• Signing: United makes Maguire the most expensive center in history

The most expensive center forward in history was Gonzalo Higuain , for which Juventus paid 90 million euros to Naples three summers ago. The most expensive central defender in history is since yesterday Harry Maguire , for which Manchester United has paid 87 kilos to Leicester. Serve the comparison as an example of the extent to which the football market has gone mad with the centrals, for which today millions of dollars equivalent to those of attacking players are paid. In the last year and a half, four of the 10 most expensive operations in the world had centrals as protagonists: Maguire himself, Matthijs De Ligt (85.5 million, variables included), Virgil Van Dijk (84) and Lucas Hernández (80 ). The most absolute of crazy things.

After Joao Felix, Griezmann and Hazard , Maguire's is the most expensive transfer of what we have on the market. And in the absence of what may happen with Pogba or Neymar , the feeling is that it will retain that fourth place. Those 87 million euros represent a monstrous disbursement from Manchester United for this 26-year-old center, protagonist of the English team that reached the semifinals of the last World Cup. Unlike those who accompany him on the list of the most expensive, it is far from being a prodigy with the ball at his feet. It is the classic English central: high (1.94 meters) forceful, decisive, always well positioned and powerful in the air game, both in its area and the opposite.

It is possible that United has paid much more than it is worth - its market value is 50 million euros, according to Transfermarkt - but the cost of the operation responds largely to the boom of plants that has been produced in the last five years and in a very pronounced way in the last three years. From 2002 to 2014, the transfer of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds to Manchester United (46 million) remained immovable as the most expensive of a defense. David Luiz from Chelsea to PSG (49.5 kilos) took over for three years. Since 2017, seven plants have exceeded the 50 million barrier, including Real Madrid's Éder Militao .

According to Transfermarkt, there are 18 plants in the world whose market value equals or exceeds those 50 kilos ... exactly the same number as center forward. And that the list includes Griezmann or Mbappé, which are not new to use. The old mantra that the goal is expensive is still valid in football ... but now the same is paid by those who avoid them.

The most expensive plants

  • 1st. Maguire (United, 2019), 87 million.
  • 2nd. De Ligt (Juventus, 2019), 85.5 million.
  • 3rd. Van Dijk (Liverpool, 2018), 84 million.
  • 4th. Lucas (Bayern, 2019), 80 million.
  • 5th. Laporte (M. City, 2018), 65 million.
  • 6th. Stones (M. City, 2017), 55.6 million.
  • 7th. Militao (R. Madrid, 2019), 50 million.
  • 8th. David Luiz (PSG, 2014), 49.5 million.
  • 9th. Ferdinand (United, 2002), 46 million.
  • 10th. Mangala (M. City, 2014), 45 million.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Premier League
  • Manchester United
  • PSG
  • Éder Militao
  • Eden Hazard
  • Gonzalo Higuain
  • Joao Felix
  • Mbappé
  • Neymar

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