The Top 10 English Premier League Transfer Fees

Either In or Out of the English Premiership :

1. Andriy Shevchenko - Milan to Chelsea, £30m (2006)
Value-for-money rating: Too early to say, but £30m for someone who turns 30 next month would be a huge risk for anyone but Chelsea

2. Rio Ferdinand - Leeds United to Manchester United, £29.1m (2002)
Value-for-money rating: Ferdinand's played well for United, but not worth 29 million quid. And then there were those eight months out for forgetting to attend a drugs test.

3. Juan Sebastian Veron - Lazio to Manchester United, £28.1m (2003)
Value-for-money rating: A disaster from almost beginning to end. Has to be the worst signing ever. Another Fergie Blunder.

4. Wayne Rooney - Everton to Manchester United, £27m (2004)
Value-for-money rating: Top Class. Once when Fergie got it right.

5. David Beckham - Manchester United to Real Madrid, £25m (2003)
Value-for-money rating: Though Real hasnt won a trophy since Becks arrived, Off the pitch, Beckham has swelled Real's coffers like never before and on it, he's earned consistently good reviews.

6. Didier Drogba - Marseille to Chelsea, £24m (2004)
Value-for-money rating: Hes good but £24m ?? Nah , not that good.

7. Nicolas Anelka - Arsenal to Real Madrid, £23.5m (2000)
Value-for-money rating: A flop in Spain. Undoubtedly, one of Arsène Wenger's best deals.

8. Marc Overmars - Arsenal to Barcelona, £21.6m (2000)
Value-for-money rating: Never delivered for Barcelona. Another astute Wenger move.

9. Ricardo Carvalho - Porto to Chelsea, £19.85m (2003)
Value-for-money rating: Solid and usually unflappable but again worth £20m ?? No.

10. Ruud van Nistelrooy - PSV to Manchester United, £19m. (2001)
Value-for-money rating: Was sensational for three seasons, and won the Premiership almost single-handedly in 2003. One of the best deal in this Top 10 List, me thinks.

This List was taken from The Guardian but I do have doubts about it. For example, Michael Essien was bought from Lyon to Chelsea in 2005 for £24.4m , if I remember right but he is missing from the list. As stated in the post above, a lot of the details depend on the performance related aspects of the fees and so its tough to actually know what the clubs ended up paying for that player.