Ronaldo, Neymar, Zidane: The crazy rise of the world record transfer fee since 1990

As we enter the final couple of weeks of the summer transfer window, sides around Europe are working feverishly to bring in new recruits to strengthen their ranks for the 2022/23 season.

Already this summer, per Transfermarkt, a total of nine players have moved clubs for fees in excess of £50 million, including Darwin Nunez’s switch from Benfica to Liverpool and Marc Cucurella trading Brighton for Chelsea.

The ever-spiralling nature of transfer fees means that few fans bat an eyelid when the £50m barrier is broken these days.

However, it was only back in 2009 that Kaka became the first £50m player when he joined Real Madrid from AC Milan for £56m.

Some 13 years later, the evolution of football finances means the world record transfer fee now stands at £199.8m that Paris Saint-Germain paid Barcelona for Neymar in 2017.

Recently, Transfermarkt uploaded a live graphic charting the crazy inflation levels in the transfer market since 1990.

Quiz: Can you guess the player from their Wikipedia career path?

Back 32 years ago, it was Roberto Baggio who held the world record transfer for his £8m move from Fiorentina to Juventus.

To put that into perspective, PSG could almost have purchased Baggio 25 times for the £199.8m they paid for Neymar.

In total, 14 players have held the title of the world’s most expensive player other than Baggio and Neymar.

Some were worth every penny, winning Ballon d’Or honours and becoming club legends. For others, though, it simply didn’t work out.

Real Betis probably didn’t expect to be relegated two years after splashing out a record £21.5m on Brazilian playmaker Denilson in 1998 and the less said about Paul Pogba’s 2016 switch from Juventus to Manchester United the better.

Zinedine Zidane and