The 2021 summer transfer window has recently closed, and the interclub trades have ceased for another season! Just two weeks ago the period where football teams are allowed to bid for, buy, or loan out players ended, solidifying the teams for the rest of the year. There have been some stand-out transfers, like Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona FC after nearly 20 years with the club. But one transfer has knocked a particular player to seize the grand title of most expensive player of all time. That’s right! When you add up each of this player’s transfers, they have accumulatively cost more than any other football player in history! That player is Romelu Lukaku.
Romelu Lukaku began his career with Andrelecht in his home country of Belgium before moving to Chelsea in 2011 for a deal worth £10 million and was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion and Everton for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, respectively. In 2014 at the end of his loan period to Everton, they decided to sign him as a permanent player for a then club-record worth £28 million. After an incredible three-year run with Everton as the club’s second top goal scorer (scoring 53 goals in 110 appearances) Lukaku signed with Manchester United in 2017 for an eye watering £75 million.
After only two years with Man U a breakdown in relations between the player and the club caused Lukaku to transfer yet again to Italina team Inter Milan, for a slightly lower (but still impressive) £68.1 million! Another two years with Inter Milan from 2017-2019 yielded another 47 goals for Belgium’s all-time top goal scorer.
Finally, in the recent transfer window, Lukaku has decided to return to his first ever UK team, Chelsea. Chelsea bought Lukaku from Inter Milan on a 5-year contract for a sky-high £97.5 million. This deal means that, accumulatively, Lukaku has fetched a price of £285.5 million over the course of his career, making him the most expensive player of all time! Lukaku beat out previous record holder, Brazilian player Neymar da Silva Santos, who held the previous all time high of £246.6 million!
