Chelsea and Arsenal are responsible for three of the 20 most expensive goalkeeper signings in history each, with free agent David de Gea finally displaced.
10) David Raya – £27m/€31.9m (Brentford to Arsenal, July 2024)
An initial loan was only ever designed to circumvent PSR issues before eventually and inevitably being made permanent by Arsenal, who navigated some incredibly tiresome discourse around their goalkeepers and have basically been proven right in their ruthless upgrade.
8=) Aaron Ramsdale – £30m/€35.5m (Sheffield United to Arsenal, August 2021)
Successive Premier League relegations with Bournemouth and Sheffield United did not deter Arsenal, who planned to bleed Ramsdale in slowly before realising he’s really rather good. But not as good as…
8=) Jordan Pickford – £30m/€34m (Sunderland to Everton, June 2017)
There was mild disbelief at the time and many remain unconvinced but Everton signed Jordan Pickford upon his relegation to the Championship with Sunderland and no individual has played a bigger role in ensuring the same fate has not befallen the Toffees since.
7) Jasper Cillessen – £31.4m/€35m (Barcelona to Valencia, June 2019)
Valencia finished fourth in the two seasons before spending a small fortune on a 30-year-old keeper who played five La Liga games in three years with Barcelona; Los Che came 9th, 12th and 9th again before Cillessen left.
6) Gianluigi Buffon – £32.6m/€51.9m (Parma to Juventus, July 2001)
For almost 16 years, Buffon reigned as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper – and it took no little inflation and conversion nonsense to dethrone him. Juventus got their money’s worth in 22 trophies, a record number of Serie A clean sheets and a historic amount of Champions League bottling.
5) Ederson – £34.7m/€40m (Benfica to Manchester City, June 2017)
Claudio Bravo gave it a go but that went so well he lost his place mid-season to Willy Caballero, so Pep Guardiola went out and placed all his eggs in the basket of an uncapped 23-year-old with 74 top-flight career appearances. As it turns out: fair call. He could even pop up on this list again if Manchester City decide to sell to Saudi Arabia.
4) Thibaut Courtois – £35m/€38.8m (Chelsea to Real Madrid, August 2018)
The desire of Courtois to leave Chelsea set in motion three of the four most expensive goalkeeper transfers in history. After starring in the 2018 World Cup, the Belgian forced a move to Real Madrid through and has ten trophies to show for the subsequent six years.
3) Andre Onana – £43.9m/€51m (Inter to Man Utd, July 2023)
Twelve months after joining Inter from Ajax as a free agent, Champions League finalist Onana reunited with Erik ten Hag as part of an Old Trafford revolution.
2) Alisson – £67m/€75m (Roma to Liverpool, July 2018)
“Chelsea were changing their manager and not playing in the Champions League. I’ve also always admired Liverpool’s history. This is a club with five European Cups in their trophy cabinet. I really wanted to be part of that history,” said Alisson of his decision to join the Reds instead of the Blues in summer 2018. Having won it all at Anfield, it’s difficult to argue he chose wrong.
1) Kepa Arrizabalaga – £71.6m/€80m (Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea, August 2018)
Despite never coming close to convincing at Stamford Bridge, the world’s most expensive keeper has racked up over 100 Premier League appearances and more clean sheets than Antti Niemi, who is actually 52.
