Bruno Guimaraes' £75million ($101m) transfer to Arsenal is a blow to Newcastle United's aspirations this season under new coach Matthias Jaissle. Anticipating their fans' anger at losing their captain and best midfielder, Newcastle's statement announcing the sale on their website led with the positive — the amount of money they'll receive — by providing some unusual context.
“The agreed fee represents one of the top 10 highest transfer fees ever received for a player aged 28 or over, and a record fee for a player of his age and position combined.â€
Filtering transfer fees by age or position is not uncommon, but combining the two and then presenting it as a record feels a bit of a stretch. To even be able to cherry-pick a record this specific, Newcastle would have had to go out of their way to compile an exhaustive list of deals by age and position.
So The Athletic decided to follow their lead, examining the biggest transfer for every age and position across the pitch.
For transparency, the data in this article is sourced from German website Transfermarkt which, as a crowdsourced tool, sometimes lists different fees to those reported by The Athletic, while the position labels are also taken from that site.
Attacking midfielders
This is a list dominated by tricky, technically-gifted players and indeed the nation best known for producing footballers of that type. Brazilians lead the way in seven different age groups, from Philippe Coutinho at 16 all the way to Neymar aged 31.
Neymar is one of only three players to command the largest fee in his position at three different points in his career, but Coutinho was six months away from joining him, commanding a fee of around £142million when he arrived at Barcelona from Liverpool in 2018. He was 25 years old at the time — the same age as Neymar when he made his world-record move to Paris Saint-Germain from Barca.
It is an eclectic group of players that once again sees fees beginning to rise at around age 20, with four transfers comfortably over the £100million mark. Florian Wirtz did not make the desired impact throughout his 2025-26 debut season at Liverpool, but still has a chance to make amends in year two, while Morgan Rogers will face similar pressure to perform after joining Chelsea this summer.
Eberechi Eze is currently the most expensive 27-year-old attacking midfield signing football has seen (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Despite the inflated price tags, there have been some shrewd investments — Kevin De Bruyne's move to City was questioned at the time, but he created a lasting legacy at the club, while both Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid have been handsomely rewarded for the faith they placed in Jude Bellingham from an early age.
But this is a collection of some of the biggest splurges in football — from Zinedine Zidane's record move to Madrid in 2001 to Neymar's eye-watering record fee at PSG — for better or for worse.
Central midfielders
Given the responsibility, both with and without the ball, placed on players at this position, it is little surprise that clubs are looking to take risks and get ahead of the curve.
The first few names on the list read like a Who's Who of wonderkids; Renato Sanches was once a shoo-in for your Football Manager save, while Pedri and Joao Neves have gone on to become two of the most influential midfielders in the game. Following an impressive World Cup, Caleb Yirenkyi has earned a few new admirers, while Nathan De Cat is similarly highly regarded in scouting circles as he makes his own big move.
Hoffenheim have spent (relatively) big on Nathan De Cat this summer (Neil Baynes/Getty Images)
The early-twenties moves are dominated by recent Premier League transfers, but the fees generally start to decline after age 25, perhaps an indicator of the importance placed on physicality and athleticism in the modern game. Guimaraes is an outlier — as Newcastle have been keen to point out in recent weeks — while Youri Tielemans feels like good value in the inflated market given his quality in possession, but still finds himself as the most expensive 29-year-old central midfielder in football history.
Miralem Pjanic's move to Barcelona is the last big central-midfielder move before we drop to seven- and six-figure fees. Pascal Gross is the standard-bearer later on.
Centre-backs
While some clubs search for young centre-backs with the potential to grow, others value the kind of defensive know-how that can only be accumulated through years of first-team experience.
It means that fees have remained high for centre-backs throughout the age groups, with Leny Yoro's £53.3million price tag at the age of 18 not too much higher than the £36m Chelsea spent on Kalidou Koulibaly, who was 13 years further on in his career.
On the whole, it is a relatively successful group of record transfers. There are a few overpays — Matthijs de Ligt's value gradually decreased since his breakout season for Ajax tempted Juventus to pay £73.5million for his services — but the likes of Ruben Dias and Lisandro Martinez have gone on to have long careers at their respective Manchester clubs, while Josko Gvardiol and Yoro could forge similar legacies in the same town.
Lilian Thuram's switch to Juventus in 2001 is one of the earliest big-money signings from our findings, funded by Zidane's departure to Madrid in the same summer. But the curve seems to settle at around 33, where even the most experienced of centre-backs lose appeal due to a drop-off in their physical capabilities and pace.
Right-backs
Joao Cancelo is hardly the first to come to mind when you think of journeyman footballers but he nonetheless features three times on this list, with Juventus, City and Al Hilal paying a combined £112.1million for him.
Joao Cancelo: reliably expensive (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
English players account for seven of the 20 transfers on this list, with Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier each appearing twice. Premier League clubs feature heavily, too. Manchester United got one of the bargains of the decade by signing future three-time Premier League winner Rafael for just £2.6million. Chelsea spent £25.8m on Malo Gusto not long ago and nearly double that on Marco Palestra this summer.
PSG paid the highest fee on this list to sign Achraf Hakimi for £58.5million but will likely view it as a bargain, given the Morocco captain has since helped them win successive Champions Leagues.
Archie Gray stands out on this list, as his preferred position is in central midfield. But over the past three league seasons (one with Leeds United in the Championship, two with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League), he has played 3,102 minutes at right-back, roughly 44 per cent of his total game time.
Left-wingers
Dortmund have a penchant for acquiring talent early, elevating those players and selling them for significant profits. Jadon Sancho epitomises that on this list, with the German club making over four times what they paid City for him when he was 17 by selling him to Manchester United for £73.1m when he was 21.
Sadio Mane is one of the only players across the lists in each position to be the record transfer for consecutive ages. His first season with Bayern Munich, after leaving Liverpool in summer 2023, brought decent numbers but obvious tactical issues, leading to a sale to Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia for nearly the same fee a year later.
Saudi clubs have not refrained from paying big bucks for peak-age wingers, with Crysencio Summerville's £55.5million move to Al Hilal a few weeks ago the latest example. Al Ahli signing a 26-year-old Allan Saint-Maximin in July 2023 and Galeno 18 months later at age 27 are two more such instances.
Eden Hazard's nine-figure move to Real Madrid was largely underwhelming (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
The two £100million-plus moves both brought silverware but neither player really fulfilled their potential at the signing club.
Eden Hazard played only 76 times for Madrid across his four years there because of injuries but added two La Liga titles and the Champions League to his trophy case. Jack Grealish played an important role in City winning the treble in 2022-23 but has struggled otherwise, scoring only 14 goals in 128 appearances across the Premier League and Champions League, before spending 2025-26 on loan at Everton.
Right-wingers
Manchester United have spent years searching for a long-term option on the right, and place three swings of the bat on this list.
Antony (£81.7m) and Angel Di Maria (£64.5m) had half a good debut season apiece, ending with 16 goals in 128 combined appearances, and United finally seem to have found the answer in Bryan Mbeumo, signed last summer from Brentford for another £64.5m. He scored 12 goals in 34 appearances in his first year at Old Trafford.
Southampton's status as one of England's premier talent houses is justified by the top of this list thanks to their sale of a 16-year-old Theo Walcott to Arsenal in January 2006. They also sold (then a left-sided wing-back) Gareth Bale to Spurs in summer 2007, before moving him on to Madrid six seasons later as the most expensive (mainly) right-winger of all time, commanding a £86.9million fee aged 24. He helped win 16 trophies, including five Champions League titles, during eight years with the Spanish giants.
Antonio Candreva, who retired in 2025 at age 38, dominates the latter half of this list through his moves from Lazio to Inter at 29, Inter to Sampdoria as a 34-year-old and Sampdoria to Salernitana when he was 36. Candreva made 297 combined appearances for those three clubs.
Defensive midfielders
Looking at the list of names below, you can see why City flatly rejected Barcelona's offer of €45million (£38.6m; $52.1m) plus add-ons for their 30-year-old defensive midfielder Rodri last week. Coming off the back of a World Cup where he won player of the tournament, to go with his 2024 Ballon d'Or, City can reasonably expect a fee close to the £60.8m Manchester United paid to sign Casemiro in summer 2022, the current record for a defensive midfielder of that age.
These guys might do much of the unglamorous work that goes unnoticed, breaking up play, playing short passes and sliding across into position to snuff out counter-attacks, but their role is highly valued in the transfer market.
Romeo Lavia was the subject of two lucrative transfers before he even turned 20, setting the record for a teenage defensive midfielder when Southampton signed him from City in 2022-23 for £19.1million. It proved a canny investment, as they sold him to Chelsea a year later for £53.4m.
Sandro Tonali moved to Spurs for big money this summer (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
Elsewhere, Newcastle also secured a record fee for a defensive midfielder of his age when they sold Sandro Tonali, 26, to Tottenham for £92.9million this window, while the £12.9m their local rivals Sunderland forked out for a 32-year-old Granit Xhaka proved one of the bargains of last season, with the Switzerland international inspiring them to Europa League qualification as a promoted side.
Centre-forwards
Unsurprisingly, elite centre-forwards are the most sought-after players in the market, with the list below — which is packed with household names — averaging over £70million, the highest of any position on the pitch.
Cristiano Ronaldo appears twice, both for moves made in his thirties, a testament to his remarkable longevity. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner commanded £100.6million when Juventus signed him from Madrid in 2018. Three years later, he returned to Manchester United, who had sold him to Madrid in 2009, for £14.6m. No player aged 36 or older has commanded a fee of more than £3m before or since.
Ronaldo prepares to make his second debut as a Manchester United player, as the most expensive 36-year-old in football history (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
The £81.7million Bayern paid to prise Harry Kane away from Spurs looked steep for a then 30-year-old striker but has proven a cut-price bargain, with the English captain scoring an astonishing 73 goals for club and country last season.
Kylian Mbappe's £154.8million transfer from Monaco to PSG aside, the record of strikers to move for over £100m is decidedly patchy.
Ousmane Dembele, now of PSG, is the current Ballon d'Or holder, but Barcelona never managed to get the best out of him in six years of trying after signing him from Dortmund in 2017. Antoine Griezmann also failed to catch fire in two seasons at Camp Nou following a £103.2million move from Atletico Madrid, while Alexander Isak's Liverpool career is yet to get going since his British-record transfer from Newcastle last September.
Left-backs
PSG's recruitment department knocked it out of the park when they signed a 20-year-old Nuno Mendes from Lisbon's Sporting CP for £32.7million. It was a record fee for a left-back of that age, but they have been richly rewarded, with Mendes developing into arguably the world's best player in the position.
It just eclipsed the £32.2million Manchester United coughed up for an 18-year-old Luke Shaw in 2014. Overall, despite his well-documented injury struggles, that transfer has proven a success too, with Shaw being United's current longest-serving player and still a mainstay in their defence when fit.
Fitness issues were also what prevented the most expensive player on this list, Lucas Hernandez, from fully justifying his £68.8million move to Bayern from Atletico in 2019, before he was sold to PSG four years later.
Marc Cucurella's transfer to Madrid and Lucas Digne's to PSG are the only new additions to the list from this summer's window.
Goalkeepers
Having mentioned Newcastle and record transfers in relation to their claims about Guimaraes and also Isak's departure last summer, their recent signing of Lukas Hornicek from Braga for £26.3million is the most ever spent on a 24-year-old goalkeeper.
Above and below him on our list sit the two most expensive shot-stoppers of all time, whose big-money moves were followed by contrasting fortunes.
Alisson has been an overwhelmingly successful transfer since Liverpool signed him as a 25-year-old from Roma for £62.4million in summer 2018. Signed later in the same window, Kepa Arrizabalaga's world-record £68.8m move to Chelsea proved less of a triumph, with the Spaniard eventually offloaded to Arsenal, where he is now a backup, for just £5m last July.
Overall, this list has the lowest average fee of any position, with The Athletic's Seb Stafford-Bloor writing recently on why goalkeepers tend to fetch relatively modest sums:
Despite 'keepers having the longest careers in the game on average, David James remains the most expensive 36-year-old goalkeeper ever signed, with Portsmouth paying £1.5million for him in 2006. Former United States international Brad Friedel holds the record for a 37-year-old, with his £2.1m move to Villa in 2008-09.
