Deal done before 17th birthday 

Manchester City sign Jeremy Monga - where does he rank for most expensive 16-year-olds?

©IMAGO

In April 2025, Jeremy Monga made his Premier League debut aged 15 years and 271 days for Leicester City against Newcastle United, becoming the second-youngest player in Premier League history. He is now third behind Arsenal’s Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri. For much of this summer, it looked like Monga would now join those two youngsters at the Emirates. Arsenal had been in club-to-club talks with Leicester, now of League One, and were confident they had convinced the player to make the move.

However, after feeling the Foxes valuation was too high, they stalled, and Manchester City have completed the hijack. The Sky Blues have signed Monga to a five-year contract until June 2031 for a fee in the region of €11.7 million. Newly-appointed City manager Enzo Maresca, who knew Monga from his time in charge at the King Power in the 2023/24 season, is reportedly behind the club’s drive for the player. Monga turned 17 on July 10 – just one day before the move was announced – but the deal was actually completed when he was 16. So, where will this deal rank Monga in terms of the most expensive players of that age in the history of the game?

Most expensive 16-year-old players ever

The most expensive ever signing for a 16-year-old player was when Barcelona paid Las Palmas €23m for midfielder Pedri in 2019. Given that the Spaniard’s market value now stands at €150m, it’s safe to say this was a fantastic piece of business for Barca. Second on the list is Pietro Pellegri, who Monaco paid Genoa €21m for in 2018. Pellegri, now 25, has a market value of just €500k. Third goes to Willem Geubbels, who Monaco also bought in 2019 – this time for €20m from Lyon. He is now worth €5m.

Monga’s pending transfer to Man City would now rank the young Englishman fourth on the list at around €12m – if we round up to the nearest million. He would be the most expensive 16 year old ever acquired by an English club, beating the €11m Arsenal paid Southampton for Theo Walcott all the way back in 2006. That deal is fifth on the list.

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