World Transfer Records 1992-1996

1992
 Gianluca Vialli, Sampdoria to Juventus
£12,500,000

Probably more familiar to British readers during his playing and managing days at Chelsea, but Gianluca Vialli was already 32 by the time he moved to Stamford Bridge. 85 goals in 223 league games helped Sampdoria win the 1990/91 Serie A title, still their only league title to this day. Vialli was league top scorer that season with 19 Serie A goals, in a Sampdoria side that included Roberto Mancini and Attilio Lombardo (you know your 90s football if you remember which English side he later played for). That Sampdoria side continued to surprise, by making the European Cup final the following year, losing out to Johan Cruyff's Barcelona. Vialli had scored 6 goals in that 1992 European Cup campaign, second to Jean-Pierre Papin, who netted 7 for Marseille. The summer of 1992 saw Papin head to Milan for a world-record £10m, only to be broken by Juventus' £12m capture of Vialli. By 1992, Juventus had not won Serie A since 1986. Vialli joined a side containing Roberto Baggio, Paulo Di Canio, and Pierluigi Casiraghi. Juventus, captained by Vialli, went on to win the 94/95 scudetto, and the European Cup the following year. Following the European Cup triumph, Vialli made his move to England in 1996.

1992
 Gianluigi Lentini, Torino to Milan
£13,000,000

Now here is probably the most recent world's most expensive player that most football fans have never heard of. Bank the name Gianluigi Lentini for any future appearances on 'Pointless'. Lentini's transfer is also interesting in that he is, to date, the last Italian player to be the world's most expensive player, and the seventh all-time (Sormani 63, Anastasi 68, Savoldi 75, Rossi 76, Baggio 90, Vialli 92, and Lentini 92), since WW2 no other country has produced as many. This is all well and good, but why have we never heard of Gianluigi Lentini? After impressing at his first club Torino, Lentini was 23 when he moved to Milan, full of pace and promise. His first season at AC went well, his seven Serie A goals helped them to the 92/93 title as well as the final of the Champions League (where they were beaten by Marseille). But in the summer of 1993, Lentini was involved in a serious car accident whilst driving home from a pre-season tournament in Genoa. Lentini suffered a fractured skull and was in a light coma for two days. He returned to action at the end of the 93/94 season, but his ability was never the same. Milan teammate Marcel Desailly said of Lentini "you could see the skills, how he was before the accident and after the accident, the balance was completely different." Lentini never fully captured his form at the top level again, and moved to Atalanta in 1996 and a string of lower league Italian teams until his retirement as late as 2011. A sad story, who knows what Lentini would have achieved? Perhaps the outcome of the 1994 World Cup would have been different if Italy had had their world-record breaking striker at the peak of his powers alongside one Roberto Baggio.

1996
 Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima, PSV Eindhoven to Barcelona
£13,200,000

From a relatively unknown name to one of the most recognisable players in the history of the game. It surprisingly took until 1996 for a Brazilian player to be the world's most expensive player, and none more fitting than the phenomenon that was Ronaldo. Ronaldo began his career with Cruzeiro, and aged 17 was part of the Brazil squad that won the aforementioned 1994 World Cup, though he did not play a single minute in the tournament. Following the World Cup, Ronaldo chose to sign for PSV of the Dutch league. Teenage Ronaldo absolutely tore up the Eridivisie, finishing the 94/95 season as league top-scorer with 30 goals. His second season was curtailed by a knee injury, that would hamper his career further down the line, but Ronaldo still managed 12 goals in 13 appearances that season. In two seasons at PSV, he scored 54 goals in 58 games in all competitions. Ronaldo was the hottest property on the planet, and Barcelona were first in line to capture his signature in 1996 for a world record fee. Ronaldo spent just one season at the Camp Nou, and just as he did in the Eridivisie, he tore La Liga up too. 47 goals in 49 games in all competitions helped Barcelona, then managed by our very own Bobby Robson, win the Cup Winners Cup, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa de Espana. Not only was he scoring goals for fun, it was the manner in which he was scoring that was incredible, with most of his goals coming at the end of mazy runs that took on entire defences before rounding the keeper to slot into an empty net. One such goal against Compostela led Spanish newspaper AS to headline the next day's story 'Pele Returns'. The end of his season at Barcelona saw Ronaldo break the world transfer record again, but we will cover that in my next post, join me why don't you? In the meantime, enjoy Ronaldo at the peak of his physical powers at Barcelona...

World Record Transfers - 1973-1986

1973

 Johan Cruyff, Ajax to Barcelona

£922,000

Today's Price (Adjusted for Inflation) - £10.2m

Today's post starts off with an absolute worldie. Not many names in the beautiful game come as big as this one. After Pele won his last of three World Cups in 1970, the honour of being the world's greatest player was up for grabs, and many believe that Johann Cruyff was that player. Between 1964 and his transfer to Barca in '73, Cruyff had scored 190 goals in 240 games for his hometown club, Ajax, and was instrumental in the famous Dutch side winning three European Cups in a row in '71,'72, and '73. His legacy there is such that Ajax's current stadium is named The Johann Cruijff Arena (to use the Dutch spelling). It was on the strength of these phenomenal achievements that Barcelona decided to break a transfer record that had stood since Pietro Anastasi's £500k move to Juventus in 1968. Barcelona almost doubled the standing record, and were just £77k shy of making Johan Cruyff the first £1m player. Of course, the deal would have been paid in Spanish Pasetas, or Dutch Guilders, so whether or not they reached a million of a random currency was of no concern to the two clubs. Cruyff played for Barca for 5 seasons and won La Liga once and the Copa del Rey once. His Barcelona legacy was confirmed later as a manager, when he led Barcelona to their first ever European Cup success, in 1992.

1975

 Guiseppe Savoldi, Bologna to Napoli

£1,200,000

Today - £9.2m

A lesser known name became the world's first £1m pound player. Many fans will remember Trevor Francis as the first million pound player, when he moved from Birmingham to Nottingham Forest for £1.15m in 1979. Savoldi came 4 years earlier though, but as the transfer was paid in Italian Lira, there could be an argument that Francis really was the first player bought for a million pounds or more. Either way, Guiseppe Savoldi is the name you need to remember for pub quizzes or appearances on Pointless, he was the first transfer worth £1m or more. This was the second time Napoli had broken the transfer record and Savoldi hepled the club win the Coppa Italia in his first season. It would take there 3rd and final record transfer to clinch their first Serie A though; a certain Argentine in a decade or so time... stay tuned.

1976

 Paolo Rossi, Juventus to Vicenza

£1,750,000

Today - £11.6m

Paolo Rossi is probably best remembered for leading Italy to the 1982 World Cup title, in which he won the Golden Boot with 6 goals. Six years earlier though, he shot to prominence by becoming the world's most expensive footballer having played just 6 league games before his move to Vicenza. Rossi came through the ranks at Juventus but failed to make an appearance, he was loaned out to Como where he played six times without scoring a goal. Vicenza initially took Rossi on loan, and he impressed in his first season by scoring 21 goals and leading Vicenza to promotion to Serie A. This led to co-ownership of Rossi by both Juventus and Vicenza. When the two clubs were called to settle the property by way of a silent auction, Vicenza offered the massive sum of 2.6 billion lire, making Rossi the most expensive player in history at that point. 

1982

 Diego Maradona, Boca Juniors to Barcelona

£3,000,000

Today - £9.7m

Ah, Diego. As a 16 year old, Diego Maradona had started his career at Argentinos Juniors, here he managed 117 goals in 167 appearances. Still only 21 he moved to Boca for $4m USD, which would have been just shy of the £1.75m that Rossi had moved for in 1976. Aged 22 he moved again, to Barcelona, for a world record fee. Maradona spent two injury-hit years at Barcelona, but still managed to score 38 goals in 58 games in all competitions. He suffered a broken ankle against Athletic Bilbao after a poorly-timed tackle from Andoni Goikoetxea. When the two met again in the Copa del Rey Final of 1984, Maradona was taunted by the Bilbao fans, was on the receiving end of another rough tackle from Goikoetxea which wounded his leg, and Barcelona lost the game 1-0. At full-time Maradona lost it, Joey Barton-style, and squared up to Goikoetxea. When the Bilbao player made a xenophobic gesture, Maradona headbutted him and elbowed another Bilbao player, causing a mass brawl which left 60 people injured. This entire episode had been played out in front of Spain's King Juan Carlos and effectively secured Diego Maradona's transfer out of the club. Amazing footage of the brawl can be seen below.

                                       

1984

 Diego Maradona, Barcelona to Napoli

£5,000,000

Today - £14.7m

Following the brawl of a century, Napoli moved in quick to seal Maradona's signature. This transfer made Maradona the only player in history to have broken his own world transfer record. Two other players have been the world's most expensive player on two separate occasions, Original Ronaldo, and David Jack, but Diego is the only player to have done it consecutively. Whilst his ability was never in doubt, many clubs were wary of associating themselves with a player who could turn the Copa del Rey Final into a Gladiator-style fight to the death, in front of the King. The risk paid off for Napoli though, as Maradona led the club to their first ever Serie A title in 1986-87, the season following his remarkable exploits at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Maradona scored 81 goals in 188 appearances for Napoli, and is widely remembered as the greatest player ever to play the game, in particular during these halcyon days of the mid-80s. To balance the video I offered above of his gruesome side, here's a compilation of Maradona's graceful side whilst at Napoli:

• Next up I'll be looking at the record transfers from 1987 to 1992.