Isak’s £150M Price Tag Sounds Huge—But History Says Otherwise
You’ve probably seen the headlines—Liverpool made a massive £110 million bid for Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, which was promptly rejected. Newcastle are reportedly holding out for £150 million. Sounds like an astronomical fee, right? But here’s the twist: even if Liverpool meet that price, it wouldn’t make Isak the most expensive Premier League player of all time—at least not when you adjust for inflation.
Let’s unpack that.
So, yes, £150 million would break the current British transfer record. It’s a huge deal. But when football finance experts, like Kieran Maguire, apply inflation-adjusted models to Premier League transfers, things look a lot different. According to these recalculations, Isak’s price tag would only rank him ninth on the all-time list of Premier League transfers when adjusted for today’s money. That’s right—ninth.
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Leading the pack? Alan Shearer. Back in 1996, he moved from Blackburn to Newcastle for what was then a world-record £15 million. But when you consider how the market’s evolved, that deal would be worth an eye-watering £225 million today. Just behind him sits Stan Collymore’s 1995 move to Liverpool, which, in today’s terms, would’ve cost about £219 million.
And it’s not just Shearer and Collymore who top the list. Dennis Bergkamp’s transfer to Arsenal in 1995 would now cost around £189 million. Juan Sebastián Verón, Rio Ferdinand, Les Ferdinand, and Andy Cole all push past the £150 million mark once adjusted. Even Fernando Torres, whose £50 million move from Liverpool to Chelsea in 2011 was once record-breaking, edges past Isak in this inflation game.
Now, back to Liverpool. They've already shelled out around £116.5 million for Florian Wirtz this summer. And yet, they’re reportedly not planning another bid for Isak unless something changes at Newcastle. That’s partly because Isak’s not even training with the team right now—he’s back in Spain at Real Sociedad, waiting for his future to get sorted.
Interestingly, Liverpool’s massive spending spree hasn’t triggered PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules) alarms. Why? Well, their financial structure is pretty solid. Revenue from their expanded stadium, a new Adidas kit deal, and strong commercial income means they’re in a very healthy spot. And when you factor in player exits and relatively conservative spending in recent years, Liverpool have actually left themselves some breathing room.
So, if you’re wondering whether £150 million for Isak is too much, the answer is… it depends. In today’s market, it’s expensive—but not unheard of. In fact, historically, it’s not even record-breaking. And that says a lot about how far football has come in the last 30 years.
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