World record football transfer fees

Alf Common

Alf Common (front row, second left) is pictured in Sheffield United's FA Cup-winning team of 1902. Three years later the centre-forward, by then at Sunderland, became the first player to be transferred for £1,000 when he moved to North East rivals Middlesbrough. Common played three times for England, scoring two goals

David Jack became the first man to be transferred for a five-figure fee when he moved for £10,890 from Bolton Wanderers to Arsenal in 1928. Inside-forward Jack, the first man to score at Wembley during Bolton's 2-0 FA Cup final victory against West Ham in 1923, helped Arsenal win the league title three times

Luis Suarez, a Spanish midfielder, not the Liverpool striker of the same name, became the most expensive player in the world in 1961 with his £152,000 move from Barcelona to Italian side Inter Milan. Suarez, who later managed Spain's national team, helped Inter Milan win the European Cup in 1964 and 1965

Giuseppe Savoldi, an Italian forward, became the first million-pound player when he was transferred for £1.2m from Bologna to Napoli in 1975. He scored 169 goals during his career in Italy's Serie A, although he was often overlooked for the national side and only won four caps

Diego Maradona is the only player to have broken the world transfer record twice. The Argentina forward first moved for £3m in 1982, when he left Boca Juniors in his home country and joined Spanish side Barcelona. Two years later he left the Nou Camp to join Italian club Napoli in a £5m transfer

Ruud Gullit was the next man to be bought for a world-record fee, his move from PSV Eindhoven to AC Milan in 1987 costing the Italian side £6m. The Netherlands international spent six years in Milan, winning three Serie A titles and two European Cups

Forward Roberto Baggio moved for £8m in 1990 when he signed for Juventus from Fiorentina. Baggio won the Fifa World Player of the Year award in 1993 and scored more than 300 career goals. He scored 27 times in 56 appearances for Italy and helped them reach the 1994 World Cup final, but missed in the penalty shootout as Brazil won

Jean-Pierre Papin moved from French side Marseille to Italy's AC Milan in a transfer worth £10m in 1992. The France international striker only spent two seasons at the San Siro but helped Milan win Serie A twice and the European Cup on one occasion, in 1993-94

Italian clubs broke the world transfer fee record twice more before the end of 1992. First, Juventus paid Sampdoria £12m for striker Gianluca Vialli, before AC Milan spent £13m to sign winger Gianluigi Lentini from Torino. Vialli, who later played for and managed Chelsea, represented Italy 59 times, while Lentini was capped 13 times

England striker Alan Shearer joined his hometown club Newcastle United in July 1996 from Blackburn Rovers in a transfer worth £15m. Shearer had won the Premier League title at Ewood Park and spent 10 seasons at Newcastle, scoring 206 goals in 404 matches. Shearer is now a pundit on BBC's Match of the Day

The next two world records involved Brazil internationals. Striker Ronaldo (right) moved for £19.5m from Spanish club Barcelona to Italian team Inter Milan in 1997 before winger Denilson (left) signed for Spain's Real Betis from Sao Paulo of Brazil for £21.5m in 1998. The pair helped Brazil win the 2002 World Cup

Italy's Lazio were involved in the next two record-breaking moves. Their striker Christian Vieri joined Inter Milan in 1999 for £32m, before Lazio spent £35.5m the following year, signing Argentine forward Hernan Crespo from Parma. Crespo and Vieri later became team-mates at Inter, before Crespo joined Chelsea in 2003

Luis Figo left Barcelona for rivals Real Madrid in 2000 for a record-breaking £37m. Portuguese attacker Figo, who played 127 times for his national side, spent five years with Madrid. He won four La Liga titles during his career, two with Barcelona and two with Real, and helped the latter win the 2002 Champions League

Zinedine Zidane, who helped France win the 1998 World Cup, moved for £45.6m in 2001 when he transferred from Italian side Juventus to Spain's Real Madrid. He scored the winning goal as Real beat Germany's Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the 2002 Champions League final and helped Real secure the Spanish title in 2002-03

The world record transfer fee was not broken for another eight years until Brazilian midfielder Kaka moved from Italy's AC Milan to Spain's Real Madrid for £56m in 2009. Kaka helped them win La Liga title in 2011-12, the Copa del Rey in 2010-11 and the Supercopa de Espana in 2012

Real Madrid broke the world transfer fee record for the fourth successive time when they paid Manchester United £80m for forward Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009. Ronaldo was introduced to the fans at the Bernabeu with Portuguese legend Eusebio watching on. Ronaldo has scored more than 200 goals in four seasons at Real

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