Two months ago Liverpool’s summer splurge felt like destiny: £415m of new talent, a five-point lead after five games, and a title race that looked all but decided.
Big-money arrivals like Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak arrived amid fanfare and expectation; Wirtz for an initial £100m (rising to £116m) and Isak for a club-record £125m (potentially £130m with add-ons).
Yet football is rarely tidy. Both have struggled to make the impact their price tags promised, and Liverpool have tumbled to 12th, leaving supporters and pundits asking the same question: do huge fees buy guaranteed success?
It’s tempting to write off slow starts- Thierry Henry, after all, scored just twice in his first 17 Arsenal appearances before becoming a legend — but a look down the list of the Premier League’s biggest signings reveals a mixed ledger.
Below, I revisit several headline transfers, weigh their contributions to club and career, and hand out a verdict on whether the money was well spent.
Enzo Fernandez £106.8m and Moises Caicedo £100m to Chelsea
Signed seven months apart in 2023, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo arrived as twin pillars of Chelsea’s rebuild.
Fernandez came off a World Cup-winning high; Caicedo was prised from Brighton amid a transfer tug-of-war. Two seasons in, the pair have helped Chelsea lift the Conference League and the Club World Cup, and both are regular starters — Caicedo even played every Premier League game last season.
Verdict: Promising. They are clear assets and central to Chelsea’s spine, but the club’s league finishes and relative lack of major domestic silverware mean the full return on investment is still pending.
Jack Grealish £100m to Manchester City
Grealish arrived at City with a glittering CV of trophies: Premier League, Champions League, domestic cups, yet his individual trajectory has been uneven.
He started in City’s cup-winning runs but never recaptured the consistent, game-changing form he showed at Aston Villa. Limited appearances, modest goal and assist returns, and the arrival of alternatives signalled a shift in Pep Guardiola’s plans.
Verdict: Mixed. Not a failure — he collected almost every major trophy at City — but not the transformative signing his fee implied. His loan to Everton underlines a career that didn’t quite progress as expected at the Etihad.
Declan Rice £100m to Arsenal
Declan Rice traded West Ham’s midfield for Arsenal’s ambitions and has since been recast from very good to world-class. A set-piece threat and a defensive lynchpin, Rice is now indispensable for club and country.
Yet tangible silverware at Arsenal remains limited to the Community Shield — a small prize compared with the outlay.
Verdict: To be determined. Rice has elevated Arsenal’s midfield and their title credentials, but until major trophies arrive the transfer’s full justification remains incomplete.
Romelu Lukaku £97.5m to Chelsea
Lukaku’s return to Chelsea in 2021 was billed as a homecoming that would solve the club’s goalscoring woes. He began brightly but faded, finishing the season with a modest return before leaving after just one year.
Verdict: Failure. A fleeting impact and an early exit make this one of the more regrettable big-money moves, despite a Club World Cup win and later success elsewhere.
Paul Pogba £89m to Manchester United
Pogba’s second spell at United promised a renaissance. Instead, it became a cautionary tale: flashes of brilliance, a handful of standout seasons, but not the sustained transformation United had paid for.
Verdict: Failure. Limited silverware and an eventual free transfer away underline a deal that rarely matched its headline fee in consistent on-field value.
Antony £82m to Manchester United
Signed from Ajax in 2022 as part of Erik ten Hag’s ambitious rebuild, Antony arrived with a reputation for electric wing play: 24 goals and 22 assists in two seasons in the Netherlands.
Old Trafford, however, proved a different stage. The Brazilian’s confidence evaporated under the spotlight; his trickery and end product rarely translated into consistent Premier League impact.
Over two-and-a-half seasons he managed just five league goals and three assists before a loan to Real Betis became permanent, where, ironically, he rediscovered form with 15 goals and seven assists in 38 games.
Verdict: Failure. Trophies came; an FA Cup and an EFL Cup, but Antony’s performances never matched the headline fee, and his revival away from Manchester only deepens the mystery.
Harry Maguire £80m to Manchester United
When Harry Maguire arrived from Leicester in 2019 he became the world’s most expensive defender.
The price tag, however, has become a millstone. Once captain, he was later stripped of the armband, flirted with a cut-price exit, and has rarely been an ever-present starter since 2021–22.
His honours list is thin — an EFL Cup medal and little else — and he never forced his way into the PFA Team of the Year conversation.
Verdict: Failure. For a defender bought at such scale, limited silverware and inconsistent selection make this one of the more regrettable big-money moves.
Joško Gvardiol £77m to Manchester City
A fresh face in 2023 from RB Leipzig, Gvardiol arrived at the Etihad as the second-most expensive defender in history.
The Croatia international hit the ground running: a UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, and Premier League in his first season, and even the club’s Player of the Season award after a testing 2024–25 campaign. At just 23, his composure and versatility hint at a long, high ceiling.
Verdict: The jury’s out. A brilliant start and huge potential, but the fee still looks steep until his best years and sustained excellence arrive.
Romelu Lukaku £75m to Manchester United
United hoped Lukaku would be the clinical answer to their goalscoring prayers when he arrived from Everton in 2017.
He began well; 16 Premier League goals in his first season and 27 in all competitions but the early burst faded.
Tactical misuses, occasional deployment out wide, and a dip in form meant the promise never fully materialised. United won nothing in his two seasons, though they later recouped a large portion of the fee when he left for Inter Milan.
Verdict: Failure with a caveat. Strong individual numbers early on, but no lasting legacy at Old Trafford and limited team success.
Virgil van Dijk $75m to Liverpool
At the bottom of this list sits the rare counterexample: a signing that justified every penny.
Virgil van Dijk’s move from Southampton in 2018 transformed Liverpool’s defence and their fortunes. A colossus at the back, he has been named in the PFA Team of the Year five times, won PFA Player of the Season, and collected a glittering haul of trophies: Champions League, two Premier League titles, FA Cup, two EFL Cups, UEFA Super Cup, and Club World Cup. His longevity and leadership have made him one of the world’s elite defenders.
Verdict: Success. Van Dijk is the blueprint for how a big-money defender should perform and deliver.
