Where are they now? The 10 most expensive players sold by Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti is a big-name manager who gets the best out of big-name players. He puts the framework in place, he comes up with a plan, he makes the players feel good about themselves, and he—as chronically online people would say—let’s them cook.
Naturally, that means that Don Carlo has sold some pretty high-profile names for high-profile fees. It goes with the territory of being officially the second-most successful football manager of the 21st century behind Pep Guardiola.
We’ve picked out the ten most expensive sales ever made on Carlo’s watch, including a literal Ballon d’Or winner.
10. Mario Gotze
Gotze could’ve been one of the greats. Not in the way that Davey down the pub reckons he once had trials with Arsenal and he could’ve been England captain if he hadn’t stubbed his toe on a table when he was 17. Gotze really could have been that guy.
Scored the winner in extra-time of a World Cup Final, inevitably got snapped up by Bayern Munich, and… it didn’t go so well. Turns out he was suffering from myopathy, meaning, essentially, that his muscles weren’t functioning as they were supposed to.
Gotze didn’t discover this until he’d moved back to Dortmund for around £18.5million. The German hero got treatment, and eventually moved on to a successful spell at PSV.
He’s now back in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt. Gotze’s career didn’t turn out quite as it could and perhaps should have, but here’s hoping the latter stages shine.
9. Francesco Coco
If you don’t remember Coco, don’t worry—neither do we. The name rings the faintest of bells, like the tinkling of a housecat’s collar upstairs and across the hall, but we couldn’t have told you a thing about him other than that he was a footballer.
In actual fact, Coco was a left-wingback for both Milan and Inter. He even played one friendly match for Newcastle United (against Yeading FC) before rejecting a loan move to Tyneside in favour of Livorno.
In 2002, though, whilst Ancelotti was in charge of Milan, the Rossoneri swapped Coco for Inter’s Clarence Seedorf.
Details on money are blurry on this one. Most reports say the deal was a straight swap, some sources state a fee somewhere between £16m-£22million.
Even if it was a straight swap as seems the most likely truth, Coco for prime Seedorf is wild.
8. Martin Odegaard
The Macauley Culkin of football is 25 years old and he’s already been a huge name for almost a decade.
We all thought he would be a tricky winger, but we were wrong. Odegaard took the Luka Modric path. Made his way inside from the wing, perched himself in central midfield, and made himself right at home.
Odegaard’s problem was that he happened to play for the same club as Luka Modric. So after a few loan moves around the continent, Ancelotti’s Real Madrid sold grown-up Kevin MacAllister to Arsenal for around £30million.
7. Gonzalo Higuain
Higuain was deadly at Real Madrid—107 La Liga goals in 190 games. There wasn’t really room in the squad for both him and Karim Benzema, though (nice problem to have), so Higuain was offloaded to Napoli for about £34million.
Los Blancos’ loss—71 goals in 104 Serie A Games for Napoli. What a joke. Having said that, Benzema did alright and he had more good years ahead of him. Don Carlo always knows best.
6. Raphael Varane
Varane was a world-beater at Ancelotti’s Madrid. But as we’ve discussed, Don Carlo always knows best. Sold him to Manchester United for around £38million in 2021. Within two seasons, Varane couldn’t get into the United first team.
The Frenchman left for Como with little fuss this summer. That’s just good business from Real.
In April 2024, Varane told L’Equipe that concussion had made a serious impact on his career, affecting his performance in big games.
He now advocates removing heading from youth football, and he definitely makes a good point.
5. Andriy Shevchenko
Here’s your Ballon d’Or winner. One of the most sublime strikers of the past 30 years, Andriy Shevchenko was a goalscoring titan in Milan. Part of Ancelotti’s near-perfect team that also included Kaka, Seedorf, Pirlo, Maldini, Cafu, Nesta… Just mouthwatering.
In 2006, after much persistence from Roman Abramovich, Sheva moved to Chelsea for around £30.8million.
We know what you’re thinking—that’s less than Varane’s fee, but exchange rates were all over the shop in 2006 and, at the time, that was more Euros than £38m was in 2021.
That all make sense? Good. Moving on…
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4. Mesut Ozil
The languid man’s hero. The midfield Berbatov. A complete joy to watch at his best, but a body language trick of the eye made him infuriating to the less-cultured fan when his team was losing.
Ozil was at Real Madrid when Jose Mourinho was in charge, and The Special One called him the “best number 10 in the world”. And, at the time, it was difficult to disagree.
Ancelotti was in charge by the time Ozil left Madrid for Arsenal in 2013. Around £40million, the Gunners paid for him. We think it was worth it purely for the YouTube highlights reel.
Ozil is retired now, and spends his time getting absolutely stacked. Wonder if he ever trains with Fernando Torres. Just chatting about football and muscles and stuff.
READ: 7 footballers who became hench after retiring including former Arsenal & Man Utd stars
3. Jorginho
The Brazilian-Italian metronome was crucial to Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli. He was the foundation on which the whole team was built. Remove Jorginho from the base of that midfield and the whole team unspooled like a ball of wool.
Don Carlo replaced Sarri at Napoli in the summer of 2018, whilst Sarri went to spend a (sort of) ill-fated year at Chelsea. the ciggie-chewing ex-banker wanted to bring his protege with him to London, and so he did.
Jorginho joined Chelsea for about £48mILLION, won the Champions League and the Europa League and all that, and moved on to Arsenal, where he’s aiming at the Premier League…
2. Casemiro
Another masterstroke from Ancelotti. Casemiro was considered one of the world’s best holding midfielders when he joined Manchester United for an initial £60mILLION in 2022.
Non-United fans feared he was the final piece of a puzzle that would rejuvenate the Red Devils to their previous heights.
Turns out Carlo knew what he was doing. Casemiro was indeed fantastic for a season or so, but the past six-12 months have seen the Brazilian’s powers fade spectacularly.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid now boast a midfield consisting of Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Luke Modric, Arda Guler, Fede Valverde, etc.
They’re doing just fine without Casemiro.
1. Angel Di Maria
During Carlo’s first spell as Real Madrid manager, he found himself with a front line at his disposal that consisted of Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, James Rodriquez, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, Isco, and Jese.
Something had to give, basically.
Manchester United stepped forward with £63million to take Di Maria off Madrid’s hands, making him Carlo Ancelotti’s most expensive sale ever. That was a full ten years ago, now. Surely someone is set to topple the Argentinian at the top of this list soon.