The 50 most important transfers of all time (50-41)

FT Desk

• Updated: 28 Mar 2022 15:53 BST
• 11 min read

So here it is, the 50 most important transfers in football history.

FootballTransfers global team of experts - including Paul Macdonald, Robin Bairner, Carlo Garganese, Stefan Bienkowski, Martin Macdonald and Ronan Murphy – considered every major and noteworthy transfer dating back to the end of the nineteenth century.

We focused on influential, legacy-making transfers that changed or had a huge impact on the beautiful game.

It could be because of a record-breaking or history-making transfer fee. It could be a transfer that broke down a social or cultural or racial barrier. It could be a transfer that transformed the fortunes of a team and led to a period of dominance. It could be a transfer that simply transcended the sport.

TRENDING

Premier League top scorers 2023/24: Havertz and Trossard reach double figures

Which football managers have been sacked this season?

Man Utd top scorers 2023/24: Latest standings after dramatic FA Cup win

Our team of experts compiled a shortlist before voting on their most important transfers of all time. We added up all the votes to form a list of the top 50.

Only transfers that actually took place were considered, so we did not include Jean-Marc Bosman himself.

Youth transfers also were discarded, only first-team to first-team deals are allowed.

Therefore, Lionel Messi’s move to Barcelona as a young kid does not count.

We have five articles counting down the top 50: 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11 and then finally 10-1.

In this article, we will reveal those placed 50 to 41.

READ MORE: The 50 most important transfers of all time (40-31)

READ MORE: The 50 most important transfers of all time (30-21)

READ MORE: The 50 most important transfers of all time (20-11)

READ MORE: The 50 most important transfers of all time (10-1)

50. Trevor Francis

THE TRANSFER: Birmingham to N.Forest - £1m (1979)

THE BACKGROUND: The British transfer record is smashed by Nottingham Forest, already European Cup winners, buying Trevor Francis from Birmingham City for the first seven-figure fee the country had seen.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: It felt like the barrier of breaking through £1m in the UK was a tough one to break, but once it happened the 1980s saw a rapid increase of spending and not always on players who were particularly worth it. And while Francis never fulfilled anything like his potential, he did score the winning goal in the 1980 European Cup final just three months after joining, so the fee could be somewhat justified.

THE LEGACY: The era of spending had begun, and it's never really returned to any kind of sense.

49. John Charles

— Superb Footy Pics (@SuperbFootyPics) November 22, 2018

THE TRANSFER: Leeds to Juventus - £65k (1957)

THE BACKGROUND: John Charles almost doubles the British transfer record to become one of the first players from the UK to move abroad.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: John Charles was the first British export to move to a top European league and become a superstar. The Welshman is regarded as a legend in Turin, forming one third of a magical forward trio with Ballon d’Or winner Omar Sivori and Giampiero Boniperti. He was a complete and prolific striker who often played at centre back too. Nicknamed ‘The Gentle Giant’, he was as impressive technically as he was physically, and he scored over 100 goals in five years in Turin – leading the club to three Scudetti. At the turn of the millennium, John Charles was voted in an official Serie A poll as the greatest import in Serie A history. Given this is a league that has boasted superstars such as Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and the Brazilian Ronaldo should tell you everything about what an incredible signing Charles was for Juventus.

THE LEGACY: John Charles was a trailblazer for other British stars to move to Serie A and abroad, including Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law and many more in the decades to come.

48. Michael Laudrup

— Anthony Eri👑 (@AnthonyC_Eri) March 27, 2022

THE TRANSFER: Barcelona to Real Madrid - £8.6m (1994)

THE BACKGROUND: Michael Laudrup, the conductor of the Barcelona Dream Team in the 1990s, crosses the divide to sign for Real Madrid.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: While Luis Figo's move in 2000 is more infamously remembered, Laudrup's move helped to end the reign of one team and the beginning of another. Laudrup notoriously fell out with Johan Cruyff and choose the most abrasive possible place to go. As it turned out, he defeated Cruyff's team 5-0 in a famous El Clasico, winning the title in the process, and the beginning of the end of the Dutchman's reign was set in motion.

THE LEGACY: Helped to end Cruyff's interest in coaching and set both Barcelona and Real Madrid on fundamentally different paths for the next decade.

47. Pernille Harder

THE TRANSFER: Wolfsburg to Chelsea - £250k (2020)

THE BACKGROUND: Pernille Harder becomes the most expensive female footballer in history.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: Widely regarded as one of the best female footballers on the planet – having won the UEFA Women's Player of the Year award twice - Pernille Harder broke the world transfer record for a woman in 2020 when she joined Chelsea from Wolfsburg. Her transfer fee of £250,000 was significant because it broke Milene Domingues’ record that had lasted almost 20 years – and smashed it by £50,000. Most transfers in womens football are for very minimal fees or completely free, so the fact that Harder went for such a massive amount really was head-turning.

THE LEGACY: Harder’s massive transfer fee helped to further grow the women’s game at a time when it has never been more popular.

46. Roy Keane

THE TRANSFER: N.Forest to Man Utd - £3.75m (1993)

THE BACKGROUND: Roy Keane turns down Blackburn to join Manchester United and become the dominant midfielder in British football for the next 10 years.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: It was a huge fee at the time but Keane's performances at Nottingham Forest were so obviously stand-out that it was simply a case of where he would end up next. Kenny Dalglish was convinced he had him signed for Blackburn, but Sir Alex Ferguson had other ideas, and made the Irishman his captain and leader of the Man Utd project that would bring huge success and the Champions League in 1999.

THE LEGACY: The best midfielder of the Premier League era is given the platform at the biggest club in the country.

45. Alan Shearer

THE TRANSFER: Blackburn to Newcastle - £15m (1996)

THE BACKGROUND: Newcastle respond to throwing away the Premier League title by doubling the British transfer record and breaking the world record to bring Alan Shearer from Blackburn for £15m

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: Shearer was unquestionably the best forward in the country at the time and was fresh off top-scoring at Euro 1996. Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United were desperate to land him but Shearer chose to join his hometown club instead. It perhaps should have been the birth of a great Newcastle team, but in effect their time had already been and gone. Shearer would go on to score a record-breaking number of goals for the club but in hindsight such an expensive deal somehow still feels somewhat like a failure.

THE LEGACY: The best English forward of his generation breaks goalscoring records but doesn't earn the trophy haul his talent deserved.

44. N'Golo Kante

THE TRANSFER: Le Havre to Leicester - £5.5m (2015)

THE BACKGROUND: Leicester's scouting service delivers unknown midfielder N'Golo Kante for a fee of just £5.5m from Caen.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: Has a scout ever delivered a more under-the-radar player who would go on to have such unbridled success? Kante went from playing in Ligue 2 in 2013, to winning back-to-back Premier League titles, firstly with Leicester and then with Chelsea the following season. Fast forward another two years and he was a World Cup winner, another three and he had won the Champions League. Kante is now considered to be an obvious answer in the conversation for the best midfielder in the world, but his rise makes him the poster boy for smart scouting and something that virtually every club in the world now looks to emulate.

THE LEGACY: The concept of scouting, data and analytics, and a culture where every club looks for the next big thing. Everyone wants their own Kante.

43. Patrick Vieira

THE TRANSFER: AC Milan to Arsenal - £3.5m (1996)

THE BACKGROUND: Newly-appointed Arsene Wenger makes virtual unknown Patrick Vieira his first signing for Arsenal from Milan.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: Who, and who? This was the response from most people in England when Arsenal made their move to bring in Wenger and Vieira, but within two years they had won the Premier League title in convincing style, and two more would follow in the decade to come. Vieira's dominant playing style was perfect for English football but while Wenger was an astute manager who made wholesale changes to English football, it was Vieira's impact which took this team into Premier League folklore.

THE LEGACY: A rivalry with Roy Keane for the ages and the birth of Arsenal as an internationally renowned side.

42. Kenny Dalglish

THE TRANSFER: Celtic to Liverpool - £440k (1977)

THE BACKGROUND: Liverpool replace the departed Kevin Keegan with the best Scottish talent, signing Kenny Dalglish from Celtic for £440,000.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: Keegan had left Liverpool for Hamburg and they acted quickly to replace him, taking Dalglish from Celtic. His introduction helped to solidify the Reds as Europe's premier force, collecting three European Cups over the next six years and an enduring domestic dominance. Liverpool were the team of the 1980s and Dalglish both as a player and laterally as a coach was the central piece of one of the most successful teams we've ever seen.

THE LEGACY: King Kenny endures.

41. Mo Salah

THE TRANSFER: Roma to Liverpool - £37m (2017)

THE BACKGROUND: Liverpool's scouting team identify Mo Salah as the next big star and pay Roma £37m for his talents.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT: It still feels like Liverpool and indeed Salah himself aren't given the due respect for how he has utterly dominated the Premier League since his return in 2017 (he had previously had an unsuccessful spell at Chelsea). Salah has smashed records and raced to various milestones quicker than a host of club legends. But the goals have meant something, and how perfect he has been to Jurgen Klopp's system really cannot be overstated. The Egyptian has restored Liverpool to greatness, delivering their first Premier League title and their first overall in three decades, as well as a sixth European Cup into the bargain. In recent years he has scored the type of goals that will be remembered long after he departs. His talent looks so obvious and yet it's important to remember that it wasn't - at least not to everyone.

THE LEGACY: Liverpool's sophisticated scouting and analytics department finds one of the greatest players in the world.

READ MORE: The 50 most important transfers of all time (40-31)