Transfer fees in football have lived a life of their own over the past 15 years, regardless of crises, crashes and wars. In 2025, Liverpool smashed the transfer record twice, now the club is willing to pay over €100 million for an Ivorian teenager. A football financial expert has put it all into a historical context, which is likely to leave Liverpool fans jaw-dropping. Because the super flop Andy Carroll was actually a more expensive signing for the club than Yan Diomande could end up being.
Alexander Isak currently holds the title of British football’s most expensive player ever, but football finance expert Kieran Maguire claimed that the Swede is actually in 15th place on the list. Maguire has adjusted sums for inflation, publishing an updated list of the Premier League’s biggest transfers, with a shock announcement that Andy Carroll – Liverpool’s record signing in January 2011 of £35 million – would have been worth more than £110 million in 2026.
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According to Maguire’s list, the £35 million Liverpool paid for Carroll 15-and-a-half years ago makes the player the 37th biggest signing in the Premier League era.
The striker, who failed to justify the sum at Anfield, is five places above Emile Heskey, who joined from Leicester for £11m in February 2000. According to Maguire’s calculations, Heskey’s sum would have been a whopping £107.3 million in 2026.
After Carroll, the next Liverpool transfer is Virgil van Dijk, who easily became the most expensive signing in the club’s history when he arrived for £75 million in January 2018. Eight and a half years later, and the Reds’ captain is reportedly worth £112.6 million, putting him 34th on this list.
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Liverpool are fighting the battle to sign Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig, but while the Ivorian’s transfer fee looks set to reach over £100m, it turns out that relatively speaking, he could actually be cheaper than Andy Carroll.
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