Kyle Walker today joined Manchester City from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee that, if Walker meets the criteria whilst playing for City, will smash the world record fee paid for a defender.
Currently, that is held by David Luiz, whom Paris St Germain paid £50 million to Chelsea for, back in 2014. Chelsea subsequently re-signed Luiz from PSG for £34 million just two years later.
After that, Manchester City broke the English record fee paid for a defender, when they paid Everton £47.5 million for John Stones. This after they had signed Eliaquim Mangala for £42 million in August 2014 and then Nicolas Otamendi for £34 million less than a year later. Three partners for Vincent Kompany totalling nearly £125 million and rumours have it that Pep Guardiola is still looking out for another centre half. Quite eye watering.
The exact fee City have paid Tottenham is not known exactly, but sources indicate that it equals the fee PSG paid Chelsea for Luiz, but with add ons, that figure is likely to be closer to the £55 million mark. Manchester City will feel it perfectly justified – Walker fills a position they are desperately short at, and plays a role that is becoming ever more crucial in the modern game.
Assuming Walker plays the games etc needed that triggers the add-ons, and the values are accurate, this will place him in the same bracket, fee wise, that PSG paid for Edinson Cavani, Real Madrid paid for Kaka, Barcelona paid for Ibrahimovic and only a few million behind the fees paid for the likes of Luis Suarez, Angel Di Maria, James Rodriguez and Oscar. The fee will eclipse that paid for the likes of Luis Figo, Radamel Falcao, Fernando Torres and even Neymar, for whom Barcelona paid ‘only’ £48.6 million four years ago.
Whether the fee paid is indicative of the state of the current transfer market, or the value that top class defenders now have, is very subjective. Whatever KPI’s Kyle Walker will be measured against that determines whether this spectacular fee paid will be deemed ‘worth it’ remains to be seen, but it is a price tag that will be heavy around his neck and shoulders as he makes those lung bursting runs up and down the right touchline in the forth coming English Premier League season(s) for City.
TOP 10 TRANSFER FEES PAID OF ALL TIME
- Paul Pogba – from Juventus to Manchester United – £89.3m
- Gareth Bale – from Tottenham to Real Madrid – £85.3m
- Cristiano Ronaldo – from Manchester United to Real Madrid – £80m
- Gonzalo Higuaín – from Napoli to Juventus – £75.3m
- Romelu Lukaku – from Everton to Manchester United – £72m
- Luis Suarez – from Liverpool to Barcelona – £65m
- James Rodriguez – from AS Monaco to Real Madrid – £63m
- Oscar – from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG – £60m
- Angel Di Maria – from Real Madrid to Manchester United – £59.7m
- Kaka – from AC Milan to Real Madrid – £56m
