The Most Expensive XI of All-Time

By: chris | January 23rd, 2009

With Manchester City giving a big ole middle finger to the global recession, ESPN thought it prudent to concoct the world’s most expensive lineup in the history of ever. It is, as one might expect, littered with immense talent; talent that has both lived up to the lofty price and talent which has failed quite spectacularly (Mendieta, we’re lookin’ at you). And though the Premier League may currently reign supreme in the realm of mind-boggling transfer fees, they’ve still got a lot to learn from the king of kings: Serie A.

Breakdown by league.:

Serie A: 6
La Liga: 3
EPL: 2

What’s most astounding about the Serie A half dozen? They all came in a three year period. From 1999-2001 is when all of these monstrous transfer fees were paid (mostly by Juve, who went on to pay for other things). A lesson to be learned for the current money throwers in the Prem: cycles, baby, cycles.

By team.:

Juventus: 3 (Buffon, Thuram, Nedved)
Lazio: 2 (Mendieta, Crespo)
Real Madrid: 2 (Zidane, Figo)
Barcelona: 1 (Alves)
Manchester United: 1 (Ferdinand)
Internazionale: 1 (Vieri)
Manchester City: 1 (Robinho…and counting)

The team that benefited the most from all this? Parma, who sold Thuram and Buffon to Juventus for enough money to buy another team or twelve.

And it should be said these aren’t the eleven most expensive players of all-time – obviously you’d have the likes of attacking mids playing CB if that were the case – but the most-expensive quasi-XI that you could conceivably throw out on a pitch (conceivably – Dani Alves playing CB in a three man back is a crime of such massive proportions it ranks with the theft of the Mona Lisa and Cesc’s hair circa 2004).

The tactical XI in pounds, because ESPN is ~~British~~ American.

What’s interesting is how many of these were born from or resulted in problems for the club. Robinho was feeling undesired in Madrid as a Cristiano Ronaldo pawn, now is causing all sorts of back room grumbling in Manchester just months after getting his reprieve. Mendieta and Crespo, though the latter aided in winning a scudetto, helped put Lazio in such financial ruins it forced them to sell off not only both but also homegrown golden child Alessandro Nesta to avoid bankruptcy. Figo…well, we all know how jumping the El Clasico fence goes (unless your name is Javier Saviola and you aren’t quite good enough for anyone to give a flying f*ck). Bobo Vieri was criticized for his inability to bring trophies to Inter. And though Zizou did the Spanish/European double in his first year, he was one of the faces – if not the face – of Mount Galactico, an era seen as nothing but an epic failure for Real Madrid.

So once again: money ain’t everything. For the full ESPN writeup go here.