The Transfer Rumor Industrial Complex can become so loud sometimes that it overshadows actual soccer matches. It peaks with endless rumors and moves in the summer months — and again each January — while the rumors it produces keep page views high for countless websites throughout the actual season, too. This can honestly be frustrating at times. For example, we can’t enjoy a breakout season for a young player — we have to immediately begin speculating about where he’s going to go when the season ends.
It’s also ridiculously important. Whatever your goals are as a club — survival, slow accumulation of wealth or, of course, trophies — you don’t reach them without deft transfer work. So with the January transfer window reaching its midway point and rumors swirling, let’s look back at the best transfers the Premier League has seen.
Granted, “best” can mean lots of things. It could mean the guy your club acquired was simply very productive, strong, and made his team better. Maybe he became an iconic figure there over a long period of time. Trophies help, too — the more a club acquired during a given player’s time, the friendlier the ranking.
– O’Hanlon: Predicting the second half of the Premier League season
– Ogden, Dawson: Why Man United chose Carrick as new head coach
– Connelly: The best teams in European soccer right now
Of course, “best” can also simply mean the player was a spectacular bargain who played well above the standard of his transfer fee. Maybe a club got him for a reasonable price, got some great years out of him, then flipped him to a bigger club for a much larger fee and a profit.
Also, taking a lead from Bill Barnwell’s 2020 list, let’s establish some ground rules:
1. The player must have been acquired while the club was in the Premier League.
2. The player must have established himself in senior football before joining the club. If you came up through your club’s youth academy (like Liverpool‘s Steven Gerrard) or you were acquired from someone else’s academy (like Arsenal‘s Cesc Fabregas), you don’t qualify.
3. Permanent transfers ONLY. No loans.
4. The team gets credit for what you accomplished while you were at the club under this specific transfer. What happened elsewhere (or what happened if the player returned to the club with a later transfer) doesn’t matter.
Got all that? Then let’s dive in! Here are the 50 best Premier League transfers since the summer of 1992, as the league’s first season was almost underway.
Honorable mention (alphabetical): GK Alisson, Liverpool (signed for €72.5 million, 2018-19); MF Darren Anderton, Tottenham (signed for €2.7m, 1992-93); FW Nicolas Anelka, Arsenal (signed for €760,000 in 1996-97); DF Sol Campbell, Arsenal (signed on a free transfer, 2001-02); FW Joe Cole, Chelsea (€8.9m, 2003-04); FW Paolo Di Canio, West Ham (signed for €2.2m, 1998-99); MF Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United (signed for €65m, 2019-20); FW Roberto Firmino, Liverpool (signed for €41m, 2015-16); MF Ilkay Gündogan, Manchester City (signed for €27m, 2016-17); MF Lucas Radebe, Leeds United (signed for €375,000, 1994-95); FW Teddy Sheringham, Tottenham (signed for €3.2m, 1992-93)
50. Luka Modric, MF, Tottenham Hotspur
Signed from Dinamo Zagreb for €22.5m, 2008-09
He missed half of one season with a broken leg, but the future Croatian legend averaged more than 65 chances created per season in the Premier League, with 13 league goals and 15 assists. There were no trophies, but the skill was obvious. Spurs turned a solid investment into a €35m transfer fee from Real Madrid after four solid years.
49. Alexis Mac Allister, MF, Brighton
Signed from Argentinos Juniors for €8m, 2018-19
Some transfers are great because they’re simply great pieces of business. Brighton has made a number of those over the past decade, and few could be considered more successful than that of Mac Allister: He was acquired for a low price at 19, debuted at 20, scored 12 goals in all competitions in his age-24 season as Brighton finished a club-best sixth in the Premier League, then moved on to Liverpool at more than 5x his original transfer fee.
It took a little while for Henderson to find appreciation at his new club. He was played out of position at first, and he had to deal with the impossible expectations of succeeding a club legend in Steven Gerrard. But he was appointed captain in 2015 and became the ultimate steadying force for Jurgen Klopp in the late-2010s. By the time he left the club in 2023, he had lifted the Champions League Trophy (2019), the UEFA Super Cup (2019), the FIFA Club World Cup (2019), the Premier League Trophy (2020), the League Cup (2022), the FA Cup (2022) and the Community Shield (2022).
That’s a decent haul for €18m.
47. Raheem Sterling, FW, Manchester City
Signed from Liverpool for €63.7m, 2015-16
You need a big return for such a large fee, and it’s safe to say that’s exactly what Manchester City got after getting Sterling away from Liverpool: He scored 131 goals in all competitions over seven years, peaking at 31 in 2019-20, and he ended up taking part in four Premier League title teams with seven other trophies. He came achingly close to lifting the Champions League trophy in 2021, too, and of his 20 international goals for England, 19 were scored as a City player.
46. Juninho, CM, Middlesbrough
Signed from Sao Paulo for €5.5m, 1995-96
The Brazilian player of the year … to recently promoted Middlesbrough? Boro pulled off a coup in landing “TLF” (The Little Fella), who scored 15 goals in all competitions in 1996-97 while leading Boro to the FA Cup and League Cup final. He couldn’t prevent relegation and moved on to Atlético Madrid for €13.8 million, but the relationship was too strong to end there. He returned on loan in 1999-2000, then returned again from 2002 to 04.
45. Freddie Ljungberg, MF, Arsenal
Signed from Halmstad for €4.5m, 1998-99
One of so many astute Arsenal signings in Arsene Wenger’s first few seasons with the club, the Swedish winger (and Calvin Klein model) wasted little time making an impact: His first goal with the club came in a 3-0 win over hated Manchester United. He was the league’s Player of the Season in 2001-02, and even with a run of injuries through the years, he scored between eight and 17 goals in all competitions for six straight seasons and played for two league champions (among five total trophies).
44. Xabi Alonso, MF, Liverpool
Signed from Real Sociedad for €16m, 2004-05
One of the coolest customers you’ll ever see in midfield, Alonso was Rafa Benitez’s first Liverpool signing, and he formed a legendary tandem with Gerrard over five seasons with the club. He lifted four trophies, none bigger than the first: Alonso was instrumental in completing Liverpool’s three-goal comeback against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final, which the Reds eventually won in a penalty shootout.
43. Yaya Toure, MF, Manchester City
Signed from Barcelona for €30m, 2010-11
City’s new Abu Dhabi Group owners took a big swing on Toure and were rewarded handsomely. He was a vital member of City’s first two league title squads, he was a bit player for a third, and he lifted seven trophies for a club that was in no way used to lifting trophies (yet). He was even briefly one of the league’s best goal scorers, with a 24-goal campaign out of nowhere in 2013-14.
42. Andy Cole, FW, Manchester United
Signed from Newcastle for €9.6m, 1994-95
The most expensive British transfer ever at the time (that record has been broken just a few times since), Cole left Newcastle less than a year after a monstrous 41-goal season, and while he never scaled those heights, he still topped 20 in all competitions three times, and he contributed massively to United’s golden age.
By the time he left for Blackburn (on a profit) in 2001-02, he had been part of five Premier League champions, two FA Cup winners, a Charity Shield winner and, of course, the 1999 Champions League winner.
41. Jay-Jay Okocha, MF, Bolton
Signed from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer, 2002
Once the most expensive African player ever and one of the best dribblers the sport has seen, Okocha came to Bolton after a decent but unspectacular run at PSG. He became a club icon in northwest England. A one-man creative force for Sam Allardyce’s overachieving squad, he served as captain and led them to the League Cup final and into the UEFA Cup knockout stages over four seasons.
40. N’Golo Kanté, MF, Leicester
Signed from Caen for €9m, 2015-16
Leicester didn’t exactly earn massive headlines when signing the diminutive defensive midfielder in early August 2015, but he turned out to be the finishing piece of the most unlikely Premier League title team ever. He started only once in his first five appearances, but it didn’t take too long for Claudio Ranieri to figure out what he had in the tireless Kante, and he ended up first on the team in interceptions and blocked passes, and second in progressive passes, progressive carries, total pass completions and ground duels won. He also had four assists and 30 chances created, and just a year later he left for Chelsea for four times the transfer fee.
Kante was as impactful as a one-year wonder can be.
39. Sadio Mané, FW, Liverpool
Signed from Southampton for €41.2m, 2016-17
The headliner of Jurgen Klopp’s first transfer class, Mane simply delivered and delivered and delivered. Over six seasons with Liverpool, he scored 125 goals with 40 assists in all competitions and lifted almost every trophy a Premier League player can lift (Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup).
Perhaps no goal was bigger than the one he scored against Bayern Munich in the 2018-19 Champions League: He plucked a long ball out of the air, spun around Manuel Neuer to his left and scored, setting the table for an upset in Munich in a tournament they would win three rounds later.
38. Ashley Cole, LB, Chelsea
Signed from Arsenal for €7.4m, 2006-07
After breaking through as a brilliant left back for some of Arsenal’s best teams, Cole forced a move to Chelsea — he was fined for illegal contact with his new club, but still made the move — and while Arsenal would also get a useful William Gallas to Arsenal in the deal, Chelsea still got a bargain.
Cole was a vital part of a Premier League title team (2009-10) and a Champions League winner (2011-12), and lifted six domestic cups (and the 2012-13 Europa League trophy) before leaving for Roma at age 33 in 2014-15.
37. Robin van Persie, FW, Arsenal
Signed from Feyenoord for €4.5m, 2004-05
Admittedly, the trophy count lacked. Van Persie was signed as a 19-year-old winger in the summer after Arsenal’s Invincibles campaign, and though Arsene Wenger envisioned him as an eventual replacement for Thierry Henry, he first had some maturing to do (and some injuries to fight through). He broke through with a nice, 20-goal campaign in all competitions in 2008-09, then he scored 22 in 2010-11 and 37 in 2011-12.
Van Persie became the unfortunate face of a newer, slightly more disappointing Arsenal, but by the time he left London, he had become one of the brightest, most technically sound center forwards of his day.
36. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, ST, Manchester United
Signed from Molde for €2.5m, 1996-97
The Norway international was an under-the-radar pickup, overshadowed by bigger-name United signings such as Jordi Cruyff and Karel Poborsky around that same time, but it’s almost impossible for a player to make more of an impact in fewer minutes.
Typically regarded as the ultimate super sub, Solskjaer made only 151 Premier League starts in 11 seasons with the club (and only 16 in his final four injury-plagued years). But he still scored 126 goals in 366 total appearances in all competitions. And after Sheringham scored to tie the score against Bayern in the 1999 Champions League, he scored the goal that would define his entire career. As a super-sub, of course.
35. Petr Cech, GK, Chelsea
Signed from Rennes for €13m, 2004-05
In a perfect world, you find a great goalkeeper and just forget about the position for a decade or more. Chelsea pulled off exactly that, bringing in the fearless Cech after an excellent performance at Euro 2004 and — despite a notorious skull fracture that required him to wear a helmet for the last decade of his career — getting 326 league starts out of him over the next 10 years. He won four Premier League titles, nine other domestic cups and both the Champions League (2012) and Europa League (2013).
Cech was so steady that somehow Chelsea sold his rights to Arsenal in 2015, at age 33, for an even higher transfer fee.
34. Ruud van Nistelrooy, FW, Manchester United
Signed from PSV for €28.5m, 2001-02
Alan Shearer (seven times), Sergio Aguero (six), Harry Kane (six), Thierry Henry (five), Mohamed Salah (five) and Van Nistelrooy (four): Those are the only six players to score 20-plus goals in at least four Premier League seasons. Van Nistelrooy didn’t make as lengthy an impact as the others on that list — he and Sir Alex Ferguson stopped seeing eye-to-eye within five years — but after failing to join United the year before because of a failed physical (and subsequent ACL tear), Van Nistelrooy arrived in 2001, drove a Premier League title run in 2002-03, and defined the top of the United attack for most of five seasons before leaving for Real Madrid (and ripping off two more 20-goal campaigns).
33. Fernandinho, MF, Manchester City
Signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for €40m, 2013-14
The Brazil international began his career in more of an attacking role, but he became Pep Guardiola’s secret weapon, a nearly perfect defensive midfielder who put out fires and served as almost a one-man transition defense. He arrived before Guardiola and was a major part of City’s 2013-14 Premier League winner under Manuel Pellegrini, but he won four more league titles after Guardiola’s arrival and left Manchester in 2022 having lifted 33 trophies (and having continued to play a key role into his late-30s.
32. Pablo Zabaleta, RB, Manchester City
Signed from Espanyol for €8.7m, 2008-09
Signed as the Abu Dhabi United Group was taking over the club, Zabaleta became a club legend, making 333 appearances and starting for both of City’s first two Premier League title teams. He served as a bridge to the Guardiola era — his last season with the club (2016-17) was Guardiola’s first — and while it was lost in all the madness that followed, he scored the first goal in City’s classic, title-clinching win over QPR in 2012 as well.
31. Robert Pires, LW, Arsenal
Signed from Marseille for €9.8m, 2000-01
A perfect complement to Henry when healthy — though he frequently wasn’t fully healthy — Pires replaced Barcelona-bound Marc Overmars in the lineup and provided endless creativity and a goal-scoring threat. Despite topping 2,500 league minutes only once, he averaged 12.8 goals and 7.5 assists per season over a four-year span in the Premier League, and he was vital in two Arsenal title runs (2001-02 and 2003-04) and in their run to the 2006 Champions League final. (He was, unfortunately, substituted just 18 minutes into the final loss to Barcelona because of Jens Lehmann’s red card. It was his last match with the club.)
30. Philippe Coutinho, MF, Liverpool
Signed from Inter Milan for €13m, 2012-13
Coutinho’s transfer was a nuclear-grade version of what I said about Mac Allister above. He arrived on a fairly cost-effective deal, especially for someone Rafael Benitez had called the “future of Inter” not even three years earlier. He gave Liverpool some of his best seasons — over a five-year span, he averaged 7.6 league goals and 6.2 assists per season — and then he left for more than 10 times the price of his original transfer. In the domino effect following Neymar‘s transfer to PSG, Barcelona dramatically overpaid for Coutinho and, among other things, gave Liverpool the financial heft it needed to sign difference-makers such as Alisson and Virgil van Dijk.
Coutinho is on this list both because he was good with the Reds and his departure was very, very good for them.
29. Michael Carrick, CM, Manchester United
Signed from Spurs for £24.5m, 2006
A big defensive midfielder with impossibly safe passing capabilities, Carrick arrived at 25 as a well-established Premier Leaguer: At West Ham and Tottenham, he had topped 2,300 league minutes every season since he was 19. United knew exactly what they were getting, and he served as a steadying force for the last run of incredible success under Alex Ferguson. He was part of five Premier League championship squads, won the Champions League in 2008 and lifted 10 other domestic trophies as well.
Hell, he was still logging solid minutes in 2016-17, at age 35, when United won the Europa League.
28. N’Golo Kante, CM, Chelsea
Signed from Leicester for €35.8m, 2016-17
Signing Kante was a brilliant move for Leicester City; signing him away from Leicester was equally brilliant for Chelsea. Granted, injuries slowed him down at times, and he wasn’t always used properly by Chelsea managers (especially Maurizio Sarri), but when settled and in form, he was two players at once: He was the best midfield destroyer on the planet — he still probably ranks pretty high on the list as he approaches age 35 with Al-Ittihad — and he was an occasionally important creator and ball progressor.
Kante was vital to Chelsea’s 2016-17 Premier League title run, and he was named to the UEFA Champions League squad of the season while leading the Blues to the title in 2020-21.
27. Alan Shearer, FW, Newcastle
Signed from Blackburn for €18m, 1996-97
Shearer was comfortably the most expensive signing in the world in 1996-97, leaving Blackburn for his boyhood club at age 26 after three consecutive 30-goal seasons. He scored 206 goals in a Newcastle shirt, which means he was very much worth the money, but while he brought a Premier League title to Blackburn, he couldn’t quite do the same for the Magpies. Newcastle finished second in the league in his very first season, falling seven points behind Manchester United with a late run of draws, and they never got that close again.
Still, legends are legends, and Shearer spent a majority of his legendary career with Newcastle.
26. Bernardo Silva, AM, Manchester City
Signed from Monaco for €50m, 2017-18
After serving as a brilliant creative force for Radamel Falcao, Kylian Mbappé and the Ligue 1-winning Monaco team of 2016-17, Silva made an expensive move to Manchester, and you could make the case that he’s one of the most underrated players of the past 10 years. He has been Pep Guardiola’s Swiss Army knife, logging thousands of minutes as a central midfielder, right winger, defensive midfielder and center forward. He has spent time at left wing, left back and on one occasion, center back.
Silva scored 75 goals with 74 assists, and he has been a part of six Premier League championship teams, the 2023 Champions League winner and 10 other domestic cup winners. He was named City’s player of the year once and was named to the FIFPro World XI in 2023 as well, and he’s still at it at age 31.
25. Gianfranco Zola, FW, Chelsea
Signed from Parma for €6.2m, 1996-97
The face of pre-Roman Abramovich Chelsea, Zola had a knack for magical thunderstrikes and dragged a rickety club to the Champions League for the first time. Spending a hefty fee (for the time) to acquire a 30-year-old wasn’t necessarily advisable, but while plenty of other inadvisable moves failed to bear fruit in West London, Zola shined: In seven Premier League seasons, with his age advancing past the mid-30s, he scored at least eight league goals five times (including 14 in his final season) and produced at least four assists every season.
24. Luis Suárez, FW, Liverpool
Signed from Ajax for €26.5m, 2010-11
A player with a longer “Controversies” section on Wikipedia than most (with subsections with names like “racial abuse incident” and “second biting incident” in the Liverpool section), Suarez erupted for a 49-goal campaign at Ajax in 2009-10 and became Liverpool’s most expensive signing in January 2011. And after a slow start, he figured out the Premier League, scoring 61 goals in all competitions in 2012-13 and 2013-14 and coming achingly close to delivering the Reds a long-awaited Premier League title in 2014. (The club would have to wait another six years.)
The club sent him to Barcelona for over a 300% profit in 2014, just days after another biting incident at the World Cup. Complicated player, great goal-scorer.
23. Nemanja Vidic, CB, Manchester United
Signed from Spartak Moscow for €10.5m, 2005-06
A 6-foot-3 slab immovable force, Vidic is one of the most decorated center backs in Premier League history. He was named the league’s player of the season in both 2008-09 and 2010-11 — as a center back! — and the moment he became a stalwart in the back, United started winning trophies again. They won five league titles between 2006-07 and 2012-13, they won eight other domestic cups, and reached three Champions League finals in four years, winning one.
United haven’t won a Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson left … but they also haven’t won one since Vidic left. Just saying.
22. Gareth Bale, FW, Tottenham
Signed from Southampton for €14.7m, 2007-08
The Wales star had some legendary moments, and then he made the club rich. If you’re anywhere else but the top of the sport, it’s hard to ask for much more than that. At 18 years old, Bale had already established himself as one of the best left backs in the second division. But while injuries held him back — he amassed only 3,317 league minutes in his first three seasons — he eventually bulked up, moved up to left wing, and shined. He scored 11 goals in all competitions in 2010-11, and three came as he nearly pulled off a one-man comeback at defending Champions League winner Inter Milan, scoring a second-half hat trick and running excellent right back Maicon into the ground in a 4-3 defeat.
Gareth Bale was unplayable vs Inter #OTD in 2010 🥵🥵🥵#UCL pic.twitter.com/zUJG06WwRy
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 2, 2022
Bale improved his output (and played an entire season) in 2011-12, then exploded for 24 combined goals and eight assists in the Premier League and Europa League. And with that, Real Madrid came calling, paying €101 million for Bale in the summer of 2013. When he left, Spurs had finished in the Premier League’s top five for four straight seasons; they had done so only twice in the 20 years prior.
21. Vincent Kompany, CB, Manchester City
Signed from Hamburger SV for €8.5m, 2008-09
For all of the big-money signings that defined the early years of the Abu Dhabi United Group’s ownership of Manchester City, an injury-prone player, acquired at a discount a few weeks before ownership changed hands, made as big an impact as anyone. The statuesque Kompany arrived without huge expectations, and injuries continued to impact his availability: He played more than 31 of 38 Premier League matches only twice in 11 seasons. But he served as captain for eight of those seasons, was a vital defender for each of City’s first four league titles and helped to lift eight other domestic trophies. And though he scored only 20 goals for the club, two of them were legendary.
Kompany headed in a corner in a vital 1-0 derby win over Manchester United in the run-up to their 2012 title, and he scored the ultimate no-no-no-YES goal to clinch the title in 2019.
It’s hard to top that legacy.
20. David Silva, MF, Manchester City
Signed from Valencia for €28.8m, 2010-11
While Kompany was the towering boss at the back of the City lineup for a decade-plus, the diminutive Silva was the string-puller in the front. He arrived with expectations after averaging more than 10 combined goals and assists per season over four years with Valencia and commanding a solid transfer fee. And in a decade with the club he averaged 6.0 goals and 9.3 assists per season in league play, sprinkling in eight goals and nine assists in the Champions League, as well, as City was slowly establishing itself in UEFA’s premier competition.
Silva left the club in 2020, at age 34, and still had enough left to serve as Real Sociedad’s talisman for three seasons.
19. Claude Makelele, MF, Chelsea
Signed from Real Madrid for €20m, 2003-04
Not many players see their names become a position name. But Makelele was such a perfect defensive midfielder, and he was so vital to success at both Real Madrid and Chelsea, that the DM position was referred to as the “Makelele role” long after his best days were behind him.
A lot of those best days happened with Chelsea, where he was an N’Golo Kante before Kante. He might have been the most valuable player on the Blues team that gave up only 15 goals in 2004-05 and won back-to-back Premier League titles, and he was still playing an important role at age 35, as Chelsea made a run to the 2008 Champions League final.
18. Virgil van Dijk, CB, Liverpool
Signed from Southampton for €84.7m, 2017-18
You have to be really, really good to live up to a nearly €85m transfer fee, and if Van Dijk hasn’t lived up to it, it’s impossible to do so. Acquired as a finishing piece for a squad that had recently reaped a major bounty with the Phillipe Coutinho sale, Van Dijk immediately stabilized the back line of a Liverpool team deploying Jurgen Klopp’s risky, chaotic style. And in the eight years since his arrival, he has topped 40 appearances six times (soon to be seven, barring injury), appeared on the Professional Footballers’ Association Team of the Year five times, landed on the FIFA World 11 five times and won virtually everything a player can win: two Premier League titles, a Champions League title, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and four other domestic trophies.
Van Dijk might have already been the best center back in the world when he arrived, and he has done little to dissuade that in the years since.
17. Rio Ferdinand, CB, Manchester United
Signed from Leeds for €46m, 2002-03
In acquiring the 23-year-old Ferdinand from a financially collapsing Leeds United, Manchester United nearly doubled the Premier League record for a defender’s transfer fee. As with van Dijk, it’s hard to say he wasn’t worth the cost.
Though he sat out plenty of time because of injuries — he topped 31 Premier League appearances only three times in 12 seasons — Ferdinand was heavily involved in every United success of the era: six Premier League titles, three Champions League finals appearances, the FIFA Club World Cup and six other domestic trophies. He was part of the FIFPro World II in 2007-08, and he was inducted into the both the English Football and Premier League halls of fame.
16. Rodri, DM, Manchester City
Signed from Atletico Madrid for €70m, 2019-20
Like van Dijk, Rodri arrived at a high cost, and though he was signed as the eventual replacement for then-34-year-old Fernandinho, it seemed to take him a while to learn his role and fully earn Guardiola’s trust. But once he figured things out? Wow.
From 2019-20 to 2023-24, the Spain international topped 50 appearances in all competitions four times, and by 2023-24 he had become an almost perfect player: He led Manchester City in minutes, touches, progressive passes and ball recoveries and was second in assists, progressive carries and ground duels won and even fifth in goals, with nine. He even helped to lead Spain to the Euro 2024 title.
Rodri was so perfect that, despite playing a defensive midfield role that does not typically strike the fancy of Ballon d’Or voters, he won the famed award in 2024. He has struggled mightily with injuries since, but the €70m cost turned out to be a discount.
15. Kevin De Bruyne, MF, Manchester City
Signed from Wolfsburg for €76m, 2015-16
After a 10-goal, 20-assist season (and a second-place Bundesliga finish) at Wolfsburg in 2014-15, De Bruyne was a proven entity when he moved to Manchester at age 24. He did battle plenty of injuries over his decade with City, but he was also the best creator in the best league in the world for most of that span.
From 2015-16 through 2024-25, he produced 118 Premier League assists and 841 chances created; it’s not enough to say that those figures rank first in that span. Mo Salah is second in assists in that decade with 86. Christian Eriksen is second in chances created with 542, 299 fewer than De Bruyne’s total. De Bruyne also had the most combined progressive passes and carries, and oh yeah, he also scored 72 goals (17th) and won everything: six Premier League titles, a Champions League title (he had 16 goals and 26 assists in the competition, too), the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, five League Cups, two FA Cups and two Community Shields.
Injuries are part of the tale, but he was an unreal producer for an extended amount of time.
14. Dennis Bergkamp, FW, Arsenal
Signed from Inter Milan for €11.3m, 1995-96
Bergkamp was such a perfect Arsene Wenger player that it’s easy to forget that he actually arrived a year before Wenger. He had already twice finished in the top three of the Ballon d’Or voting when he moved to London, so expectations were high, but he surpassed them.
In his first four seasons with the club, Bergkamp averaged 23 combined goals and assists per season in the Premier League, and though his minutes diminished as he passed age 30 and his quirks — including a devastating fear of flying, which made playing in UEFA competitions awfully tricky — he still ended up playing a role in the vast majority of the trophies won in the Wenger era, including all three Premier League titles. And in terms of aesthetics, it’s hard to top a player who had just about the best first touch on the planet (as exemplified by a spectacular statue outside of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium).
13. Didier Drogba, ST, Chelsea
Signed from Marseille for €38.5m, 2004-05
At the time, signing Drogba wasn’t quite the slam dunk that it certainly seemed to be in retrospect. He was already 26 years old, and he had only really enjoyed a career breakout, with Guingamp, two years earlier. Would his physical prowess allow him to shine in such a physical league?
Um, yes. The Ivorian star averaged 19.6 goals per season in eight years with the club, including 34 in 69 Champions League matches. Like plenty of others on this list, he was slowed by injuries (and, on one occasion, malaria), but he was always good, and in the 2006-07 and especially 2009-10 campaigns, he achieved a higher plane of existence, scoring 37 goals both seasons. Chelsea won three Premier League titles and eight other domestic trophies during his first stint (plus another two trophies when he returned at age 36 in 2024-25), and he scored the equalizer in the 2012 Champions League final — which Chelsea eventually won on penalties — against Bayern. He was on the FIFPro World XI in 2007, he was named the African Footballer of the year twice, and he was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2022.
A worthy investment, to say the least.
12. Roy Keane, CM, Manchester United
Signed from Nottingham Forest for €4.4m, 1993-94
The prototypical box-to-box midfielder (and an ultracompetitive crankypants), Keane found potential enemies wherever he looked — including Alfie Haaland (Erling’s father) and, at times, Manchester United itself. But he was also an indefatigable winner, claiming seven Premier League titles, eight other domestic trophies and, though he was suspended for the final, the 1998-99 Champions League. He was named to the Professional Footballers’ Team of the Year five times in a 10-year span, and he was named to the PFA’s Team of the Century, plus the Premier League Hall of Fame, as well.
It’s easy to remember his combustible personality above all else and reduce him to that role alone, but Keane was also one of the most brilliant players of the era and a perfect acquisition.
11. Wayne Rooney, ST, Manchester United
Signed from Everton for €37m, 2004-05
Rooney arrived in Manchester at just 18 years old, but he had already been a major spark for his national team at Euro 2004, and he had already done this:
Expectations were, like the cost, awfully high. And if it were even possible to actually meet them, he did. In 13 years at Old Trafford, he scored double-digit league goals 11 times (he topped 25 twice) and double-digit assists four times. (His average from 2005-06 through 2013-14: 16.3 goals, 8.2 assists.) He complemented Cristiano Ronaldo well for a while, then raised his goal-scoring game in Ronaldo’s absence. And he ended up part of five Premier League champions, three Champions League finalists (one win), a Europa League winner and a FIFA Club World Cup winner and lifted eight other domestic trophies. United got what they paid for.
10. Eric Cantona, ST, Manchester United
Signed from Leeds United for €1.8m, 1992-93
He was a cranky artiste, he karate-kicked a rude spectator, and he didn’t stay even five full seasons in Manchester. Cantona created a tense and turbulent presence wherever he went. And he also won and won and won.
After winning the first division title with Leeds United the year before the Premier League’s creation, he was also part of four of the first five Premier League winners in Manchester. He also won two FA Cups and three Charity Shields. He had 20 combined goals and assists in barely half a season with United in 1992-93, then averaged 13.8 league goals and 10.0 assists over the next four years. He was as fantastic as he was memorable.
9. Alan Shearer, FW, Blackburn Rovers
Signed from Southampton for €4.5m, 1992-93
Newcastle got the most years from Shearer, but Blackburn got the best ones. He joined from Southampton after a 21-goal breakout campaign; the Rovers set the English transfer record with their €4.5m acquisition, and both he and the Premier League itself debuted at the same time. He was good out of the gates, scoring 22 goals in all competitions in 1992-93, but over the next three seasons he scored 108 goals for an ambitious, big-spending (by the standards of the day) club, and his 34 league goals and 13 assists drove Blackburn’s lone Premier League title, a wild affair in 1994-95.
We’ve seen so many clubs shoot for the stars, come up short and then crash and burn. Blackburn eventually crashed, but thanks to Shearer & Co., they at least achieved their goals first.
When Haaland signed with Borussia Dortmund with a pretty reasonable release clause, he assured that his next move would be an awfully valuable one for whatever club he chose. He chose City and has managed to somehow exceed all expectations thus far. In 173 matches with the club, he has scored 150 goals with 24 assists. He spends most of 90 minutes stalking around off the ball — he’s averaged under 25 touches per 90 minutes with the club — and once or twice per game (and sometimes more), he shows up at just the right time for a high-value chance in the box. You know you’re a special talent when Pep Guardiola completely redesigns his attack to suit your skill set.
City’s long Champions League title drought ended in Haaland’s first season with the club. That isn’t a coincidence. He scored 52 goals in all competitions that season, and while City spent the next couple of seasons undergoing a relative rebuild, Haaland kept scoring. He has 26 goals in 28 matches so far in 2025-26, and City are both primed for a deep Champions League run and maybe the only obstacle remaining between Arsenal and a long-awaited Premier League title.
Their dominance has slowed in recent years, but Haaland has been everything City hoped he would be.
7. Cristiano Ronaldo, FW, Manchester United
Signed from Sporting Lisbon for €19m, 2003-04
Before he was Cristiano Ronaldo, with a trademarked nickname (CR7) and a trademarked goal celebration (Siu!), he was an unproven — and relatively expensive — 18-year-old with impossible ball skills, who was still looking for the production to match the showy style. He spent six seasons with Sir Alex Ferguson’s United, and he didn’t hit double-digit goals until the fourth. But once the accomplishments started flowing, they never really stopped.
Ronaldo scored 66 league goals with 20 assists in his final three seasons, and when he broke through, so did his team. United won the league in all three of those campaigns and reached the Champions League final twice, winning once. After winning nine trophies in all, he made a long-rumored move to Real Madrid for what was then a world-record fee (€94m).
6. Patrick Vieira, DM, Arsenal
Signed from Milan for €5.4m, 1996-97
Like Bergkamp, Vieira was such a perfect Wenger player that it’s easy to forget he wasn’t signed by Wenger. One of the best and most physical defensive midfielders of his era, Vieira had the athleticism to provide some scoring punch at times — 29 goals and 35 assists over nine seasons — while never leaving Arsenal exposed in transition.
Vieira was part of France‘s turn-of-the-century golden era, winning the World Cup in 1998 and the Euros in 2000, and he would go on to win three Serie A crowns after his departure, at nearly four times his original transfer fee, in 2006. But he is almost certainly best remembered as a Gunner. He was part of three Premier League winners and seven other domestic trophy winners, and he was part of the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Premier League team of the year for six straight seasons. And while this might change in a few more months, Arsenal haven’t come particularly close to a Premier League title since he left.
5. Eden Hazard, MF, Chelsea
Signed from Lille for €35m, 2012-13
When you start talking about a transfer as good business, you start thinking of a player as an asset and not a person. I acknowledge that that’s not great. But Hazard ended up serving as both one Chelsea’s best players and one of their best pieces of business.
After a breakout 20-goal, 15-assist campaign with Lille at age 20, Hazard moved to West London having already proved himself as a brilliant creative talent capable of playing on either wing or in central attacking areas. He would play mostly on the left with Chelsea, but aside from a downcast 2015-16 campaign, he was excellent wherever he played.
Hazard scored 105 goals in all competitions with the club, with 73 assists from 772 chances created, and he was the primary creator for a pair of Premier League championship runs in 2014-15 and 2016-17. He won two Europa League crowns and both English domestic cups, and after a ridiculous 2018-19 season — he was first in the Premier League in assists (15), first in fouls suffered (104), second in chances created (98), second in ground duels won (254), third in progressive carries (549), fifth in shots on goal (43) and eighth in goals (16) — Chelsea sent him to Real Madrid for a mind-blowing €120.8 million transfer fee.
It was perfect timing: His body was pretty much done, and injuries would limit him to 44 starts, with seven goals and nine assists, with the club. Again: good business, even if it wasn’t good for Hazard.
4. Frank Lampard, MF, Chelsea
Signed from West Ham for €16m, 2001-02
He wasn’t signed by Roman Abramovich, but Lampard was the face of Chelsea for the first decade of the Abramovich era. He had already established himself as a star at West Ham, with 24 league goals and 11 assists over four full seasons with the Hammers, but he played more and more of an attacking role with Chelsea, and it looked great on him. He peaked with 22 league goals and 14 assists in 2009-10, and he scored 211 total goals with the club; here’s where I remind you that he was ostensibly a central midfielder.
Lampard could score, pass and run endlessly. He was the Premier League’s player of the season in 2004-05 — before his scoring prowess really even kicked in; he was the league’s assists leader three times, and he was part of three Premier League title winners, won the Champions League in 2012 and the Europa League in 2013, and when he left the club at age 36 in 2014, he still had enough in his legs to play for Pep Guardiola’s City for a year and, in his final professional season, score 12 goals for New York City FC in 2016.
3. Sergio Aguero, ST, Manchester City
Signed from Atletico Madrid for €40m, 2011-12
If he had scored only one specific goal with the club, he’d have been worth the money.
But he did so much more than that. His title-winning goal in 2011-12, his 31st of the season in all competitions, capped his first season in Manchester, but he would score at least 28 goals in six of the next seven seasons as well. He was the focal point for three different City managers, and he reached new heights for Pep Guardiola, with 95 goals and 23 assists from 137 chances created in all competitions over their first three seasons together. He won five league titles with 10 other domestic trophies for a club that hadn’t won much of anything before his arrival.
Aguero was already a star when he arrived in Manchester at 23, but he left the club as legendary a figure as you could possibly be.
2. Mohamed Salah, FW, Liverpool
Signed from Roma for €42m, 2017-18
First impressions don’t tend to be very accurate. When Salah couldn’t make much of an impact at Chelsea from 2013 to 2015, he was written off by some as not particularly Premier League-worthy. But after a couple of solid seasons at Roma, Liverpool pounced, and it changed the trajectory of the club.
Salah scored the go-ahead goal when Liverpool won its first Champions League title in 24 years in 2018-19. He scored 19 league goals with 10 assists as Liverpool ended a 30-year league title drought in 2019-20. He scored 29 league goals with 18 assists, at age 32, when the Reds won another Premier League crown in 2024-25.
In all competitions, he has 250 goals and 114 assists in only 8½ seasons with the club. He’s currently battling through his worst campaign in Liverpool, and his future is rather uncertain, but his legacy is assured.
1. Thierry Henry, FW, Arsenal
Signed from Juventus for €16.1m, 1999-2000
However you value a transfer — lifts his club to otherworldly heights, provides absolute proof of concept for his manager’s vision, turns unrealized potential into almost impossible statistical heights, sold at a profit — Arsenal’s signing of Henry was perfect in every way. He somehow spent only eight seasons with the Gunners and started more than 31 Premier League matches only twice. But after scoring 20 goals over four professional seasons as a winger with Monaco and Juventus, he moved to London and, under Arsene Wenger’s guidance, moved to center forward.
Then, all his potential was unlocked.
Henry scored 34 league goals with 17 assists in his first two seasons with Arsenal, then unleashed a nearly perfect five-year run, averaging 26.0 goals and 10.6 assists in Premier League play. His 24-goal, 20-assist campaign in 2002-03 might be the most brilliant single-season performance in league history, and then he led Arsenal to its unbeaten, Invincibles season, with 30 goals and six assists, in 2003-04. By the time he left for Barcelona in 2007, he had been part of two Premier League title runs, lifted four other domestic trophies and led Arsenal to the finals of both the Champions League (2006) and UEFA Cup (2000). As a Gunner, he was the Ballon d’Or runner up (2003) and was twice the FIFA World Player of the Year runner-up (2003, 2004). He also won the Premier League’s Golden Boot four times and led the league in assists once.
He was ridiculously fast, he was almost technically perfect, and he was the best transfer the league has seen.
