

In 1905 Alfie Common set a new record with his scandalously high transfer fee of œ1,000 to big spending Middlesborough.

In 1952 Hans Jeppsons signiture cost Napoli a record fee with his colosal œ52,000 transfer. This was the beginning of @
the Italians domination of the world transfer fee record. 

It took until 1961 for tongues to start wagging again on the football terraces over the ever inflating transfer fees.  @
The player at the center of this flash cash episode was a certain Mr Luis Suarez who made the journey @
from Barcelona to Inter for a whopping œ142,000.

In 1963 250 thousand pounds worth of Italian Lire then brought Roma the heavenly named Angelo Sormani from Mantova.

Five years later in 1968 the transfer record was doubled when Juventus paid half a million pounds for the services of @
Pietro Anastasi.

Suprisingly it took a further 7 years for the million pound barrier to be broken, when Napoli paid out @
1.2 million pounds for Guiseppe Savoldi from Bologna.

Barcelona interrupted the Italians domination in this field when they paid out œ3 million pounds on the infamous Diego Maradona @
from Argentinian giants, Boca Juniors in 1982.

Maradonna was to break the transfer record again 2 years later with his transfer from Barcelona to Italian side, Napoli.  @
This was arguably his last legal headline, little did his admiring followers know about his @
fondness for various illegal substances and his impromtu goalkeeper impressions.

Tarantula haired Ruud Gullit was first to break the 6 million mark with his move to AC Milan.  The crazy price tag su@
ited his equally outrageous hairstyle.

By comparison Roberto Baggio's ponytail was tame, but it was Roberto who pushed @
up the record to 8 million when he was transfered from Fiorentina to money bags Juventus

The 8 figure barrier held no fears for AC Milan when they dished out an incredible 10 million on French @
goalscoring sensation Jean Pierre Papin in 1992. Marseille laughed all the way to the bank as Monsiuer Papin @
flopped in Italy.

Not to be outdone Juventus then spent a cool 12 million on Gianluca Vialli from Sampdoria, also in 1992.

AC Milan were to have the last word though as they promptly dished out an astounding 13 million for the @
services of Gianluili Lentini from Torino, also in 1992. What price now Alfie Common, perhaps Juventus are preparing @
a 20 million wallet busting move as you read this. 

 
