The most expensive XI in football history: £1.17bn worth of superstars

Transfer fees have risen over the past few years, and we’ve just seen Liverpool agree to break their transfer record to sign Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz.

Positionally, though, the German star does not make it into the most expensive XI of all time.

Here, we have gone position by position to pick out the most expensive side in the world.

GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga – £72m

The most expensive goalkeeper in the world when he was signed by Chelsea in 2018, it has been seven years and nobody has knocked the Spaniard off his perch.

Kepa’s career has not followed the path the Blues thought it would, though, as he’s been loaned out twice – to Real Madrid and then Bournemouth – and is now on the verge of a £5million exit, with Chelsea set to lose £67million on him.

RB: Achraf Hakimi – £59.7m

Hakimi has played for four of the world’s biggest clubs, in Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.

It was the latter who paid the biggest price for him, offering £59.7million to take him off Milan’s hands.

That was repaid a few years down the line when the Moroccan starred in PSG’s triumphant 2024-25 Champions League campaign.

CB: Harry Maguire – £80m

The most expensive centre-back in history at £80million, Maguire is the third-most expensive player in any position that Manchester United have ever signed.

At times he has looked worthy of a relatively big transfer fee, while at others, the centre-back has struggled with the pressures of being such an expensive player.

CB: Virgil van Dijk – £75m

Van Dijk was the most expensive centre-back in the world until United paid Leicester £80million for Maguire. Southampton benefited from Liverpool’s desire to land the elite centre-back, to the tune of £75million.

Van Dijk has two Premier League titles and a Champions League under his belt with the Reds, among other honours. The service he has provided to his club during those triumphs shows the £75million to be money well spent.

LB: Josko Gvardiol – £77.6m

Largely a centre-back prior to his signing for Manchester City, the Croatian has since played a lot of football at left-back, so it makes the most sense that he’s out there in this side.

Gvardiol played all but one Premier League game in 2024-25 for City, and was deployed at left-back for more than half of those, getting his name on the scoresheet on five occasions.

DM: Moises Caicedo – £115m

At the time of his £115million transfer to Chelsea, many felt it was a crazy fee to pay for a player with essentially one season of Premier League football behind him.

But he was one of the very best players in the league last term, proving that the Blues were right to part with a large sum to ensure they landed Caicedo.

CM: Declan Rice – £105m

Rice was always going to command a large fee, as he had become one of the best midfielders in the Premier League with West Ham, and had essentially all of the big-six sniffing around him.

It was Arsenal who landed the midfielder, paying £105million for the pleasure. Rice has become a more advanced player in terms of position since his move to the Emirates, and a brace of free-kicks against Real Madrid in the Premier League proved the star quality of such an expensive player.

QUIZ: Can you name every Premier League club’s record signing?

CM: Enzo Fernandez – £107m

Chelsea are no strangers to paying large fees for top players, and Fernandez fit right into their transfer policy, as a young star with heaps of potential.

He had played a part in Argentina’s World Cup triumph not long before his move, which pumped up his price, and Chelsea paid a big fee for a player who is clearly a superstar when he gets it right.

FWR: Kylian Mbappe – £165.7m

One of the very best attackers in world football, Mbappe has been destined for superstardom from young. At Monaco, he was directly involved in 42 goals in 60 games.

Paris Saint-Germain could not have one of the best players in Ligue 1 playing against them, not for them, so forked out £165.7million to land the Frenchman.

Mbappe played often on the right wing, as well as through the middle for Monaco, and he’s since been deployed anywhere across the front line, and has had success in each position.

Unfortunately for PSG, while they got a return of 344 direct goal contributions from Mbappe, they got no money back from him, as he joined Real Madrid on a free transfer in 2024.

ST: Joao Felix – £113m

Deployed in different areas of the attack, or in the No.10 position, Felix has often been utilised as the main striker in a side, be that at Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona or AC Milan.

His move to Atletico from Benfica cost £113million, as he was seen as a prodigiously talented player with a high ceiling.

Things did not pan out the way the LaLiga side thought they would for him, as they have since sold Felix to Chelsea for £45million.

FWL: Neymar – £200m

The most expensive transfer in the history of football, which while having been threatened by Saudi Pro League clubs, has not been surpassed yet, Neymar‘s move to PSG had perhaps one of the best payoffs.

Luring him from the successes of Barcelona, PSG got 197 direct goal contributions from the Brazilian in 173 games.

He won five French league titles, and formed a terrific partnership with Mbappe and then his former Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi in Paris.

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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the 25 most expensive transfers of all time?