2nd highest ever 

©Imago/Content stadium

Romelu Lukaku seems set to complete a permanent move to Napoli and bring to an end a disastrous three-year second spell at Chelsea. According to the BBC, the Belgium international will complete a move to the Serie A giants for an initial €35 million, plus additional add-on clauses. Having spent the previous two seasons on loan at Italian clubs in Inter Milan and then Roma, the towering striker will likely welcome a move to Napoli on a permanent basis. And, interestingly enough, once the deal is concluded it will further cement Lukaku as the second most expensive player in the history of the sport. 

Having first come through at Belgian club Anderlecht before making a move to Chelsea in 2011 for €15m, where he spent much of his time at the Stamford Bridge club on loan at West Brom and then Everton. Such was his success at Goodison Park that Everton then signed the striker on a permanent deal in 2014 for no less than €35.4m – which remains the club’s fourth most expensive signing ever to this day. However, the Premier League side would end up making a profit on the player, when Manchester United opted to sign him three years later for €84.7m, which was then the second highest ever fee paid by the Old Trafford club at the time and remains their fifth most expensive signing to this day. Unfortunately, Lukaku didn’t work out at Man Utd and was sold to Inter just two years later for €74m. This, unsurprisingly, was and remains to this day the club’s highest ever transfer fee. Then, as if that wasn’t impressive enough, Chelsea then came calling to resign the player they had once let slip through their fingers and convinced the player to return to the Premier League for a fee of €113m – another record fee for the striker at the time, which currently sits third in the club’s highest ever transfers. 

All of those fees add up to a truly remarkable sum of €374m paid for Lukaku’s signature over the course of his career. The only player that has managed to rack up more money in transfer fees over the course of his career is Neymar, whose big-money move to Saudi Arabia means that his career cumulative transfer fees stands at €400m – which is only €26m more than Lukaku. Interestingly enough, there is a notable drop off to third place, where Cristiano Ronaldo’s career has so far demanded transfer fees of €247m, while Ousmane Dembélé (€220m) and Alvaro Morata (€202m) make up the top five most expensive players ever. Perhaps to no great surprise, three of the top 10 have at some point in their careers played for Chelsea, while six of the top 10 have also played in the Premier League at some stage in their careers. Flick through the gallery below to view the top 20 players on the list.