Football's most expensive XI of all time
Over the last two decades, football has been more than just about what happens on the pitch with transfer fees skyrocketing to unprecedented heights. What transpires during the off-season is closely followed by fans as clubs go about their business of buying and selling the most important commodity in the sport – the players – who can be either assets or liabilities.
Real Madrid were the kings of the transfer window in recent years when they broke the world record for the transfer fee five times since 2000 until Manchester United signed Paul Pogba from Juventus for a new record fee of £89m.
But who is the most expensive player in each position? The combined cost of this XI alone is £619.4m!
Formation: 4-3-3
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon (£32.6m)
Before most of Europe switched to Euro as the common currency, Buffon was sold to Juventus for 100 billion Italian lire. While that may sound like an astronomical amount, it was the equivalent of £32.6m – still a huge amount, however, considering he made the transfer from Parma back in 2001.
It’s almost surprising that no goalkeeper has cost more than that in the years since silly money became the norm. Real Madrid almost broke the transfer record when they chased David De Gea for a player-plus-cash deal that was worth £29.3m and Keylor Navas before the deal fell apart at the last minute.
In hindsight, it is probably the best piece of transfer business done by the Turin club in the last two decades. The Old Lady has a number of famous legends who donned the famous black-and-white kit but none greater and more loyal than Buffon who has made almost 600 appearances in 15 seasons in the Serie A and Serie B.
Seven Serie A titles and 10 Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year awards will put aside any doubts as to his greatness.