Historically, 12 players have been sold for transfer fees of €100 million or more, and unfortunately, more of these large transfers have proven to be failures than successes. In fact, as many as 8 €100 million deals failed.
Coutinho (Liverpool - > Barcelona, €145 million, 2018)
The third most expensive player in history and the most expensive failed transfer ever made. In the first six months of Neymar's departure from Barcelona, Osman Dembele failed to replace Neymar immediately, and the La Liga giants invested more money in this regard, acquiring Philippe Coutinho for a huge initial fee of 121 million euros and a series of additional terms. The move was a disaster for all sides, as Coutinho failed to make an impact on the team, and he often held the same position as Messi before the Argentine left the club. Coutinho returned to Barca after a loan spell at Bayern Munich in the 2019-20 season, and the situation did not improve after his return. In January 2022, he was allowed to go on loan to Aston Villa while Barca are still paying most of his salary. They are unlikely to take the transfer fee back from him.
João Felix (Benfica - > Atletico Madrid, €126 million, 2019)
After an impressive debut season in Portugal, high hopes were placed on João Felix when he signed for Atletico in 2019 for a club-record transfer fee. Felix, who scored 15 goals and assisted seven times in 26 games in the Portuguese Premier League, is considered the perfect replacement for Griezmann who joined Barcelona. In fact, many experts hail Felix as Portugal's most exciting young player after Cristiano Ronaldo. However, his time in the Spanish capital was bleak. While people have seen his unquestioned talent, he was unable to replicate Griezmann's impact on the team, so much so that they re-signed the Frenchman in the summer of 2021. Felix was dragged down by manager Diego Simeone's defensive style, scoring a disappointing 15 goals in three la Liga seasons.
Griezmann (Atletico Madrid - > Barcelona, €120 million, 2019)
Tactically, it was a transfer that was doomed from the start, and it turned out to be. If you're a short, skilled, left-footed striker, you don't have a chance to succeed in a team with Messi. On this point, just ask Paulo Dybala of the Argentine national team. Griezmann and Messi often occupy the same position, and the Frenchman is sometimes forced to play where he is not good at in order to coexist with the Argentine superstar on the same team. In two years, he scored just 21 league goals and only four in the Champions League. This is a very bad statistic considering how much Barca is spending on him. He did not help the team win La Liga or the Champions League. Barcelona eventually agreed to send him back to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2021.
Glalich (Aston Villa - > Manchester City, €118 million, 2021)
Aston Villa's hero Glalis left the club he had played for as a child in the summer of 2021 to join Manchester City in Guardiola. However, his life in the Etihad did not go exactly as planned. It's worth noting that immediate integration into Guardiola's side is a daunting task, and Rodri and Cancelo can attest to that, but Glallis has so far failed to prove himself worthy of the €118 million price. In 15 Premier League games, he has only scored two goals and assisted twice, but he has not been encouraging, even though his creative stats are still impressive. He was recently punished by Manchester City for disciplinary reasons.
Lukaku (Inter Milan - > Chelsea, €115 million, 2021)
When Lukaku returns to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2021, he was planned to be the last piece of the puzzle for Chelsea to win the title. Chelsea won the Champions League without a No. 9 and Lukaku was signed to lead the Blues in a Fight for Premier League honour. But he scored eight goals and 0 assists in 23 games, far less bad than Glellish, but that's a far cry from his €115 million worth. Lukaku is not a good fit for Chelsea's style of play, and their pace is far behind the speed at which the Blues are running overall in the Premier League. He created chaos at the end of December 2021 when he announced in an interview that he was unhappy, criticizing boss Tuchel and saying he wanted to return to Inter. Lukaku was suspended, fined and subsequently apologized and returned to the team, but it remains to be seen whether he can repair the damage caused and whether he has a long-term future at the club.
Osman Dembele (Dortmund> Barcelona, €105 million, 2017)
When Neymar joined Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017, Dortmund extorted a large sum of money from Barcelona to satisfy their desire to replace Neymar with Dembele. After just receiving the biggest transfer fee ever, they were forced to pay an exorbitant transfer fee for the young French winger Dembele, who showed great potential first at Rennes and then grew further at Borussia Dortmund. A €105 million deal was finalized with an additional €40 million bonus. However, Dembele's time at Barcelona was dominated by injury issues, which prevented him from getting close to his best. He will be leaving on a free transfer at the end of the 2021-22 season, so Barca can't even get back the money they spent on him.
Pogba (Juventus-> Manchester United, €105 million, 2016)
Some might argue that Pogba's inclusion on this list is rather unfair – perhaps an exaggeration to say that he is a loser. But there is no denying that the French World Cup winner has fallen far short of expectations after returning to Manchester United in 2016 at a club-record cost. Pogba was once seen as a catalyst for Manchester United, who have struggled since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013. But eight years after Ferguson left United, United are still a long way from a Challenge in the Premier League or Champions League. Pogba has been extremely erratic, battling numerous injuries and showing that he is more of a supporting character than a male lead. To make matters worse, he left the club as a free agent in 2012 and is now ready to do so again. This has left United suffering a double whammy of economy and athletics.
Eden Hazard (Chelsea - > Real Madrid, €100 million, 2019)
Hazard's move to Madrid has always been focused on when he will go, not whether he will go, but it turns out that "when" is more critical than it seems. After concluding his most impressive individual season at Chelsea, the then-28-year-old was awarded the opportunity to join Real Madrid as a player in 2019. However, the overweight at the time of preseason coverage set the tone for the troubles of the first two and a half seasons. A leader who has often led the team to success has now become very mediocre due to injuries and poor discipline. Since coming to Real Madrid, the once unstoppable Belgian has been injured more times than he has scored goals. The Bernabeu now wants to dump him and it could be his last season at the club.