Juventus' 10 most expensive transfers of all time
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 9 Sep 2023 08:57 CDT
- 12 min read
Juventus are the most successful club in Serie A history, having won 36 Scudetti over the course of their history - not including the two titles controversially revoked due to the Calciopoli crisis.
Between 2011 and 2020, Juventus won a record nine Scudetti in a row - although this run was stopped as Inter lifted the 2021 crown and Milan the 2022 version.
Thus, it comes as no surprise that Juventus have landed countless impressive signings over the years - including the biggest in Italian football history.
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Here are their biggest 10 signings in history from a financial point of view.
=10. Paulo Dybala - €40m (from Palermo)
Paulo Dybala arrived from Palermo in 2015 with a big reputation. The Argentine had cut his teeth in Serie A impressively, earning favourable comparisons to the likes of Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero. Indeed, he was described as the No.10 of the future.
Dybala developed into a fan favourite after arriving and he was particularly impressive during his early years. In total he scored 115 goals for the club.
Injury problems hampered him in his last few seasons and he departed on a free transfer in 2022, eventually joining Roma.
=10. Federico Bernardeschi - €40m (from Fiorentina)
A 2017/18 arrival from Fiorentina, Federico Bernardeschi was expected to feature at Juventus as a player to carve open opposing defences from the wide areas. It did not work out like that for the attacker, who had a poor goal return for Juve and did not do much better in terms of assists.
He also departed in 2022 on a fee transfer to join Toronto.
=10. Douglas Costa - €40m (from Bayern Munich)
Douglas Costa was a player who gained a big reputation while playing for Shakhtar Donetsk, but since moving to Bayern Munich in 2015 has struggled to justify it. Indeed, he has spent much of the last six years bouncing between Juve and Bayern.
Noted for his speed and acceleration, he impressed during the 2017/18 season in Turin, which was sufficient to see Juventus make the move a permanent one.
In the following two campaigns, he returned just a couple of league goals, which led to him being loaned back to Bayern - a move that proved equally fruitless.
In the summer of 2021, he was sent on loan to Gremio for a year and he has now left permanently.
9. Joao Cancelo - €40.4m (from Valencia)
Joao Cancelo enjoyed a fruitful one-season stint at Juventus, catching the eye almost as much at times as compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo after joining the club from Valencia.
That the right-back lasted just a single campaign in Turin was, however, puzzling. Juve sold him to Manchester City just a year after acquiring him, doing so for around €30m and Danilo in return. He was subsequently billed as the most expensive right-back ever, though history has proven that just to be spin.
It was a head-scratching deal and one they certainly did not get the best of as he developed into one of the best full-backs on the planet under Pep Guardiola.
8. Pavel Nedved - €45m (from Lazio)
Pavel Nedved was signed by Juventus to replace the great Zinedine Zidane, and the Czech arguably had the same influence on the team as the great Frenchman.
He led the club to the 2003 Champions League final and would win both World and European Footballer of the Year later that year.
In all, he would remain with the club eight years until his retirement, even sticking by them when they were relegated to Serie B following the Calciopoli scandal. In total, he played 327 times for the club at which he later became a director. He scored 65 times.
7. Bremer - €49m (from Torino)
Gleison Bremerwas signed by Juventus in the summer of 2022 to replace Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt, who departed the day before to join Bayern Munich.
Juventus moved in to hijack a deal for the Brazilian, who had appeared certain to sign for bitter rivals Inter.
Bremer was named Serie A Defender of the Year in 2021-22 and Juve agreed to pay €41m up-front plus a potential €8m in add-ons. He has started his Juventus career well.
6. Gianluigi Buffon - €52m (from Parma)
While some players can be burdened by such huge transfer fees, Buffon lived up to his price tag in stunning fashion, becoming arguably the most iconic goalkeeper of his generation.
- FT Gianluigi Buffon became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when he moved from Parma to Juventus – a record that would stand for close to 20 years.
While some players can be burdened by such huge transfer fees, Buffon lived up to his price tag in stunning fashion, becoming the most iconic goalkeeper of his generation.
A 20-year stint at Juve was interrupted only by one spell at Paris Saint-Germain, but while he won a string of domestic titles as well as the World Cup, the Champions League, remarkably, eluded him.
In 2021, he moved back to Parma at the age of 43 and as of 2023 he is still playing.
5. Dusan Vlahovic - €70m (from Fiorentina
Dusan Vlahovic's transfer in January 2022 came as a surprise to some, not just because of the size of the deal, but due to the clubs that Juve beat to snap him up. The Bianconeri beat both Arsenal and Tottenham to the Serbian's signature.
Juve completed the deal despite claiming to be in financial difficulty but did snare the most prolific scorer in Serie A during 2021.
Vlahovic helped Juventus qualify for the Champions League in his first half-season at the club and he is expected to become a big star.
4. Arthur - €72m (from Barcelona)
Arthur arrived at Juventus for a large fee in part as an accounting trick. With the Turin club’s finances in turmoil during the summer of 2020, they sent Miralem Pjanic to Barcelona for an inflated fee with Arthur going in the opposite direction, allowing the club’s accountants to amortise the expense on the Brazilian over five years while banking the full sum of the Bosnian in their accounts for that period.
His impact during his first two years was disappointing and he has been loaned to Liverpool for 2022-23.
3. Matthijs de Ligt - €85.5m (from Ajax)
Having caught the eye with his impressive appearances for Ajax during their run to the Champions League semi-final of 2019, Juventus beat off plenty of competition to sign Matthijs De Ligt.
The Dutchman initially struggled to impose himself in the heart of the Juventus defence, and even after winning a regular spot in the rearguard has not been immune to criticism.
Juventus decided to cash in on De Ligt after three rather underwhelming years as he was sold to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022 for a fee of around €80m.
2. Gonzalo Higuain - €90m (from Napoli)
Juventus’ financial management has come under fire in recent years and the transfer that brought Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli is an example of their profligacy with money.
The Argentine was prolific for the Naples side, scoring 71 Serie A goals over three seasons, though the transfer fee of €90m to Juve was eye-watering.
Although he notched 24 times in his first season at Juve, Higuain would not sustain that level of success. Indeed, he spent the 2018/19 season on loan at Milan and Chelsea.
In 2020, his deal with the club was terminated by mutual consent, allowing him to move to MLS side Inter Miami. He retired in 2022.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo - €110m (from Real Madrid)
It was a huge coup for Juventus when they signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, where he had attained legendary status by becoming their record scorer.
Even at 33 when he joined, Ronaldo remained a world-class performer, and while he failed to lead Juventus to the Champions League title that they so craved, he became the quickest player in the club’s history to reach 100 goals.
Questions were raised, however, during the 2020/21 season regarding Ronaldo’s value for money in terms of his €31m annual wage.
In the summer following that campaign, he would move back to Manchester United, with Juve getting his salary off the books in the process.
