Juventus' 10 most expensive transfers of all time
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 8 Sept 2024 10:26 BST
- 6 min read
Juventus are the most successful club in Serie A history, having won 36 Scudetti over the course of their history - not including the two titles controversially revoked due to the Calciopoli crisis.
Between 2011 and 2020, Juventus won a record nine Scudetti in a row - although this run was finally stopped as Inter lifted the 2021 crown, before Milan, Napoli and then Inter again won the subsequent three titles.
Given Juve's dominance in Italy during the 2010s, it will come as no surprise they have landed countless big-money signings over the years - including the most expensive in Italian football history.
Below, FootballTransfers lists their 10 most expensive signings of all time.
READ MORE: AC Milan’s 10 most expensive transfers of all time
READ MORE: Inter's 10 most expensive transfers of all time
10. Pavel Nedved - €45m (from Lazio, 2001)
Pavel Nedved was signed by Juventus to replace the great Zinedine Zidane, and the Czech Republic legend arguably had a similar influence on the team as the great Frenchman.
He led the club to the 2003 Champions League final and he won the Ballon d'Or later that year, despite strong competition from Arsenal's Thierry Henry.
Nedved spent eight years at Juventus until his retirement, even sticking by them when they were relegated to Serie B following the Calciopoli scandal.
In total, he played 327 games for the club at which he later became a director. He scored 65 times.
9. Bremer - €46.9m (from Torino, 2022)
Gleison Bremer was signed by Juventus in the summer of 2022 to replace Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt, who had departed the day before to join Bayern Munich.
Juventus moved quickly to hijack a deal for the Brazilian, who had appeared certain to sign for bitter rivals Inter.
Bremer was named Serie A Defender of the Year in 2021-22 and Juve agreed to pay €41m up-front plus a potential €8m in add-ons, with the fee having since risen to €46.9m.
He made 43 appearances during his debut campaign at the Allianz Stadium and established himself as one of the best defenders in the league once again during an excellent second season at the club.
8. Douglas Luiz - €51.5m (from Aston Villa, 2024)
Potentially the strangest transfer on this list, Douglas Luiz joined Juventus for €51.5m in 2024 as part of a massive, albeit unofficial, four-player swap deal.
Aston Villa had to desperately raise funds to comply with Premier League regulations and agreed to sell their star midfielder for a cut-price fee to balance the books.
In a formally separate transaction, Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior moved the other way, while Luiz was later joined at Juventus by his world-famous girlfriend Alisha Lehmann, who also made the move from Birmingham to Turin.
7. Gianluigi Buffon - €52.9m (from Parma, 2001)
Gianluigi Buffon became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when he moved from Parma to Juventus – a record that would stand for close to 20 years.
While some players can be burdened by such huge transfer fees, Buffon lived up to his price tag in stunning fashion, becoming the most iconic goalkeeper of his generation.
The Italian spent 20 years at Juventus, with a one-year spell at PSG during the 2019-20 season, before returning to boyhood club Parma in 2021.
Buffon retired in 2023 at the age of 45, having made 1,151 senior career appearances for club and country.
6. Teun Koopmeiners - €59m (from Atalanta, 2024)
Teun Koopmeiners looked destined to move to Juventus in the summer of 2024 after handing in a transfer request at Atalanta after a brilliant 2023/24 campaign.
However, the negotiations between the Serie A rivals dragged on until the very end of the window, with Juventus finally sealing a deal two days before the deadline.
The Bianconeri showed themselves ready to shell out a whopping €54.7m, with the deal potentially climbing up to €59m.
5. Dusan Vlahovic - €81.6m (from Fiorentina, 2022)
Dusan Vlahovic's transfer in January 2022 came as a surprise to some, not just because of the size of the deal, but due to the clubs that Juve beat to snap him up. Both Arsenal and Tottenham wanted to sign the Serbian, but Juventus won the race and sealed one of Serie A's top marksmen.
Vlahovic helped Juventus qualify for the Champions League in his first half-season at the club, netting seven goals in 15 Serie A games.
Despite his goal-scoring prowess at Fiorentina, Vlahovic has been unable to replicate quite that same form in Turin.
4. Arthur - €80.6m (from Barcelona)
Arthur arrived at Juventus for a large fee in part as an accounting trick. With the Turin club’s finances in turmoil during the summer of 2020, they sent Miralem Pjanic to Barcelona for an inflated fee with Arthur going in the opposite direction.
In the process, the deal allowed the club’s accountants to amortise the expense of Arthur over five years while banking the full sum of the Bosnian's move in their accounts for that period.
His impact during his first two years was disappointing and he was loaned to Liverpool for the 2022-23 season and to Fiorentina for the 2023-24 season. He is back at Juve now but way down the pecking order.
3. Matthijs de Ligt - €85.5m (from Ajax, 2019)
Having caught the eye with his impressive appearances for Ajax during their run to the 2-2019 Champions League semi-finals, Juventus beat off plenty of competition to sign Matthijs De Ligt.
The Dutchman initially struggled to impose himself in the heart of the Juventus defence, and even after winning a regular spot in the starting XI, he was not immune to criticism.
Juventus decided to cash in on De Ligt after three rather underwhelming years as he was sold to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022 for a fee of €67m.
2. Gonzalo Higuain - €90m (from Napoli, 2016)
Juventus’ financial management has come under fire in recent years and the transfer that brought Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli is an example of their profligacy with money.
The Argentine was prolific for the Naples side, scoring 71 Serie A goals over three seasons, though the transfer fee of €90m to Juve was eye-watering.
Although he notched 24 times in his first season in Turin, Higuain would not sustain that level of success. Indeed, he spent the 2018-19 season on loan at Milan and Chelsea.
In 2020, his deal with the club was terminated by mutual consent, allowing him to move to MLS side Inter Miami. He retired in 2022.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo - €117m (from Real Madrid, 2018)
It was a huge coup for Juventus when they signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, where he had attained legendary status by becoming their record scorer.
Even though he was 33 years old when he joined, Ronaldo remained a world-class performer, and while he failed to lead Juventus to the Champions League title they so craved, he became the quickest player in the club’s history to reach 100 goals.
Questions were raised, however, during the 2020-21 season regarding Ronaldo’s value for money in terms of his €31m annual wage.
The following summer he returned to Manchester United, with Juve getting his salary off the books in the process.
The 10 most expensive Juventus signings of all time
| Player | From | Fee | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | €117m | 2018 |
| 2. Gonzalo Higuain | Napoli | €90m | 2016 |
| 3. Matthijs de Ligt | Ajax | €85.5m | 2019 |
| 4. Dusan Vlahovic | Fiorentina | €81.6m | 2022 |
| 5. Arthur | Barcelona | €80.6m | 2020 |
| 6. Teun Koopmeiners | Atalanta | €59m | 2024 |
| 7. Gianluigi Buffon | Parma | €52.9m | 2001 |
| 8. Douglas Luiz | Aston Villa | €51.4m | 2024 |
| 9. Pavel Nedved | Lazio | €45m | 2001 |
| 10. Bremer | Torino | €41m | 2022 |
