New World Record

Posted Tuesday, July 30, 2013 by Marca.com

New World Record

The imminent signing of Gareth Bale by Real Madrid will be the most expensive in the history of football. If the deal finally goes through at €100 million, the figure will be higher than the one paid out for Cristiano Ronaldo when Real Madrid paid €96 million to Manchester United for him in the summer of 2009.

Of the five highest transfers in history, four of them were carried through by Real Madrid and more specifically by current president Florentino Pérez. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, signed by Barcelona from Inter Milan for €75 million, is the only player in these top five transfers not bought by Real Madrid.

Zinedine Zidane and Ricardo Kaká (€69 and €65 million, respectively), are the other two star signings by ‘los Blancos’ making up the five. Luis Figo comes seventh in this category, and was also brought to Real by Florentino Pérez.

Up until now the biggest signing this summer had been Uruguay's Edison Cavano, bought for €64 million by Sheikh Al Khelafi for PSG.

One more Spanish player who is in the top ten is Fernando Torres. Roman Abramovich's Chelsea paid Liverpool the equivalent of €58 million for him in January 2011.

Of the rest of the top-price players, we can mention Neymar’s signing this year by Barcelona. The Brazilian star comes tenth in this category.