Arsenal pair among top 10 most expensive players ever to then leave for free transfers
Kylian Mbappe will thunder to the top of this list when he leaves PSG, usurping one of four Real Madrid signings. Two Arsenal attackers and a Man Utd flop also make the 10.
Here are the 10 most expensive players to leave the club they joined for big money on a free transfer.
10) Angel Di Maria
Di Maria was one of the floppiest flops ever to sign for Manchester United. From United’s perspective, the only positive of his one-year stay at Old Trafford was the fact they got most of their money back – £44.3million – from PSG.
In Paris, Di María won five Ligue 1 titles, five Coupes de France and four Coupes de la Ligue, encompassing three domestic quadruples. He remains their all-time leader in assists, a year and a half since since leaving for Juventus at the end of his contract.
9) Luka Jovic
“For Eintracht Frankfurt this is a good and important transfer,” said the German side. For Real Madrid, it was an unmitigated disaster.
Jovic was tipped to eventually replace Karim Benzema. But he scored a grand total of three goals in 51 appearances after moving for £52.4million in 2019.
“I left Eintracht very early, and when I arrived in Madrid, the spotlight was on me,” he reflected after he was allowed to leave for nothing to join Fiorentina. “Fitting in at the best club in the world is complicated. Between injuries, and Covid-19, I had unfair pressure on me. It was an unhappy experience.”
8) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Aubameyang left Borussia Dortmund and joined Arsenal in a £56million deal in January 2018. And, for a while, he was brilliant.
The Gabon striker won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2018/19 and played a starring role in their FA Cup success a year later.
But the club captain’s form nosedived after he was given a massive new deal worth £300,000-a-week at the start of 2020/21 and that contract was terminated by mutual consent in February 2022 when Mikel Arteta thrust him towards Barcelona.
7) Edinson Cavani
PSG got more than their money’s worth from Cavani even if, like Mbappe, they watched him walk away for free.
When the Uruguay striker moved from Napoli to Paris in 2013, he became French football’s most expensive player ever. Cavani stayed for seven years, winning six Ligue 1 titles, five Coupes de la Ligue and four Coupes de France. He also became their greatest-ever goalscorer, a record he held until Mbappe broke it.
Cavani departed at the same time as Thiago Silva when their contracts expired in 2020. Decisions which prompted Leonardo to later admit: “We could have made a mistake.”
6) Kaka
Real got fast and loose in 2009, signing Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso in the same summer. Of all those huge deals, Kaka turned out to be the most disappointing.
He started well but his slide coincided with Jose Mourinho’s appointment as boss in 2010. Mourinho preferred Mesut Ozil and Di Maria, while injuries didn’t help.
After 120 appearances, 29 goals and 39 assists, Kaka left in 2013, a day which he later reflected upon as his happiest memory at the club. “It may sound strange, but I prefer the day that it was confirmed that I was leaving.” Which sounds cattier than it was.
5) Nicolas Pepe
Lille pulled Arsenal’s pants down to the tune of £72million for the winger in 2019. It seems the Gunners fell for the French club’s brinkmanship, with Napoli said to have offered more as an overall package, prompting Arsenal to pay a fee that raised eyebrows across the continent.
For that club-record figure, Arsenal got 16 Premier League goals in four seasons, the last of which was spent on loan at Nice.
So wrong it went, Arsenal carried out an internal investigation into how and why they sanctioned the deal. Later, Unai Emery claimed he had lobbied for Wilfried Zaha but was presented with Pepe instead.
4) Gonzalo Higuain
The Argentina star was a goal machine at Napoli, with 71 strikes in 104 Serie A games prompting Juventus to break the Italian transfer record with a £75million swoop.
Higuain couldn’t replicate that form with the Old Lady – he was no flop either with 48 goals in 105 league games, winning three Serie A titles – but Juve were very keen to frame his exit in 2019, a year before the end of his contract, as a financially savvy move, saving £16million in wages.
Inter Miami scooped him on a free transfer and Higuain wound down his career with a couple of years in MLS.
3) Gareth Bale
Bale was usurped by the No.1 here as Real’s record signing. But at least the Spaniards got good value for money before it all went sour.
Spurs received a world-record £85million fee in 2013 for the Wales winger and in nine years at the Bernabeu, Bale scored 106 goals in 256 appearances, won three La Liga titles, a Copa del Rey and five Champions Leagues. He scored a stunning bicycle-kick in the 2018 Champions League final as they beat Liverpool, having helped secure La Decima with the goal to make it 2-1 in extra-time against Atletico Madrid four years prior.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing between Bale and Real. Specifically the media and supporters, triggered most by a failed move to China and a banner held by the player that read: “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that Order” while he celebrated with international teammates in 2019.
He returned to Spurs on loan for 2020-21 before leaving the Bernabeu at the end of his contract.
2) Paul Pogba
Again, few forecasted Pogba’s problems when Manchester United brought him back from Juventus in 2016 for £89million. The France star showed the occasional glimpse of the brilliance that prompted United to pay a British record fee but, overall, Pogba was a pain in the arse.
Jose Mourinho called him a “virus” – and he had a point. Pogba danced on Mourinho’s grave when the manager was sacked by United in 2018, by which time the midfielder was already doing his best to strut away from Old Trafford.
Every manager since Mourinho tried to pacify Pogba but he brought more grief than he was worth up until 2022, when he sloped off at the end of his contract. All the way back to Juventus, who were very smug about re-signing the midfielder. Probably not now, to Mourinho’s presumed lack of surprise.
1) Eden Hazard
The Belgian was a shocker of a signing for Real. Which no-one saw coming. Especially anyone who watched Hazard tear up the Premier League with Chelsea.
Real appeared a natural next step for the winger after seven seasons at Stamford Bridge, where he won every domestic honour and the Europa League twice, in addition to being named Premier League Player of the Year in 2014-15. Chelsea sent him on his way with their best wishes while trousering £89million. Real also promised to pay up to another £60million in add-ons.
Only those that rewarded turning up were triggered – enough to make Hazard the club’s most expensive player ever. For that, Real got just seven goals in 76 appearances in four years before both parties decided to terminate their arrangement with a year remaining on Hazard’s contract.
Hazard had a look around for another project but thought better of it and decided to retire four months later.
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