The TOP FIVE Most Expensive English Players Of All Time (After Rice’s Move To Arsenal)

David Tully

11 months ago

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Wolves

At the time of writing, West Ham captain Declan Rice is poised to complete his move to Arsenal.

While add-ons mean he may not automatically become the most expensive English player straight away, he will be right up there.

In this list today, we will take a look at the top five Englishman who clubs have spent the most money on in football history.

Press the next page as we count down the players from five to one.

5) Jadon Sancho – £73m (Borussia Dortmund to Manchester Utd, 2021)

Things haven’t exactly gone to plan since the winger made the switch to Old Trafford two years ago.

There have been questions about his fitness and attitude, with manager Erik ten Hag having assigned him to an individual training regimen for a couple of months last season.

However, Sancho did return to the first-team fold and the England international did finish the campaign pretty strongly.

There are reports suggesting that he could be sold if United receive a fee in the region of £45m this summer, but there are no bids on the table as of yet.

4) Harry Maguire – £80m (Leicester City to Manchester Utd, 2019)

Yet another United player who hasn’t lived up to the transfer fee paid for him, the club captain is now no longer a regular starter for his club.

Maguire started his Old Trafford career pretty strongly, helping his team to third and second in his first two campaigns in Manchester.

However, things have gone off the rails for Maguire since then. The centre-back’s form dropped markedly as United finished 6th during the 2021/22 season.

Things did not improve following Erik ten Hag’s arrival as manager last year and he is now expected to leave the Red Devils before the end of the summer.

3) Jude Bellingham – £88.5m Upfront (Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, 2023)

Widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world despite still being 19 years of age, Real managed to see off a host of Premier League teams to seal Bellingham’s signature earlier this month.

The La Liga giants will pay £88.5m up front, but they could end up shelling out around €134m (£116m) including add-ons.

If Bellingham does trigger all the additional clauses, he will become (by far and away) the most expensive English player of all time.

There is a lot of pressure on him to succeed at Real but, considering how he has dealt with things in his fledgling career so far, you would back him to take everything in his stride.

=1) Jack Grealish – £100m (Aston Villa to Manchester City, 2021)

It was a surprise when the Citizens decided to trigger the midfielder’s release clause a couple of years ago.

For starters, not many knew that the buyout fee existed, but City did, and the fact that they were willing to break their transfer record to get him also raised a few eyebrows.

Manager Pep Guardiola has always been a big fan of Grealish’s so the fact that City pushed the boat out to get him shouldn’t have been a complete shock.

The player did, admittedly, struggle with the weight of expectation during his first year at the Etihad, but he has now settled into his surroundings at the Premier League champions.

=1) Declan Rice – £100m Upfront (West Ham to Arsenal, 2023)

Technically, the West Ham midfielder’s fee is the same as Grealish’s, without including the £5m in add-ons, so he will move above the City winger as and when those clauses are triggered.

The Hammers had always been adamant that they wanted nine figures for Rice, and it seems as though they will get what they want from Arsenal.

Fans will be disappointed that their best player is leaving the London Stadium but they do understand his desire to play at the highest level.

It will be interesting to see whether he can live up to the price tag. As we have seen with other players on this list, it is not always easy.