Top 10 most expensive player departures in Borussia Dortmund history

The Bundesliga club has produced some big talents

While the news of Bellingham’s move to the Bernabeu was somewhat overshadowed by events elsewhere involving Lionel Messi's move to Inter Miami CF, Jude Bellingham's transfer from Borussia Dortmund was confirmed on Wednesday. With Bellingham's total fee standing somewhere around the €134m mark (including add-ons), he nudges Paul Pogba out of the top 10 biggest transfer fees in football history. Here's the list of the top 10 expensive departures from Borussia Dortmund.

10. Abdou Diallo - €32 Million

Sold: PSG (2019-20); Position: centre-back

Formerly a part of the Monaco academy, the French defender joined rival PSG to add a bit of youth to the club's very experienced back line. Diallo moved to the Parc des Princes in a €32 million (£29 million/$36 million) deal, ending his stay with Dortmund after just one season. The centre-back joined Dortmund from Mainz ahead of the 2018–19 season and made 38 appearances across all competitions in his only campaign for the club.

Abdou Diallo, now 27, came up through the youth academy at AS Monaco. He played a total of 19 matches in three seasons, notably helping to clinch the Ligue 1 title in 2017. Diallo made 10 appearances in Ligue 1 before moving to Germany, making five appearances for AS Monaco during both the 2014–15 and 2016–17 seasons ahead of his move to Mainz.

His talent made a mark on the Bundesliga and attracted the interest of its biggest sides, including Borussia Dortmund, whom he joined in the summer of 2018 and played 38 matches. After one year after arriving from Borussia Dortmund for €28 million, the French defender signed a five-year contract that links him to the capital club until June 30, 2024.

9. Mats Hummels - €35 Million

Sold: Bayern Munich (2016-17); Position: centre-back

The newly-crowned German champions FC Bayern Munich confirmed the signing of then-World Cup-winning defender Mats Hummels from Borussia Dortmund. Hummels is a product of Bayern Munich's youth academy, first entering the club as a six-year-old. He signed his first professional contract on December 19, 2006, until 2010. On May 19, 2007, in the season's final match, he played his first Bundesliga match with the first team in a 5–2 home routing of 1. FSV Mainz 05.

In January 2008, Hummels joined Borussia Dortmund, initially on loan. He finished the 2007–08 season with 16 matches played. During his first full season, he quickly established himself as a first-choice player, as he often partnered with newly signed Neven Suboti, but also missed a great part of its final months due to injury.

In February 2009, he was fully signed by the club for a fee of €4 million. On May 1, 2016, it was confirmed that Hummels would rejoin Bayern Munich on July 1, 2016, signing a five-year contract for a hefty fee of €35 million. He made his 2016 debut for Bayern on August 14 in the German Super Cup final against his old team and won 2–0. On August 20, Hummels scored his first goal for the club in a 5–0 victory over Carl Zeiss Jena during the DFB-Pokal match during his second spell at the club.

8. Mario Gotze - €37 Million

Sold: Bayern Munich (2013-14); Position: attacking midfielder

Here’s another former World Cup winner switching sides for the rivals at Allianz Arena: midfielder Mario Götze has agreed to join Bayern Munich at the end of the season. The Bavarians activated the attacking midfielder's release clause in his contract, according to his agent Volker Struth and his club, and he joined the German champions in the month of July. The fee was reportedly set at €37 million (£31.5 million), which at the time was the most expensive fee paid for a German player.

The 31-year-old has emerged as one of the most coveted players in European football since coming through the ranks at Dortmund and making his Bundesliga debut in November 2009. He played a key role as Dortmund won back-to-back Bundesliga crowns and made 22 appearances for Germany, scoring five goals. Eventually, he will be remembered as the guy who won Germany the World Cup the same summer.

7. Henrikh Mkhitaryan - €42 Million

Sold: Manchester United (2016-17); Position: attacking midfielder

The Red Devils signed Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund. Now, the 34-year-old joined United on a four-year deal with the option of a further year. Mkhitaryan made 140 appearances and scored 41 goals for Dortmund after joining them for £23.5m in 2013.

Following in the footsteps of his father, he is the son of one of Armenia's most famous footballers, Hamlet Mkhitaryan, and won the first of his 59 caps for his country a week before his 18th birthday.

Mourinho had mentioned that the club had identified four key transfer targets, and Mkhitaryan marked the third following the arrivals of defender Eric Bailly and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. However, after two years, Manchester United agreed on a swap deal involving Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who'd failed to hit headlines during his 18-month spell at Old Trafford.

6. Erling Haaland - €60 Million

Sold: Manchester City (2022/23); Position: centre forward

Manchester City got their hands on the dream signing following the void left by Aguero when they confirmed a deal to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund last summer. The striker’s buyout clause, understood to be €60 million (£51.5 million), was activated, and the Norway international is earning £375,000 a week plus bonuses.

Soon Haaland passed the medical, and the deal ended Pep Guardiola’s search for a long-term successor to City’s record goal scorer. Haaland, who will be 23 in July, has scored 85 goals in 88 appearances for Dortmund, whom he joined from RB Salzburg in January 2020.

LaLiga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona were also pursuing Haaland about a potential deal, but he opted for a move to Etihad Stadium. His decision has already made him a Premier League and FA Cup winner, where he has scored 52 goals in 52 appearances, winning the Golden Boot and breaking the record for scoring the most league goals in the Premier League.

He started his career in Molde and soon moved to Red Bull Salzburg, where he started garnering the attention of top-flight clubs, which made Dortmund buy him. Two years ago, he became the youngest player to reach 20 Champions League goals. Haaland's father, Alf-Inge, played for City between 2000 and 2003, during a career where he also represented Leeds and Nottingham Forest.

5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - €63.75 Million

Sold: Arsenal (2017-18); Position: centre forward

Another English club came to Dortmund with their shopping cart; this time it was Arsenal who announced signing Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Dortmund (BVB) on "a long-term contract" that ran until 2021. The deal was worth about £56 million plus add-ons, making Aubameyang at that time the costliest player in the history of the club.

The 33-year-old striker joined Borussia in 2013 from French club Saint-Etienne, and since then, he has scored 141 goals in 213 matches for BVB. In the German Bundesliga, he scored 98 goals, scoring one goal in 116 minutes on average. During his tenure at Signal Iduna Park, the Gabonese captain won the 2017 DFB-Pokal (German Cup). Aubameyang scored 31 goals in the Bundesliga last season. Aubameyang was named the 2016 Bundesliga Player of the Year. A year earlier, in 2015, he won the African Footballer of the Year award. He has 56 international caps with Gabon and has netted 23 goals.

Aubameyang becomes the Gunners' third signing of the January transfer window, after Konstantinos Mavropanos and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who joined from Manchester United and will re-unite with former Dortmund teammate Aubameyang. He soon departed for Barcelona after spending four years at Emirates as a free agent before being sold back to the Premier League team, this time to the blue side of London, Chelsea, last September.

4. Christian Pulisic - €64 Million

Sold: Chelsea (2018-19); Position: right-winger

U.S. international Christian Pulisic made headlines and set records when he was signed by Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund for $72 million in the winter of 2019. Pulisic had the hopes of Americans on his back as he became the most expensive U.S. player in history while joining one of Europe's elite clubs — a ceiling that male American players had struggled to break through.

Agile, quick, and two-footed, Christian Pulisic joined Chelsea on a five-and-a-half-year contract and became the third American player in our history after his international teammate, Matt Miazga, and Roy Wegerle. He became a member of the Chelsea squad for the start of the 2019–20 season. An agreement was first reached in January 2019 for his permanent transfer from Borussia Dortmund, but he spent the remainder of that season on loan at the German club.

While his time at Chelsea has been far from a failure, having contributed significantly in his first two seasons as he won the UEFA Champions League title in 2021, on the whole, Pulisic has never become a consistent presence in the Chelsea lineup as a regular contributor to their success. Now 24 years old, the American is creeping towards the final year of his Chelsea contract without a significant run of games or starts in some time. Amidst injuries, managerial turnover, and hefty competition within the Chelsea squad, Pulisic has fought an uphill battle for playing time, with his future now in the hands of new incoming manager Mauricio Pochettino.

3. Jadon Sancho - €85 Million

Sold: Manchester United (2021-22); Position: left-winger

Jadon Sancho completed his transfer to Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund for an initial £73 million plus add-ons after a very long time of speculation. That time, the 21-year-old winger signed the contract, which keeps Sancho at Old Trafford until June 2026 and includes an option for a sixth season.

The former Manchester City player sealed the move less than a fortnight after he was among three England players to miss a penalty in the Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy. Sancho underwent his medical once the tournament had been completed, with the framework of the deal having been agreed at the end of May and confirmed by the clubs at the start of June.

Manchester United tried to sign Sancho last summer but could not reach an agreement. The completion of the deal brings to an end United's protracted pursuit of former Manchester City player Javier Sancho. They had expected to sign him last summer but could not agree on a fee. Sancho scored 50 goals and registered 57 assists in 137 appearances for Dortmund and has struggled to get back to his rhythm in England, where he competed in 79 games while only scoring in 12 of them.

2. Jude Bellingham - €103 Million

Sold: Real Madrid (2023-24); Position: centre-midfield

With Dortmund set to receive an initial €103 million fee for the England midfielder, Bellingham's move will become the fifth-biggest of all time once all his various add-ons are taken into account. Indeed, the German club confirmed that Real could eventually pay an extra 30% of that initial fee for Bellingham, who has agreed to a six-year contract. The 19-year-old versatile English midfielder will join the Real Madrid squad that currently has veterans Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in midfield, as well as Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde, Dani Ceballos, and Aurélien Tchouaméni.

One of the most promising talents in world football, Bellingham joined Dortmund from Birmingham City in 2020 for a fee of 25 million euros. He has played 132 games for the club, scoring 24 goals and winning the 2021 German Cup. Bellingham was named Bundesliga player of the season after the 2022–23 campaign when he helped Dortmund to within an inch of their first Bundesliga title in over a decade. Dortmund finished second, behind Bayern Munich, on goal difference after dropping points on the final matchday against Mainz, where the injured Bellingham watched from the bench.

1. Ousmane Dembele - €135 Million

Sold: Barcelona (2017-18); Position: right-winger

Borussia Dortmund were the biggest beneficiaries after Neymar was sold to PSG for a record €222 million as Barcelona signed the 20-year-old Dembele in what was then the second-most expensive deal in history. The wily French winger, who was only at Dortmund for a year, agreed to a five-year contract as part of a package that included an initial €105 million fee plus up to €42 million in add-ons.

Dembele scored 10 goals and provided 21 assists as Dortmund finished third in the Bundesliga and won the German Cup, also reaching the Champions League quarterfinals. He joined Dortmund from French side Rennes on a five-year deal in May 2016, having been voted Ligue 1 young player of the year for the 2015-16 season, when he scored 12 goals and made five assists.

That form did not go unnoticed, with Barca immediately identifying the 20-year-old as a possible replacement for Neymar after the Brazilian's world-record move to Paris Saint-Germain. The collapse of Barcelona's approach for Philippe Coutinho then prompted the Catalans to step up their chase for Dembele in recent days.

Liverpool refused to negotiate for their star playmaker, who, like Dembele, declined to commit his future to the club once speculation began. Eventually, they got both of them and now it's seen as the most unthoughtful buy in history, with the duo adding almost €250 million in transfer bills.