Where are they now? PSG’s most expensive signing of every season since 2010
PSG are usually among the top spenders in Europe and we’ve checked in on their most expensive signing from every year since 2010.
Spending big sums of money is certainly no guarantee of success, but generally speaking, the Ligue 1 giants tend to get things right in the transfer market.
To illustrate this, we’ve checked in on their most expensive signing from every calendar year to see where they all are these days.
2010: Nene
At the age of 42, Nene is remarkably still playing professional football in Brazil for Juventude.
His spell at PSG, after being signed for €5.5 million is remembered fondly by the club’s supporters after 48 goals in 112 appearances. His three months at Sam Allardyce’s West Ham? Probably less so…
Where are they now? PSG’s most expensive signing of every season since 2010
READ: An ode to Nene at PSG and his ‘right man, wrong time’ act at West Ham
2011: Javier Pastore
Pastore joined PSG from Palermo for €42million in 2011 and remained in Paris until 2018.
Despite enjoying a sensational first season – scoring 13 times in 33 appearances – the Argentinian midfielder mostly struggled to justify his hefty price tag thereafter.
He failed to score or assist in 15 La Liga appearances for Elche before terminating his contract in January 2023, subsequently signing for Qatar SC where he remains today.
2012: Thiago Silva
Before he was the subject of a Dave track and became Chelsea’s elder statesman, Thiago Silva was a defensive monster at PSG.
Costing €42million from AC Milan, the world record fee for a defender at the time, Silva made 315 appearances for the French side and is regarded as one of the best players in their history.
The 39-year-old joined Chelsea in 2020 and spent four years at Stamford Bridge before announcing his departure at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Still just about the club’s best defender, the Blues will be very sorry to see him leave.
2013: Edinson Cavani
Having banged them in for fun at Napoli, PSG made Cavani the most expensive signing in French football history (at the time) when paying €64million for his services.
Cavani was almost always overshadowed by a bigger name in Paris – first Zlatan Ibrahimovic, then Kylian Mbappe and Neymar – but it never stopped him finding the net,
He left on a free transfer to sign for Manchester United in 2020 having won six league titles and finishing up with 200 goals for the club, cementing his legendary status in the French capital.
Now 37, the Uruguayan is much closer to home and back in South America with Boca Juniors, reaching the Copa Libertadores final in 2023.
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the clubs these 20 former PSG stars are playing for in 2024?
2014: David Luiz
Les Parisiens paid £50million – a record fee for a defender – to bring Luiz to the Parc des Princes in 2014, only to sell him back to Chelsea two years later for just £30million. It’s safe to say that the move didn’t work out.
Luiz spent another three years with Chelsea before moving to Arsenal. A rather catastrophic two years in North London wasn’t the end of the Brazilan’s career; he is still going strong at the grand old age of 36 with Flamengo.
2015: Angel Di Maria
A signing that perhaps should’ve happened a summer earlier, PSG and Di Maria had been flirting with one another in 2014, but the Argentine ended up at Manchester United after they coughed up a British record fee.
After one dismal season in England, memorably being called a ‘f*nny’ by Wayne Rooney, United cut their losses by selling him to PSG for £44million, where he immediately flourished and set a Ligue 1 assists record in his debut season.
The electric winger settled tremendously in Paris. Despite not winning the Champions League, he left on good terms in 2022 to sign for Juventus, with 295 games under his belt.
He’s now back at Benfica and proving that age is merely a figment of our imagination with a string of sensational performances.
Angel Di Maria celebrates with Cristiano Ronaldo
READ: An outrageously good XI left out of Angel Di Maria’s best team-mates XI: Ronaldo, Modric…
2016: Grzegorz Krychowiak
Following Emery from Sevilla to PSG, Krychowiak had developed a reputation as one of the most underrated midfielders in Europe and was attracting the interest of plenty of clubs.
Les Parisens parted with €30million to secure his services, inking a five-year deal to bring the Poland international to Paris.
He endured a nightmare first season, however, with one of very few starts coming in the 6-1 defeat against Barcelona, and was shipped out on loans to West Brom and Lokomotiv Moscow in the following years.
Krychowiak eventually signed for Lokomotiv permanently in 2019 before moving to fellow Russian side Krasnodar in 2021.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he made use of FIFA regulations and suspended his contract to move away and currently finds himself in the Saudi Pro League with Abha, aged 34.
2017: Neymar
Nobody could quite believe it happened, even after Neymar had been pictured holding aloft a PSG shirt as a £200million player. The football world had changed forever.
His world record fee is yet to be beaten and, while people were quick to label Neymar a failure for not delivering PSG the Champions League they hoped he would, he finished up at the club with 118 goals and 77 assists from just 173 games.
These were absurd numbers, especially when you consider he had lumps kicked out of him every week.
Still, his legacy in Paris will – rightly or wrongly – be judged by the European honour he never won with the club and the Ballon d’Or that has subsequently alluded him.
Watching him move to Al-Hilal in the summer of 2023 – and then be ruled out for the season with an ACL injury – has been a very sad sight. We’ll never see Neymar at his peak again.
2018: Kylian Mbappe
Mbappe’s story doesn’t need much retelling.
A World Cup winner and PSG’s all-time scorer with 255 goals and counting, the golden boy has been fully worth the €180million fee.
He’s set to finally leave for Real Madrid in the summer of 2024 on a free transfer, with Les Parisiens finally accepting defeat after delaying the inevitable with a ridiculous two-year contract.
Mbappe has scored goals for fun in the Champions League.
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every club Kylian Mbappe has scored against in the Champions League?
2019: Leandro Paredes
Signed in January 2019 for a fee of €40million from Zenit Saint Petersburg, Paredes was a hit and miss acquisition for PSG – the midfielder played plenty of games but rarely felt an essential part of the side.
He was loaned out to Juventus in 2022 and PSG decided to cash in on Paredes the following summer. But, instead of returning to Juve, the Argentina midfielder chose Roma instead and has made 45 appearances for the Europa League semi-finalists.
2020: Mauro Icardi
One of football’s ultimate supervillains, PSG splashing €50million on Icardi feels rather apt for a club equally as chaotic.
The deal was completed following his loan spell a year earlier, but Icardi failed to fire for the Ligue 1 juggernauts and was soon shipped off to Galatasaray.
He made his move to Turkey permanent in 2023 and has been banging them in for fun ever since, in what feels like a match made in heaven.
2021: Achraf Hakimi
Hakimi was outstanding in Inter’s 2020-21 Scudetto under Antonio Conte, creating a high demand for his services.
The Morocco international had only spent one season at the San Siro, but the Nerazzurri’s financial woes meant they couldn’t resist cashing in on their star asset, making a considerable profit when PSG signed him in a deal worth up to €70million.
He’s continued to prove himself one of the world’s finest fullbacks, shining under three successive managers in his three years in Paris.
2022: Vitinha
Just before PSG sacked Mauricio Pochettino in the summer of 2022, they announced the signing of talented Portuguese midfielder Vitinha from Porto.
The 24-year-old was signed for €41.5million and is now very much a key player under current boss Luis Enrique.
Vitinha’s howitzer in the Champions League quarter-final victory over Barcelona in April 2024 served as a reminder of his quality. Expect to see him feature heavily at Euro 2024 too.
2023: Randal Kolo Muani
With PSG expressing a desire to sign more French talent, they signed Kolo Muani for a whopping €95million in the summer of 2023.
In fairness, the striker had enjoyed a breakout season with Eintracht Frankfurt (scoring 23 times in 46 appearances) and made some effective cameo appearances for France at the 2022 World Cup. His name was in the ascendency.
But the 25-year-old has struggled in Paris this season, scoring just nine goals in 39 games, and it wouldn’t be a total surprise if PSG cut their losses this summer.