Ranking every Premier League side by their record sale

Several sides have set new highs for record sales in the Premier League so far this summer, with more money than ever before being exchanged between clubs.

We’ve decided to rank all 20 top-flight clubs based on their record sales.

20. Ipswich Town – Tyrone Mings (£8m)

Ipswich Town’s two decades outside the Premier League means it’s an unsurprising start on this list. Tyrone Mings remains the record sale for the Tractor Boys, after leaving for Bournemouth for a fee of £8m in 2015.

Ipswich sold the centre-back for 800 times their initial £10,000 investment, having signed Mings from non-league Chippenham Town. He’s since moved on to Aston Villa and has won 16 caps for England.

19. Brentford – Ollie Watkins (£28m)

Ollie Watkins is another who rose from humble settings to the England team, with a prolific period at Brentford part of his route to the top. After 49 goals in 143 games for the Bees, he joined Aston Villa for a fee of £28m.

That investment has been good value for Villa, who have seen Watkins evolve into one of the best number nines in the Premier League.

18. Arsenal – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£35m)

Arsenal find themselves in the relegation places in our record sales table. The highest fee the Gunners have banked is the £35m brought in from Liverpool for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez (swap deal) were also sold for similar sums.

17. Newcastle – Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh (£35m)

Newcastle’s need to remain compliant with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability regulations saw Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh sold on this summer. The duo departed for Nottingham Forest and Brighton respectively, earning the Magpies a windfall of £70m in the process.

16. Bournemouth – Nathan Ake (£40m)

Manchester City’s £40m purchase of Nathan Ake took some by surprise in 2020 but the Dutch defender has been a valued member of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side. Ake has made 125 appearances for the Citizens and won four consecutive Premier League titles at the Etihad.

15. Manchester City – Raheem Sterling (£47.5m)

Manchester City’s sale of Raheem Sterling to Chelsea saw the Citizens earn a record £47.5m. Sterling’s seven seasons with the club delivered 131 goals and 10 major trophies, but he departed for West London after falling out of favour at the Etihad.

14. Nottingham Forest – Brennan Johnson (£47.5m)

Nottingham Forest sanctioned the sale of Brennan Johnson in 2023, raking in a record £47.5m fee for the academy graduate. The Wales international had a solid first season with Spurs, where his 10 assists was a leading total among Ange Postecoglou’s squad.

13. Fulham – Aleksandar Mitrovic (£50m)

A return of 111 goals across five-and-a-half seasons at Fulham persuaded Al-Hilal that Aleksandar Mitrovic was worth a £50m fee last summer. The Serbian striker became a marquee import for the big-spending Saudi Pro League and certainly lived up to his billing.

Mitrovic scored 40 goals in 43 appearances as Al-Hilal won a Saudi Pro League, Kings Cup and Saudi Super Cup treble in 2023-24.

12. Crystal Palace – Michael Olise (£50.8m)

Another of this summer’s record sales, a release clause in Michael Olise’s contract left Crystal Palace powerless as top clubs circled. Bayern Munich won the race for the Frenchman, activating the €60m (£50.8m) clause. It’s a significant profit for Palace, who snapped up Olise from Reading for just £8m.

11. Wolves – Matheus Nunes (£53m)

Wolves sold Matheus Nunes to Manchester City for a club-record fee in 2023, just one season after making the midfielder their record signing.

Wolves made an £11m profit on the Portugal international and inserted a 10% sell-on clause into the deal.

10. Everton – Romelu Lukaku (£75m)

Manchester United splashed the cash to sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton in 2017, agreeing a £75m fee with the Toffees. The Belgium international had scored 87 goals in 166 games for Everton and started spectacularly in Manchester with 10 goals in his first nine appearances.

Lukaku scored 42 goals across two seasons for the Red Devils before being sold to Inter Milan for £73m.

9. Southampton – Virgil van Dijk (£75m)

Liverpool made Virgil van Dijk the most expensive defender in football history when signing the centre-back for £75m in January 2018.

The investment proved to be a wise one for the Reds as Van Dijk had a transformative impact on Jurgen Klopp’s team. In six-and-a-half years at Liverpool, he has won a clean sweep of major honours, including the Premier League and Champions League, and won the PFA Player of the Year award in 2018-19.

8. Leicester – Harry Maguire (£80m)

Harry Maguire replaced Van Dijk as the world’s most expensive defender when he left Leicester to join Manchester United in 2019.

After impressing for England and the Foxes, United spent £80m to sign Maguire. His five seasons with the Red Devils have been an up-and-down experience, though he has retained favour with England to win 63 caps for the national team.

7. Manchester United – Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m)

“I wouldn’t sell them a virus. So that’s a ‘No’,” Alex Ferguson said when asked about Real Madrid’s interest in Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008.

A year later, the Spaniards got their man after spending a world-record £80m. Even at that fee, Ronaldo proved a snip as he scored a record-breaking 450 goals in 438 games for Real Madrid and hoovered up Champions League and Ballon d’Or trophies with the club.

6. Tottenham – Gareth Bale and Harry Kane (£86m)

Arguably Tottenham’s two greatest players of the Premier League era were each sold on for massive fees.

Bale’s departure for Real Madrid in 2013 set a new world record, before Kane decided to leave Spurs for Bayern Munich in search of silverware 12 months ago.

5. Chelsea – Eden Hazard (£88.5m)

The third consecutive Premier League to Real Madrid transfer on this list.

Eden Hazard got his dream move to the Spanish side for an initial fee of £88.5m in 2019, potentially rising to £130m with add-ons. It’s unclear exactly how many of those clauses were met as Hazard endured a nightmare time at the Bernabeu.

4. Aston Villa – Jack Grealish (£100m)

Jack Grealish became the Premier League’s first £100m signing after leaving Aston Villa for Manchester City in 2021.

The deal broke the British transfer record as City activated the release clause in the Aston Villa captain’s contract. Grealish has perhaps not fully lived up to expectations on an individual level but has claimed three consecutive Premier League titles and the Champions League among his honours at the Etihad.

3. West Ham – Declan Rice (£105m)

Arsenal broke their transfer record to sign Declan Rice from West Ham last summer, spending £105m to bring the England international across the capital. Mikel Arteta raided the Irons to reinforce his midfield with steel and Rice was named runner-up for the FWA Footballer of the Year award during his debut season at the Emirates.

2. Brighton – Moises Caicedo (£115m)

Brighton have been masters at buying low and selling high in recent seasons, a success story that has kept the Seagulls upwardly mobile despite losing their leading names on a regular basis.

Moises Caicedo has been the best business of the lot for Brighton, after being sold for a British record £115m to Chelsea just two-and-a-half seasons after his £4.5m arrival from Ecuador.

1. Liverpool – Philippe Coutinho (£142m)

Liverpool’s sale of Philippe Coutinho is the Premier League’s biggest-ever departure, as the Reds sanctioned the midfielder’s exit for a fee that could reach £142m.

Coutinho had dazzled across five seasons with the Reds before Barcelona came calling in January 2018. He won two league titles with the Catalans but never truly settled in Spain, with his performances having not reached the heights of his Liverpool career since leaving Anfield. Now 32, he recently returned to Brazil on loan at Vasco da Gama from Aston Villa.

Read – Ranking every Premier League club by their record signing

See more – Six players who could return to the Premier League this summer

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