Costs are soaring in pretty much every industry right now. Football has not been immune either.
20 or so years ago, £20million might have bought you a couple solid Premier League players and with a bit to spare. Nowadays, £20million seems like the bare minimum for any sort of high profile deal.
Even in the Championship, Leeds United and the likes of Sheffield United and Burnley have had to spend their share to just stay competitive, with Leeds paying £10million for Joe Rodon last summer, and another £10million for Largie Ramazani too.
Stepping up to the Premier League would inflate any transfer Leeds want to do in the summer. Just look at their sales last summer: Georginio Rutter to Brighton in a club record £40million deal, and Archie Gray to Spurs for another £30million along with about £50million in further player sales.
It’s a brutal reminder of price hikes in football and in another 10 or 20 years, we may even be talking about £100million transfers like it’s nothing.
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How much Rio Ferdinand’s £18m move to Leeds United would cost today with inflation
At the back end of the year 2000, Leeds United and Rio Ferdinand made history. The Whites signed the future England and Manchester United star in an £18million deal from West Ham, simultaneously breaking the British transfer record and making Ferdinand the world’s most expensive defender.
It proved to be a worthwhile signing with Ferdinand doing enough to impress Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, who in the summer of 2002 spent £30million on signing the centre-back from Leeds United.
But a new tool from Sky Sports, which shows how much historic transfers would cost today, adjusted for inflation, says that Ferdinand’s £18million move to Leeds United in 2000 would cost a staggering £134.3million in today’s market.
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What Rio Ferdinand said about swapping Leeds United for Manchester United
When leaving Leeds for Manchester United in 2002, Ferdinand upset a lot of supporters at Elland Road. But he later revealed that the £30million fee helped Leeds from going bust.
Speaking in 2022, Ferdinand said of his move to Manchester United: ““My agent was in the know, Pini Zahavi. After the season finished, he was saying clubs were interested. I said I’m happy at Leeds, but he said Leeds weren’t in a good place – they need to sell you. If they don’t sell you, you have to sell 10.
“Recently, I went to a game – Leeds fans were bang on me. If you look at the detail, I had to leave. Manchester United – I know there is a rivalry. But I brought £30m in to your club, I stopped you going extinct. That baffled me.”
Over the years, he proved himself to be one of the best centre-backs in world football, winning six Premier League titles with Man United and one Champions League, as well as racking up 81 caps for England.
Love him or hate him, he was a top quality player, and £134million for a Ferdinand today might be about right.
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