average fee of the most recent season. Our dataset included more than 3,000 transfer fees, covering every season since the inception of the Premier League in 1992.

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Are there any players expected to make moves in the final days of the transfer window, which closes at 11pm on September 1 in England and midnight in Scotland? These fees were gathered from We and transfermarkt.com, with additional independent sources provided by Sky News.

Keep up to date with all the latest transfer news and rumours in our dedicated Transfer Centre blog on We' digital platforms. You can also catch up with the ins, outs and analysis on We News.