The 10 most expensive PSG signings of all time as Man Utd midfield target makes the cut (original) (raw)

Ever since the club was acquired by Qatar Sports Investments – an investment fund belonging to the Qatari government – in 2011, Paris Saint-Germain have been arguably the most financially powerful football club in the world.

PSG are responsible for the two most expensive transfers in history and QSI’s mega-spending has powered the Parisians to 10 Ligue 1 titles.

And although a Champions League crown continues to elude them, their spending continues apace with the recent signing of gifted teenage midfielder Joao Neves from Benfica?

But where does Neves’ €70 million arrival rank among PSG’s biggest-ever buys? Here’s their top 10.

10 – Mauro Icardi – €50 million

Propping up the top 10 is one deal PSG would rather forget. In the summer of 2019, the French side splashed €50 million to acquire controversial yet prolific Argentinian striker Mauro Icardi from Inter.

The then-26-year-old had scored 124 goals in 219 games for the Milanese giants, twice winning the Capocannoniere award for finishing as Serie A’s top scorer.

Icardi was unable to replicate that kind of form in Pairs, though. After joining the club on a loan deal that included an obligatory purchase, the former Sampdoria poacher managed 38 goals from 92 games, before being loaned and eventually sold to Galatasaray for just €10 million.

9 – Ousmane Dembele – €50.4 million

Ousmane Dembele arrived at PSG last summer from Barcelona for a €50.4 million fee that represented less than half of what the Catalan side had paid to sign him from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.

Once one of the most promising teenage prospects in French football and a talent comparable with Kylian Mbappe, the cut-price switch to the Parc des Princes evidences how the winger’s career has underwhelmed based on initial expectations.

The injuries and inconsistencies that had blighted his time at the Camp Nou followed him back to France. Dembele started just 17 Ligue 1 games last term, scoring three goals and providing eight assists.

8 – Manuel Ugarte – €60 million

Another player who arrived at great expense in the summer of 2023 only to fall short of expectations is Uruguayan destroyer Manuel Ugarte.

After breaking through at Sporting CP in Portugal, Ugarte’s ball-winning ability at the base of midfield and smart, tidy passing game convinced PSG to part with the big bucks.

But just a year on, the French champions have upgraded in the position with the signing of Neves and could soon ship Ugarte off to Manchester United, if reports are accurate.

7 – Angel di Maria – €63 million

Travelling in the opposite direction to Ugarte’s proposed Old Trafford switch, Angel di Maria joined PSG from Manchester United in the summer of 2015 after just one season in the Premier League.

United had set a British record when buying the Argentinian winger from Real Madrid but, despite promising early performances, he never settled in England and pushed for a move to PSG.

Di Maria enjoyed a much more productive time in Paris, scoring 92 goals in 295 games across a seven-year stay that included five Ligue 1 titles.

6 – Edinson Cavani – €64.5 million

One of the first seismic signings of the QSI era, Edinson Cavani had become one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe before PSG pounced with a €63 million deal in 2013.

The Uruguayan had earned a reputation as one of the most well-rounded and prolific scorers in the game across spells with Palermo and Napoli. And, despite initially often playing out of position as Zlatan Ibrahimovic was already in place as PSG’s totemic centre-forward, he lived up to his billing in Paris.

Cavani scored a staggering 200 goals in 301 games for PSG – including a career-best season in 2016-17 that saw him net 49 times in just 50 games – before leaving to join Manchester United as a free agent in 2020.

5 – Achraf Hakimi – €68 million

Achraf Hakimi was regarded as one of the most dynamic young full-backs in Europe during two years on loan from Real Madrid at Borussia Dortmund earlier in his career.

And one season with Inter in which he scored seven Serie A goals and provided eight assists was enough to convince PSG to make him one of the most expensive defenders of all time in the summer of 2021.

Now 25, Hakimi has not yet hit the heights of his highly productive Inter spell since moving to France, but the Madrid-born Morocco international remains one of the top attack-minded full-backs around.

4 – Joao Neves – €70 million

Still just 19 years old but already boasting two seasons of senior-level experience with one of the most renowned talent developing clubs in the world in Benfica, Joao Neves became a hot commodity this summer.

A slick and incisive passer with a positional understanding beyond his tender years, Neves has the skills to become one of the best and most complete deep-lying playmakers in the world for the next decade and a half.

And that’s why PSG didn’t flinch in spending €70 million to fend off rival interest from Manchester United.

3 – Randal Kolo Muani – €95 million

Another player yet to reproduce the kind of form that convinced PSG to splash an enormous sum on his signing, Randal Kolo Muani started just half of his 26 Ligue 1 appearances last term following his €95 million arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt.

The former Nantes prospect had scored 15 goals and provided 11 assists in his only Bundesliga campaign. But for PSG his output has been more modest, with just six Ligue 1 goals and five assists.

But still just 25 years old and with the versatility to play anywhere across the front line, Kolo Muani’s mammoth signing could yet prove to be a worthwhile investment.

2 – Kylian Mbappe – €180 million

Kylian Mbappe is now at Real Madrid

When Monaco surprised the football world by winning the Ligue 1 title in the 2016-17 season, PSG reacted by signing their best player.

Kylian Mbappe was just 18 when, after he’d scored 26 goals in 44 games for the Principality club, PSG took him on loan with an agreement already in place to sign him outright the following summer for a staggering €180 million.

That made him the most expensive teenager of all time and the second most costly player of any age in football history. But between his Parc des Princes arrival and his acrimonious departure for Real Madrid as a free agent this summer, Mbappe came as close as possible to providing value for money across seven seasons in Paris.

The 2018 World Cup winner became the club’s all-time leading scorer, with 256 goals in 308 games, and spearheaded six Ligue 1 triumphs.

1 – Neymar – €222 million

The only player ever to cost more than Mbappe arrived at in Paris the same summer. PSG sent shockwaves around the game when they triggered the jaw-dropping €222 million release clause in Neymar’s Barcelona contract.

The fee set a new world transfer record, a high mark that has stood for seven years now and is unlikely to be eclipsed any time soon.

There is a sense of underwhelm to Neymar’s PSG career, however, which came to an end last summer when he joined Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League for €90 million. The Brazilian only once played more than 20 Ligue 1 games in a season and was never able to deliver a Champions League title.

He did, though, score 118 goals in 173 games and won five Ligue 1 crowns.