For many budding pros, established stars in the prime of their careers and even those winding down in the latter stages of their journeys, playing in the Premier League is considered the holy grail of football representation.
However, competing for the financial powerhouses of England's top flight is not for everyone, namely Julian Alvarez, who called it quits at Manchester City after just two years to join Atletico Madrid in a big-money deal.
The Argentine was a pivotal member of Pep Guardiola's title-winning machine in the 2023-24 season, but two years as Erling Haaland's deputy was enough for him, and he easily became City's most expensive sale of all time when his €95m (£81.2m) transfer went through.
The Citizens received an upfront fee of €75m (£64.1m) with an additional €20m (£17.1m) in performance-related add-ons, but what other players have departed British shores for an extortionate amount?
Here, Sports Mole counts down the 10 most expensive Premier League sales of all time, including only players who have left for a foreign team.
10. Oscar (Chelsea to Shanghai Port | £52m | 2017)
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Before the Saudi Pro League emerged as the latest footballing superpower, the Chinese Super League was all the rage back in 2016, when Oscar left Chelsea for just north of £50m after dwindling Premier League numbers.
The Brazilian was always solid without entering the spectacular conversation at Chelsea, but he did not get into Antonio Conte's good books, and as of the summer of 2024, Oscar is still on the books at Shanghai Port.
Now into his 30s and serving as captain of the Chinese Super League side, Oscar has been posting some ridiculous numbers recently; his first 22 appearances of the 2024 campaign brought 11 goals and 21 assists. Interestingly, he has not closed the door on a Premier League return either.
9. Angel Di Maria (Manchester United to Paris Saint-Germain | £53.9m | 2015)
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From Angel Di Maria in 2014 to Jadon Sancho and Antony nearly a decade later, Man United have made a habit of spending the big bucks on wingers only for said winger to under-perform in the Premier League.
That may be a tad harsh in Di Maria's case - he set up 10 goals in his first and only season at Old Trafford - but he had already made a rod for his own back by admitting that he never wanted to leave Real Madrid in the first place.
Failing to do the number seven shirt - worn by the likes of David Beckham, George Best and Eric Cantona - justice, Di Maria was offered a £53m escape route by Paris Saint-Germain, whom he enjoyed exceptional domestic success with, not to mention becoming a World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022.
8. Romelu Lukaku (Man United to Inter Milan | £63.3m | 2019)
![Belgium's Romelu Lukaku reacts in June 2024 [IMAGO]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/25/romelu-lukaku.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Belgium's Romelu Lukaku reacts in June 2024 [IMAGO]")
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Making nets ripple for fun in an Everton shirt was not a sign of things to come for Romelu Lukaku at the Theatre of Dreams, and while it would be unjust to label him a 'flop', the board had no qualms about letting him leave for Inter Milan after just two seasons.
Working under the wing of Conte breathed new life into Lukaku's career, so much so that erstwhile team Chelsea astonishingly came calling again in 2021, when he commanded a £97.5m fee to leave San Siro.
Similarly to Di Maria, though, Lukaku burnt some bridges with fans early doors by admitting that he wanted to go back to Italy only a few months after rejoining Chelsea, who granted his wish with successive loans to Inter and Roma before selling him to Napoli permanently.
7. Julian Alvarez (Man City to Atletico Madrid | £64.1m | 2024)
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Unearthed by River Plate and poached by Guardiola, Alvarez went from strength to strength in the sky blue shirt, culminating in a 19-goal and 13-assist haul across all competitions in the 2023-24 campaign.
The Argentine initially thrived in the absence of the injured Kevin De Bruyne, but the prospect of another season on the fringes convinced World Cup and Copa America champion Alvarez that his long-term future did not belong at the Etihad.
Despite some concern that an Atletico-Chelsea quarrel over the Conor Gallagher and Samu Omorodion deals could jeopardise a switch, Alvarez's move to the Spanish capital was confirmed with an ode to Spider-Man, a character he has long been associated with.
6. Luis Suarez (Liverpool to Barcelona | £69.9m | 2014)
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The 2013-14 season should have ended with Luis Suarez and his Liverpool teammates basking in Premier League glory; instead, the South American was memorably left inconsolable after the Reds threw their title hopes into the gutter against Crystal Palace.
After Steven Gerrard swatted the cameras out of Suarez's face, Barcelona ushered the striker to Camp Nou for a little under £70m, and the Uruguayan would go on to form the fearsome MSN partnership, sandwiched in between the great Lionel Messi and Neymar.
Having fulfilled his Champions League dream and bulged many a net for Barcelona, Suarez jumped ship for Atletico in 2020 when he was deemed surplus to requirements, and seven years on from his tears of Premier League agony, happy emotions took over when he helped Diego Simeone's side win the 2020-21 La Liga title.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo (Man United to Real Madrid | £80.4m | 2009)
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A transfer that needs no pre-amble, Cristiano Ronaldo held the honour of being the most expensive player on the planet when he was unveiled as Real Madrid's £80m Galactico signing in 2009, where he had rather large boots to fill in the shape of Raul.
Four-hundred and thirty-eight appearances and 450 goals later, the Portugal powerhouse cemented his status as the greatest player to ever pull on the iconic white shirt, before trying his hand at Serie A football with Juventus and enduring a more forgettable second Old Trafford spell.
Once his bridges with Erik ten Hag were burned, Ronaldo began raking in the money and the goals in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr, albeit while also replicating his tears of Euro 2004 at the 2024 edition after his infamous penalty miss versus Slovenia.
4. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich | £81.2m | 2023)
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Try as he might with a glut of Tottenham Hotspur goals - 280 to be exact - Kane's missions to end the Lilywhites' torturous trophyless streak were fruitless year after year, culminating in Daniel Levy begrudgingly sanctioning his exit to Bayern Munich for a little over £80m in 2023.
However, Kane brought the silverware curse with him to Bavaria, where despite breaking records for fun with 44 goals in his debut campaign, Bayern Munich's perpetual reign of Bundesliga supremacy ended at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen.
A penny for Kane's thoughts as Bayern were condemned to an unforeseen trophyless campaign before taking home his second Euros runners-up medal, but it will surely not be too long before the England captain finally gets his hands on an elusive team honour.
3. Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid | £86.4m | 2013)
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Before Kane there was Gareth Bale, who akin to a certain Arjen Robben proved almost impossible to stop when cutting inside from the right and unleashing a thunderbolt with his wand of a left foot in the 2012-13 campaign.
Real had no qualms about paying north of £85m for the Welshman's signature, but even though he broke the 100-goal barrier at the Bernabeu, speculation surrounding an exit reared its ugly head year after year.
Bale did eventually make a brief return to North London in the COVID-19 era of 2020-21 - whether Kane will ever follow suit remains to be seen - before a short stint in MLS and his retirement at the beginning of 2023.
2. Eden Hazard (Chelsea to Real Madrid | £103.3m | 2019)
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Hailed as the best winger in the Premier League and arguably one of the best wide men in the world during his Chelsea heyday, a prime Eden Hazard was tipped to terrorise La Liga backlines when he swapped West London for the Spanish capital in 2019.
However, the ex-Belgium international is now in the conversation for one of the worst transfers of all time, chalking up a return of just seven goals and 12 assists in 76 matches for Los Blancos, who cut their nine-figure losses and terminated his contract in 2023.
Hazard has since made an emotional return to the Stamford Bridge turf, evoking nostalgia with a fine free kick in the 2024 edition of Soccer Aid but also being the victim of a brilliantly-timed tackle by TV hard-man Danny Dyer.
1. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool to Barcelona | £115.5m | 2018)
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Still the most expensive player to move from a Premier League club to a foreign rival, Philippe Coutinho was starting to be outshone by the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane when Liverpool received a £115.5m cheque from Barcelona for his services.
While the Brazilian did not plunge to Hazard's levels of La Liga ignominy, he failed to do his nine-figure price tag justice either and memorably helped eliminate his parent club from the Champions League in 2020, needing just 15 minutes to score twice and set up another goal in an 8-2 crushing while at Bayern Munich.
Barcelona made a loss of close to £100m on Coutinho, who failed to kick on at Aston Villa despite a promising start and has now returned to his homeland, where he may potentially see out the last knockings of his career.
Ben Knapton
