Most expensive British players to sign for non-British clubs

We take a look at the most expensive British players to sign for non-British clubs with more and more players turning to the foreign shores in recent years.

Jude and Jobe Bellingham, Harry Kane and Scott McTominay are high profile examples of what is becoming somewhat of a trend for British players to ply their trade abroad over the last few seasons.

The €289m spent on British players by non-British sides in 2022/23 was more than the previous nine seasons combined with the only total spend over €100m coming in 2013/14 when Gareth Bale the move from Tottenham to Real Madrid.

Bale's fee remained the highest on the list for a decade before Jude Bellingham also carved a path to Los Blancos via Borussia Dortmund.

2023/24 was therefore a popular time for British exports with the €95m paid by Bayern Munich to secure the services of Harry Kane enough to take third spot.

Quite the gap is then formed between third, fourth and fifth with €42m paid for both Ivan Toney and Conor Gallagher who made their moves in the same summer.

10 most expensive British players to sign for non-British clubs

1. Jude Bellingham --> Real Madrid (€113m)
2. Gareth Bale --> Real Madrid (€101m)
3. Harry Kane --> Bayern Munich (€95m)
4. Ivan Toney --> Al-Alhi (€42m)
5. Conor Gallagher --> Atletico Madrid (€42m)
6. Tammy Abraham --> Roma (€41m)
7. David Beckham --> Real Madrid (€37.5m)
8. Fikayo Tomori --> AC Milan (€35.3m)
9. Jarrell Quansah --> Bayer Leverkusen (€35m)
10. Jobe Bellingham --> Borussia Dortmund (€30.5m)

Chelsea sales appear three times in the top 10 with Tammy Abraham (€41m) and Fikayo Tomori (€37.5m) taking their careers to Italy.

Abraham initially signed for Roma before becoming a teammate of Tomori's when he signed for Milan on loan at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.

David Beckham's move to Real Madrid is the oldest transfer on the list with his seismic switch to the Spanish capital happening 21 years ago.

More recently, Jobe Bellingham followed in the footsteps of his brother when he signed for Borussia Dortmund earlier this month. The former Sunderland man has already made an impact for his new team, scoring at the Club World Cup against Mamelodi Sundowns.

William Dobbie

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