From Pogba to Mudryk – the €100m warning to Bellingham

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 14 Jun 2023 19:23 BST
• 8 min read

Jude Bellingham has now become the eighteenth player in history to move for a transfer fee of €100 million or more.

Bellingham has moved to Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund for a price of around €134m.

Bellingham, still 19, is already one of the best midfielders in world football and is expected to become a superstar at Madrid.

But there should be a warning attached. Out of the 17 previous players who have transferred for €100m or more, only three of them can be considered resounding successes.

The majority have been big failures, with a handful among the biggest flops in history.

The most expensive transfers in history

1. Neymar (Barcelona to PSG, 2017) - €222m

2. Kylian Mbappe (Monaco to PSG, 2017) - €180m

3. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool to Barcelona, 2018) - €145m

4. Jude Bellingham (Dortmund to Real Madrid, 2023) - €134m

5. Joao Felix (Benfica to Atletico Madrid, 2019) - €126m

6. Enzo Fernandez (Benfica to Chelsea, 2023) - €121m

7. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid to Barcelona, 2019) - €120m

8. Jack Grealish (Aston Villa to Man City, 2021) - €118m

9. Romelu Lukaku (Inter to Chelsea, 2021) - €115m

10. Ousmane Dembele (Dortmund to Barcelona, 2017) - €105m

11. Paul Pogba (Juventus to Man Utd, 2016) - €105m

12. Gareth Bale (Tottenham to Real Madrid, 2013) - €101m

13. Eden Hazard (Chelsea to Real Madrid, 2019) - €100m

14. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid to Juventus, 2018) - €100m

=15. Aurelien Tchouameni (Monaco to Real Madrid, 2022) - €100m

=15. Darwin Nunez(Benfica to Liverpool, 2022) - €100m

=15. Antony(Ajax to Man Utd, 2022) - €100m

=15. Mykhailo Mudryk(Shakhtar Donetsk to Chelsea, 2023) - €100m

The only true success stories to move for €100m or more are Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

But even with these three players, you can be critical. Mbappe held PSG to random over a new contract when it appeared he might leave for free, Ronaldo ravaged Juventus’ finances, which played a key role in their recent decline, while Bale became a part-time footballer in his last few years.

The other €100m players have either failed or cannot be considered successes.

Neymar (Barcelona to PSG, 2017) - €222m

Neymar’s world-record move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain was the deal that lifted the transfer market into a new stratosphere.

When PSG matched the Brazil international’s €222 million release clause, it absolutely shattered the previous record deals – more than doubling anything that had gone before it.

Neymar was drawn to Ligue 1 and Paris by the project proposed to him by the Parc des Princes club, which promised him the opportunity to become the game’s greatest star.

He was supposed to lead PSG to Champions League glory and win multiple Ballons d’Or. He has failed miserably on both counts.

He has also been ravaged by injuries during his time at the club, missing well over 100 games.

Now over 30, both parties are privately accepting that this was a bad deal that should never have been done. He could leave this summer.

Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool to Barcelona, 2018) - €145m

After Ousmane Dembele failed to immediately replace Neymar, having been signed to replace the Brazilian after his world record move to PSG, the Blaugrana threw money at the problem again by purchasing Philippe Coutinho for an outrageous initial fee of €121m plus bonuses.

The move turned out to be a disaster for all parties as Coutinho failed to make an impact on the team, regularly taking up the same positions as Lionel Messi before the Argentine left the club.

Coutinho came back to Barca after a mixed loan spell at Bayern Munich in 2019-20, and things failed to get any better upon his return.

In January of 2022, he was allowed to leave for Aston Villa, his initial loan then becoming permanent.

Joao Felix (Benfica to Atletico Madrid, 2019) - €126m

When Joao Felix joined Atletico Madrid for a club record fee in 2019, he was regarded as a generational talent.

Signed as a replacement for Antoine Griezmann, who moved to Barcelona, Atletico beat a number of Europe’s top clubs to his signature.

However, injuries and other factors have meant he has badly failed to live up to his potential in the Spanish capital.

He performed a bit better in 2021-22 but after more struggles this season he was allowed to join Chelsea on loan in January 2023.

Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid to Barcelona, 2019) - €120m

Tactically this was a transfer that always seemed doomed to fail from the outset - and it proved to be so.

If you are a short, skilful, left-footed support striker, you have no chance of prospering in the same team as Lionel Messi. Just ask Paulo Dybala when it comes to the Argentina national team.

Griezmann and Messi often occupied the same spaces, while the Frenchman was at times shifted out of position in order to co-exist in the same team as the Argentine superstar.

In two years, he scored a very meagre 21 league goals and just four Champions League strikes. A very disappointing return given how much Barca spent for him.

He failed to win either La Liga or the Champions League.

Barcelona eventually agreed to offload him at a big loss back to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2021.

Jack Grealish (Aston Villa to Man City, 2021) - €118m

Jack Grealish was signed for a British record fee in the summer of 2021, but pound for pound, was a big disappointment in his first season.

The 26-year-old had just three league goals and three assists all season from 26 games.

Grealish improved in the second half of his second season - winning the terble - but his individual performances and numbers have not been even close to being worthy of such an astronomical outlay.

Romelu Lukaku (Inter to Chelsea, 2021) - €115m

Romelu Lukaku's return to Chelsea in the summer of 2021 proved to be one of the most underwhelming Premier League transfers of recent memory.

While it may have seemed odd on paper for the Blues to spend €115m on a player they once had on their books as a young prospect, the signing of Lukaku was undoubtedly a statement transfer from the club.

He was supposed to be the final piece of the jigsaw in a team that had months earlier won the Champions League without a natural striker.

However, he failed dismally in his first season. He publicly admitted in December 2021 that he regretted leaving Inter and then went months without scoring in the Premier League in 2022 as he was dropped. He scored just eight Premier League goals and returned to Inter on loan in the summer of 2022.

Ousmane Dembele – €105m from Borussia Dortmund, 2017

Barcelona were held to ransom by Dortmund as they sought a replacement for Neymar.

Having just recouped the biggest transfer fee ever seen, they were forced to pay over the odds for young French winger Dembele, who had shown plenty of potential first with Rennes, then with BVB. A €105m deal was thrashed out, with a possible €40m to follow in bonuses.

Dembele’s time at Barcelona, though, has been dominated by injury problems, which have seen him fail to get anything close to his best. He was set to leave on a Bosman Transfer at the end of the 2021-22 season, but then signed a new contract at a much-reduced wage.

Paul Pogba (Juventus to Man Utd, 2016) - €105m

After leaving Manchester United on a Bosman transfer in 2012, Paul Pogba developed into one of the best midfielders in the world.

Four years later, Man Utd brought him back to Old Trafford at the age of 23 for a then world record fee of £89m.

It was hoped that Pogba would be the man to make Man Utd the dominant side in England and beyond again after three miserable years since the retirment of Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, Pogba was hugely underwhelming during his six years back at the club.

Although there were some sporadic spells and games where he demonstrated his quality, he was wildly inconsistent and never seemed to fit into the team tactically.

He became increasingly injury-prone and irrelevant towards the end of his time and he decided to leave on another free transfer in 2022 to return to Juventus. He won just an EFL and Europa League.

He ultimately left on a free transfer and has been a disaster back at Juve, too, due to injuries.

Eden Hazard (Chelsea to Real Madrid, 2019) - €100m

Eden Hazard’s transfer to Madrid had long been a case of when, not if, he would go, but as it’s turned out the ‘when’ was much more critical than it seemed.

Coming off his most impressive individual season at Chelsea, the then-28-year-old was granted his dream move to Los Blancos as a sure-fire Galactico.

However, arriving overweight for pre-season laid down a marker for a dreadful move. A talisman who often carried his team to success was brought along for the ride, with injuries and poor discipline to blame.

After arriving at Real Madrid, the once unplayable Belgian had more injuries than goal contributions. Madrid have now released him after a fourth successive poor season.

Enzo Fernandez (Benfica to Chelsea, 2023) - €121m

It is still early days but Enzo has been a disappointment since becoming the biggest British transfer in history in January 2023.

He was supposed to help take Chelsea's midfield to another level but the Blues have continued to be overrun in one of the worst seasons in Premier League history.

It is still too early to judge him yet, though.

Mykhailo Mudryk (Shakhtar to Chelsea, 2023) - €100m

The same is so for Mykhailo Mudryk, who has endured an absolutely dreadful first four months at Stamford Bridge.

The Ukrainian has looked completely out of his depth and has still failed to score, managing just two assists.

He has been relentlessly mocked on social media and looks lacking in confidence.

Aurelien Tchouameni (Monaco to Real Madrid, 2022) - €100m

Aurelien Tchouameni was signed as the long-term replacement for Casemiro, who moved to Man Utd in the summer of 2022.

Tchouameni started well and also enjoyed a great World Cup but has not quite lived up to expectations so far in Madrid.

Most experts are confident he will fulfil his potential, though.

Darwin Nunez (Benfica to Liverpool, 2022) - €100m

Numerically, Darwin Nunez has not been terrible in his first Liverpool season. With 20-plus goal contributions, he has been useful at times.

But he has also been incredibly erratic and inconsistent, missing some high-profile open goals and it becoming difficult to know what to expect from him.

The raw qualities are there but can he put all the pieces of the jigsaw together?

Antony (Ajax to Man Utd, 2022) - €100m

Antony has fallen well short of expectations for Man Utd so far.

He went six months without scoring a Premier League goal in his first season and had just two assists in all competitions.

He rarely beats his man and has been very predictable cutting inside. Man Utd need more from the winger.