After plenty of speculation Hazard is now officially a Real Madrid player. The Spanish club spent a reported £89 Million (which could be extended to £150m) on the Belgium winger. The initial £89m fee makes Hazard the joint fifth most expensive player ever.
In the current market, Hazard’s transfer fee seems fair as he had proven himself to be one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. However, it will be interesting to see if he can live up to the amount paid for him. It has not worked out great for EVERY player that was bought for a similar price.
This list ranks all the players who were signed for £80+ million by how much they have lived up to the price tag. Obviously with Hazard just signing, his impact cannot be judged yet so he is excluded from the list.
8. Philippe Coutinho – £142m – Barcelona
Liverpool were the only ones to benefit from Coutinho’s transfer to Barcelona. The reds sold him and bought Virgil Van Dijk, who has made them a much better team. As for Coutinho and Barcelona the move hasn’t worked out at all.
He has had the occasional moment as he did manage 11 goals in all competitions last season, but that was not enough for the money Barcelona spent on him.
Before a ball was even kicked £142m already seemed over the top for the player. That price should only be used on the best players in the world and while Coutinho had a great time in England, he has never reached the heights of the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar.
As he’s still at Barcelona he still has a chance to turn it around, but its unlikely that he’d ever be worth £142m.
7. Ousmane Dembele – £135.5m – Barcelona
Now onto another Barcelona player, Dembele has yet to really burst into life at Barcelona since his move from Dortmund in 2017.
The Frenchman has been better than Coutinho as he has provided energy to the Barcelona attack at times. Dembele also still has age on his side as at 22 he still has plenty of time to develop. Barca spent £135.5m for the player they hope he becomes, not the player he is now.
So, while the price tag is a lot to live up to it would be unfair to write him off yet and in a few seasons he may seem worth it.
6. Paul Pogba – £89m – Manchester United
Paul Pogba’s performances have been divisive to say the least as he has struggled to remain consistent since moving back to Old Trafford.
The £89m Manchester United spent on the Frenchman is still the British transfer record amount. With the Red Devils difficulties in the past few years, he’s not really lived up to his price tag, but he cannot be blamed for all the team’s failings.
Pogba has been consistently criticised during his time in Manchester. People have had issues with his attitude as plenty of pundits and fans don’t feel like the midfielder cares enough about football. His inconsistent performances haven’t helped his case.
However, despite the criticism he still got more goals and assists in the Premier League than anyone else at Manchester United last season. The reason why people are harder on him than his teammates is likely because a lot more is expected from the Frenchman.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo – £99m – Juventus
The only person to make it onto this list twice, but this entry is about his move to Italian champions Juventus.
Ronaldo has currently spent one season in Italy and it was a successful one as Juventus retained the Serie A title with Ronaldo scoring 21 goals in the competition.
The Portugal captain’s best moment of the season though, came in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid. Juventus lost to the Spanish side in the first leg 2-0, but a Ronaldo hat-trick in the second leg sent the Italian team through 3-2 on aggregate.
While there has been a lot to enjoy about Ronaldo’s time in Italy thus far he has not reached the same heights as he has before. Perhaps his age has slightly caught up to him (though he’s still one of the best players in the world).
4. Gareth Bale – £85m – Real Madrid
6 years in and Bale’s dream move hasn’t gone the way he probably imagined. His time in Madrid has included an excessive amount of injuries, long spells on the bench and whistles from the Los Blancos crowd.
Why he earns a place quite high up on this list though is due to the multiple fantastic moments he’s provided in a Madrid shirt. Nobody will ever forget his brilliant goal against Barcelona in the final of the Copa Del Rey in 2014 or his overhead kick against Liverpool in the Champions League final 2018.
With the turbulent time that Bale has suffered in Spain it is easy forget that he has scored over 100 goals for Madrid as well as playing a big part in four Champions League winning campaigns.
3. Neymar – £200m – PSG
Theres not a lot between 2nd and 3rd and it could have easily been the other way around, but Neymar has just missed out on 2nd place.
When PSG signed Neymar it broke the transfer record by so much that it was hard to really identify the value of any other player in the world at the time. Since he’s been in France Neymar has ripped teams apart in Ligue 1, scoring 34 goals in 36 league starts.
Even though he has constantly performed at a high level during his time at PSG, the one thing against him is that the club have still failed to win the Champions League.
No player should be judged on his club not winning the Champions League, but PSG didn’t spend £200m just to regain the Ligue 1 title.
With constant links to Real Madrid and Barcelona there’s a chance he’ll never deliver that Champion’s League title for PSG.
2. Kylian Mbappe – £166m – PSG
Another huge signing for PSG, the French youngster actually signed on loan for a season first before signing permanently for the club.
A £166m transfer fee could be too much pressure for a normal teenager, but Mbappe is not normal. He has lived up to everything expected from him since bursting onto the scene at Monaco. The Frenchman has lit up Ligue 1, the Champions League and the World Cup before even turning 20.
At PSG Mbappe has scored 46 Ligue 1 goals in just two seasons and has managed to step up while Neymar and Cavani have struggled with injuries.
Like Neymar he hasn’t managed to deliver PSG that Champions League trophy, still Mbappe has provided so much more than anyone expects of a 20 year old.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – £80m – Real Madrid
There was only one person who could top this list. In 9 years at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo became the club’s all time leading goal scorer, won 4 Champions League trophies and won the Ballon D’or 4 more times.
He will go down as one of the greatest signings ever, never mind ones that cost £80+ million. Ronaldo’s transfer to Real Madrid is the oldest transfer on this list so naturally he’s had more time to impress, but even so I doubt anyone else here will score 451 goals for their current club.
If there is one thing that goes against his time in Madrid it is that he only won La Liga twice, however when your main rivals for that trophy have Lionel Messi in their squad then it was always going to be difficult.
Regardless of how many league titles he won, Ronaldo will go down as one of Real Madrid’s best ever players.
The Simple Football Blog 