Top five players with highest gross transfer fees

These five stars have seen the most amount of money change hands for their prized served services over the years.

In July 2018, Real Madrid announced the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Italian giants Juventus and the deal was worth €100m plus €17m in add-ons, which is the highest the Old Lady have ever paid for a player, overtaking Gonzalo Higuain's transfer fee of €90m.

The deal also put Ronaldo again in the top ten players with the highest transfer fees. And the move also brought the ex-Real Madrid man in the second position among the players with the highest cumulative transfer fees.

Here are the 5 most expensive stars in terms of cumulative transfer fees.

5. Philippe Coutinho- €161.8m

The Brazilian midfielder came into the limelight after impressing Inter Milan scouts while playing at Vasco da Gama. In 2008, Inter signed him for €4m.  After spending a season on loan at Espanyol, the midfielder was bought by Premier League side Liverpool for a mere €8.5m.

Coutinho played 152 games for the Reds and even scored 41 goals before parting ways with them to join Barcelona for a record fee of €161.8m.

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic- €169.1m

From La Liga, Serie A to the Premier League and Ligue 1, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has proved himself everywhere. The striker was signed by Ajax for €8.7m ahead of the 2001-02 season. He then played for Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan and PSG which took his cumulative transfer fee to a whopping €169.1m.

He is currently playing in Major League Soccer for LA Galaxy, having scored 13 goals from 15 games.

3. Angel Di Maria- €179m

The Argentine midfielder is third on the list of players with the highest transfer fees. The 31-year-old started his career with CA Rosario in 2007 and since then, he has played for Benfica, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain.

His stellar performances in Portugal helped him gain a €33m transfer to Real Madrid where he then played for four years and won the prestigious UEFA Champions League in 2014, being the Man of the Match in the final.

And after that, he was sold to United for €75m but a dismal season at Old Trafford resulted in his transfer to PSG for €63m just after a season. 

2. Cristiano Ronaldo- €230m

Cristiano Ronaldo has always been in the top five of the highest-paid players since his transfer to Real Madrid. The striker first came into the limelight when former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson bought him from Sporting CP for €19m, which was a hefty amount for a youngster at that time.

Ronaldo spent six wonderful seasons with the Red Devils winning a decent amount of silverware. Ahead of the 2009-10 campaign, the Portuguese left United for the Spanish giants for a record fee of €94m. 

After nine successful seasons, scoring over 450 goals, winning two La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and four Ballon d'Or awards, the striker decided to part ways with the Bernabeu side. The forward will feature in the Serie A next, as Juventus signed him for a massive €117m fee, which raised his total to €230m.

1. Neymar- €310m

It is not every day that we witness a transfer like this. Neymar was bought by Barcelona for a massive €88.2m. The 26-year-old scored 105 goals in 186 matches over four seasons at Camp Nou.

Ahead of the 2017-18 campaign, the Brazilian #10 choose to part ways with Barcelona and joined PSG for a world-record fee of €222m. 

*Data from Transfermarkt