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| Top 10 most expensive defenders in (soccer) of all time |
10 most expensive defenders in (soccer)
The prices of defenders in the transfer market have witnessed a noticeable increase in recent years and have become closer to forwards more than ever, including full-backs and center-backs.The most expensive defender in history is the Croatian Joško Gvardiol, who became so in the summer of 2023 after joining English Manchester City for 90 million euros.
The player moved to City from RB Leipzig in Germany, and his contract with his new club extends until June 30, 2028.
Gevardiol appeared for the first time with City in the 2023 UEFA Super Cup, which his club won on penalties against Sevilla with a score of 4-5 (the original time ended in a 1-1 draw).
It is worth mentioning that Javadriol started his professional career with Dinamo Zagreb, and in 2021, he moved to Leipzig for 36 million euros.
Englishman Harry Maguire held the previous record for the most expensive defender in the history of the game, after moving from Leicester City to Manchester United in the summer of 2019 for 87 million euros.
At that time, this deal was the second most expensive deal in the history of the English Premier League and Manchester United after the Paul Pogba deal (105 million euros).
The player did not perform well with his team, and soon became a subject of ridicule on social media due to his repeated mistakes.
The player lost his official status in the team and also lost the captain's armband. In the summer of 2023, he was close to leaving the club for West Ham United, but he refused to leave and decided to stay.
Top 10 most expensive defenders of all time
The competition between clubs is no longer limited to signing top goal-scorers and talented midfielders for huge sums and historical deals, but the struggle has now turned to attracting the best defenders.We gathered in this table the most expensive defenders in history, and we note that we dedicated a special feature to the hearts of defense and the right and left backs.
In this brief overview, we present the 10 most expensive defenders in the history of football:
| # | player | former club | new club | Value (m = EUR million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yoshiko Gvardiol | RB Leipzig | Manchester City | 90m |
| 2 | Harry Maguire | Leicester City | Manchester United | 87m |
| 3 | Matais de Ligt | Ajax | Juventus | 85m |
| 4 | Virgil van Dijk | Southampton | Liverpool | 84m |
| 5 | Wesley Fofana | Leicester City | Chelsea | 80m |
| 6 | Lucas Hernandez | Atletico Madrid | Bayern Munich | 80m |
| 7 | Robin Dias | Benfica | Manchester City | 71m |
| 8 | Ashraf Hakimi | Inter Milan | Paris Saint-Germain | 68m |
| 9 | Matais de Ligt | Juventus | Bayern Munich | 67m |
| 10 | Mark Cocorella | Brighton | Chelsea | 65m |
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