Loan fees are not new in football, but just as transfer fees have become increasingly inflated in recent years, so too have the sums needed to sign players on temporary deals.
Chelsea made headlines in January 2023 when they brought in Atletico Madrid’s record signing Joao Felix on loan as part of their record-breaking spending. The Blues paid €11 million to loan the Portuguese, and unfortunately it turned out not to be money well spent – not that they learned their lesson!
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Just a few months before, the Blues themselves had received a significant sum for a loan transfer when Inter Milan paid €8 million to bring Romelu Lukaku back for a season.
But the above figures pale in comparison to the largest fees ever paid. FootballTransfers lists some examples of players who have made expensive loans.
Carlos Tevez – West Ham to Manchester United
The difficult case of Carlos Tevez. The Argentine was never permanently owned, but Manchester United, and despite their attempts to sign him in 2009, he chose to join their city rival Manchester City.
But his two-year loan deal at Man Utd was quite successful, winning the Champions League with the club. He cost around €12 million, the figure varies from report to report and was a big financial commitment from Man Utd for a player they have never owned.
However, he helped them assert their dominance in English football at that time.
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James Rodriguez – Real Madrid to Bayern Munich
A star at Porto and Monaco, James Rodriguez continued this form upon arrival at Real Madrid, but soon lost his place in the team when Zinedine Zidane took over.
He joined Bayern Munich on a two-year loan deal for around €14 million and enjoyed a fruitful time in the Bundesliga, registering 15 goals and 20 assists during his time at the club.
Duvan Zapata – Sampdoria of Atalanta
Duvan Zapata bounced around Serie A without finding a home until he found Atalanta in 2018. After spells at Napoli, Udinese and Sampdoria, the striker found his feet under Gian Piero Gasperini at Atalanta, but not before having to pay a huge loan fee.
Despite his goalscoring form, Atalanta only paid around €12.5 million to sign him in 2020, but that’s because they paid out even more than that to loan him for two years earlier.
He cost a whopping 14 million euros for two seasons with no guarantee of signing permanently. However, there was an option to buy in the deal, which Atalanta activated after 18 months. Zapata had scored 23 Serie A goals in his first full season.
Giovani Lo Celso – Real Betis to Tottenham
This essentially saved Real Betis millions and cost Paris Saint-Germain. When Real Betis signed Giovani Lo Celso from PSG, a 20% resale clause was added to the contract.
Instead of selling him outright, Betis loaned the Argentine to Tottenham for a reported €16 million, before selling him after 12 months. Due to the fact that it was a loan, the 20% clause did not apply, so Betis saved 3.2 million euros on the move.
Spurs then signed him permanently in July 2020 before loaning him to Villarreal a year and a half later.
Alvaro Morata – Chelsea to Atletico Madrid to Juventus
Incredibly, Alvaro Morata has been the subject of not one, but two of the most expensive loan deals in history. The striker first joined Atletico Madrid for 18 months for a reported fee of €18 million.
After his move to Spain’s capital was made permanent, Morata went out on loan again, this time Juventus arrived for a whopping €20 million, but the purchase option was never exercised.
Kylian Mbappe – Monaco to PSG
The biggest loan ever happened between then champions Monaco and PSG. Star striker Kylian Mbappe was a hot property after his breakout season, and the Parisians attempted to sign him on an initial one-year loan deal before making the Frenchman the second most expensive player in history.
A reported €45 million loan was paid to secure Mbappe’s signature a year earlier before PSG signed him permanently. It is a transfer that was a huge success before he left PSG for Real Madrid on a free one this summer.
