And now something a little different from everything we have mentioned and related to the football transfer market today and in the previous days. No rumours, speculations, or done deals. But – a little nostalgia. Mostly for those born in the eighties…In all the madness of today’s numbers, someone on social networks ‘dug up’ what the list of the most expensive players in the three strongest leagues looked like in 1996 – in Italy, Spain and England.And it’s not that most of you didn’t know this, it’s just that when it’s arranged in a pile like this, it looks really amazing. The resounding names and laughable amounts…What caught our eye first? Well, Finidi George and his transfer to Real Betis from Ajax for 5,000,000 pounds. What makes it interesting is that he was more valuable at the market than Zinedine Zidane or Clarence Seedorf in that same transfer window. Let us remind you that Zizu arrived at Juve from Bordeaux, while Seedorf joined the Royal Club from Sampdoria.- Ajax Legend- Real Betis Legend- Nigeria LegendFinidi George was outrightly unplayable in the 90s.Is he the greatest winger Nigeria has ever had?#LegendsDiscuss pic.twitter.com/mzUHtJBOLO— Soar Super Eagles (@SSE_NGA) April 3, 2020 It’s an old story that only a year earlier, Blackburn had Zidane ‘on a plate’, the then champions of England were looking for top reinforcements for the Champions League, they were offered the French genius, but the people from the club confidently said: “Why him when we already have Tim Sherwood in that position?”The biggest deal in Spain in the summer of 1996 was made by Barcelona, buying Ronaldo from PSV for close to 13,000,000 pounds, and the purchase of Rivaldo by Deportivo la Coruña was no less a good business move.In those days, Parma were financially flourishing in Italy, so it was not a problem for them to cash out even 10,000,000 euros for Enrico Chiesa, who the season before in 27 games scored as many as 22 goals in Serie A in the Sampdoria jersey. Also, the club from Ennio Tardini stadium bought Lilian Thuram in the same summer for only 4,500,000 pounds.It was the summer when Alan Shearer was the absolute record holder with £15,000,000 – that’s how much Newcastle paid to bring him from Ewood Park. And Fabrizio Ravanelli was paid handsomely for the conditions at the time – 7,000,000 went into Juventus’ account.As the big star of the European champions in England, Manchester United counted 3,600,000 pounds for Karel Poborski…The paying power of the clubs was significantly different at that time. The Spanish, for example, spent almost twice as much as the English. The Italians paid more that summer than the Premier League members.Once upon a time, it was the reality – now, these are laughable amounts suitable for pub talk.##NAJAVA_MECA_7805753##
