The Premier League tax: Five overpriced English transfers
FT Desk
- 5 Jun 2022 19:30 BST
- 4 min read
The Premier League tax. It is a term that is now commonly used among football fans to describe the ridiculously inflated transfer fees for deals between English clubs.
In the summer of 2021 it became a big talking point when Manchester United signed one of the best defenders of his generation in Raphael Varane from Real Madrid for less money than Arsenal paid for Brighton’s Ben White.
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The topic again reared its head in the summer of 2022 when Tottenham began negotiations to sign of Europe’s best young defenders, Alessandro Bastoni, for just €55 million.
This price will surely rise such is the ability of the player but the very fact the fee is so low demonstrates how much better value players signed from abroad are for Premier League teams.
Below, we go through a number of players who fell victim to the Premier League tax.
Jack Grealish (Aston Villa to Man City, €117m)
Jack Grealish was signed for a British record fee in the summer of 2021, but pound for pound, he has been one of the biggest transfer flops of the season.
The 26-year-old scored just three league goals and had three assists all season from 26 games.
Grealish’s performances have also not been worthy of such an astronomical outlay.
Tactically, he has struggled to adapt to Pep’s system and he has been accused of taking too many touches and slowing down the team’s play.
He also was responsible for Man City going out of the Champions League semi-finals when he missed two easy chances just minutes before Real Madrid’s late second-leg comeback.
Harry Maguire (Leicester to Man Utd, €87m)
Harry Maguire's 2021-22 season was one of the most calamitous by any Man Utd player in any season ever.
The 29-year-old committed the most errors of any player leading to opposition chances as Man Utd conceded 57 goals in their worst defensive season in Premier League history.
The United captain was also the subject of criticism from his own fans and will go down as one of the club's worst ever signings.
No one could believe that Man Utd agreed to pay a world record fee for a defender when they signed Maguire in 2019. And while his first two campaigns were okay, his last one has made a mockery of his transfer fee.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Crystal Palace to Man Utd, €55m)
Aaron Wan-Bissaka broke through very quickly at Crystal Palace, and just as quickly he was off to Old Trafford in this mega-money deal.
He had played just one full season of professional football when he incredibly became one of the most expensive full backs in history.
Praised for his defensive work but very ordinary going forward, Wan-Bissaka has failed to make the cut at Man Utd.
He is likely to leave the club in the summer, possibly to return to his level at Palace.
Ben White (Brighton to Arsenal, €58m)
Ben White was a good centre-half at Brighton, that's for sure. But, he was nowhere near a €58m centre-half when he joined Arsenal.
He may have won Brighton's Player of the Season award in 2020-21, but avid viewers of the Seagulls would argue that both Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster performed better at the heart of defence.
As it happens, White has had a promising first season at Arsenal but for €58m you expect to sign a top-class star.
At €58m, Arsenal certainly overpaid considerably.
Daniel James (Man Utd to Leeds, €35m)
Man Utd have overpaid for numerous Premier League players in recent years, so it’s only fair that they sell one at an inflated price also.
Daniel James moved on in 2021 for a hugely bloated fee despite scoring just six league goals in 50 games for Man Utd.
He has failed to pay back much of this fee to Leeds, scoring just four goals in 29 games as Leeds only just avoided relegation.
