The most expensive deals in Premier League history

Elliot Anderson's £116 million transfer from Nottingham Forest to Man City made him the third most expensive signing in Premier League history, behind only Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.

However, in a ranking based on metrics from football finance experts Kieran Maguire and Professor Jason Laws, where past fees are adjusted for the purchasing power of clubs today, this midfielder actually ranks only 31st in the Premier League era.

Unlike standard inflation adjustments, the Laws and Maguire index adjusts transfer fees based on the revenue growth of the Premier League over the past three decades. According to the research team, league revenue has increased by approximately 3,500%, making direct comparisons of fees across different periods inaccurate.

According to this ranking, Alan Shearer is actually the most expensive signing in Premier League history. The £15 million fee when Newcastle signed him from Blackburn Rovers in 1996 is equivalent to approximately £237 million in today's terms.

Following Shearer are two Man Utd deals: Rio Ferdinand from Leeds in 2002 (£33 million, equivalent to £199 million today) and Juan Sebastian Veron from Lazio in 2001 (£28 million, equivalent to £179 million). Stan Collymore and Fernando Torres round out the top five with values of around £179 million and £177 million respectively.

Man Utd occupies half of the top 10 spots, with the signings of Rio Ferdinand, Veron, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, and Paul Pogba. Ferdinand himself appears twice in the top 15, as his transfer from West Ham to Leeds in 2000 is also worth about £140 million in today's terms.

The research results show that although transfer fees are constantly increasing, many deals from the early Premier League era were actually bolder investments when considered against the financial capabilities of clubs at those times.