New Delhi: Weeks of speculation surrounding Neymar's transfer from Barcelona to PSG came to an end on Thursday as the Brazilian finally sealed a record-breaking move to the French capital on a five-year contract. His fee marked an approximate 110 per cent rise from Paul Pogba's landmark £93.25m move from Juventus to Manchester United last summer.
While there has been a subtle increase in transfer costs, the arrival of hefty investments from China, Middle East has seen the market witness a sharp inflation in clubs' valuation of players.
Though there is no guarantee as to for how long will he top the list of most expensive footballers, we have a look at the names which broke transfer records in the past.
A history of highest transfer fees
£1,000: Alf Common, 1905 – The Englishman's move sparked huge excitement – and outrage – as Middlesbrough secured the services of Sunderland forward, making him the world’s first £1,000 footballer.
£10,890: David Jack, 1928 – The forward sought a move from Bolton to join Herbert Chapman’s revolutiounary Arsenal is the first five-figure transfer deal ever. Though the Wanderers had demanded £13,000, they had to settle for a little less.
£23,000: Bernabé Ferreyra, 1932 – The Argentinian moved from one local club River Plate to another Tigre, becoming the first non-British player to break the world record of fee paid for a footballer.
£152,000 Luis Suárez Miramontes, 1961 – No, not the current FC Barcelona striker, this Spanish midfielder left Barcelona to join Internazionale, completing the first six-figure transfer deal in footbal history.
£1.2m: Giuseppe Savoldi, 1975 – The Italian striker, who by then had made only four international appearances, joined Napoli from Bologna in the first £1m-plus deal.
£3m: Diego Maradona, 1982 – The legendary Argentinian footballer Maradona broke the world record twice, first with his move from Boca Juniors to Barcelona and then to Napoli in 1984 in a £5m deal.
£15m: Alan Shearer, 1996 – The Premier League's record goalscorer till date, joined Newcastle United from Blackburn rovers, as the Magpies showed its emerging financial muscle to secure the services of player who went on the become a legend of the game.
£21.5m: Denilson, 1998 – The Brazilian winger’s move from Sao Paulo to Real Betis rose quite a few eyebrows, though he never really lived up to the billing to reach the potential of his promising talent.
£37m: Luis Figo, 2000 – The Portugal playmaker's acrimonious move from Barcelona to Real Madrid didn't just make headlines from the financial aspect, but also for a rather 'controversial' piece of business between two of the most fierce rivals in the game.
£80m: Cristiano Ronaldo, 2009 – The era saw Real Madrid flex its financial muscle and cement a place as the game’s biggest spenders, having prised the Portuguese forward from Manchester United in a move well before the market had inflated.
£85m: Gareth Bale, 2013 – The Spanish giants targeted the English Premier League again to break their own record by signing the Tottenham Hotspur man.
£89m: Paul Pogba, 2016 – The most talked about player of the season, the Frenchman overtook Bale as the world’s most expensive player in rejoining Manchester United – the team he had left for just £3m 4 years ago - from Juventus.
£198m: Neymar, 2017 – Though many considered it a step down, the Brazilian’s huge release clause forced PSG further inflate the marked and make all previous transfer records to get the man they had long been targeting.
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