With the transfer window now open and deals being done on a daily basis, here are the 15 most expensive Championship signings.
With transfer dealings spiking in recent years, the Premier League obviously accounts for a huge portion of that, but last year (2016/17) saw the second tier spike in terms of funds spent and that spike was quite dramatic.
Ultimately the £1billion mark was smashed for the first time across both transfer windows last term and with deals going through already this season, it’s highly likely last year’s spending (a rounded £1.2billion) will again be eclipsed.
In 2016/17, 13 Premier League clubs broke their transfer fee records and a number of those clubs repeatedly set new records, and a few so far this campaign have already done that.
The Championship saw two new record fees set at that level with Aston Villa breaking it twice with deals for Ross McCormack and Jonathan Kodjia, whilst Newcastle United recouped a new record fee of £30million with their sale of Moussa Sissoko to Tottenham Hotspur.
This season Wolverhampton Wanderers have already eclipsed Jonathan Kodjia’s reported £15million deal in total with the signing of Ruben Neves.
So, to the 15 most expensive deals in the second tier – ordered on initial fee and not potentially rising to – and credit to football365 for the initial legwork in compiling the list.
No
|
Player
|
Clubs
|
Fee
|
1
|
Ruben Neves
|
Porto to Wolves
|
£15.8m
|
2
|
Helder Costa
|
Benfica to Wolves
|
£12.8m
|
3
|
Matt Ritchie
|
Bournemouth to Newcastle
|
£12m
|
–
|
Ross McCormack
|
Fulham to Aston Villa
|
£12m
|
5
|
Ross McCormack
|
Leeds to Fulham
|
£11m
|
–
|
Jonathan Kodjia
|
Bristol City to Aston Villa
|
£11m
|
7
|
Dwight Gayle
|
Crystal Palace to Newcastle
|
£10m
|
–
|
Jordan Rhodes
|
Middlesbrough to Sheffield Wednesday
|
£10m
|
9
|
Jordan Rhodes
|
Blackburn to Middlesbrough
|
£9m
|
–
|
Scott Hogan
|
Brentford to Aston Villa
|
£9m
|
–
|
Andre Gray
|
Brentford to Burnley
|
£9m
|
12
|
Alex Pritchard
|
Tottenham to Norwich
|
£8m
|
–
|
Matej Vydra
|
Watford to Derby
|
£8m
|
–
|
James Chester
|
WBA to Aston Villa
|
£8m
|
–
|
Jordan Rhodes
|
Huddersfield to Blackburn
|
£8m
|