"in 2001 was £38m. On 1 September 2008, Manchester City agreed a reported £32,500,000 fee for Robinho, which remained the record amount paid by a British club until 31 January 2011, when Liverpool paid £35,000,000 for Andy Carroll from Newcastle United, which was also a new record amount paid for a British player. A few hours later, the record amount paid by a British club was broken again when Chelsea paid £50,000,000 for Fernando Torres from Liverpool. On 11 June 2009, Manchester United announced that they had accepted an £80,000,000 bid from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. The transfer was"
"so expensive that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. I hope that FFP allows us to experience football in a different way."" In England, it was during the January transfer window that the most surprising business was done. Chelsea spent a reported £50 million on Fernando Torres and €25 million on David Luiz from Liverpool and Benfica, respectively. Despite Chelsea's intermediate holding company, ""Chelsea FC plc"", making a sight improvement in its accounts with a net loss of £67.7 million for the 2010–11 season, the effect of the increase in intangible assets led to a higher cost in the future."
"Benfica and a British transfer record of £50 m for Liverpool's Fernando Torres. The two signings proved not to be enough to salvage something from Chelsea's season and they failed to win a trophy. As a result, Ancelotti was dismissed as manager shortly after Chelsea's 1–0 defeat to Everton on the final day of the season. On 22 June 2011, André Villas-Boas was appointed as the new Chelsea manager on a three-year contract, with immediate effect. On 14 August, Chelsea drew 0–0 their first match of the 2011–12 Premier League season away to Stoke City. Villas-Boas won his first match"
"As transfer fee was considered as a purchase of a capital, the real effect of transfer fee was the amortisation of the transfer fee, which is proportionally to the contract length. For example, Fernando Torres' £50 million transfer fee had to be amortised by about £9 million a season, which in the 2010–11 season amounted to only £4.5 million (due to half season). The club may lower the expense of amortisation by selling players and extending the player contract. Chelsea's transfer spending that season was the club's biggest outlay since 2004 when they made losses of £87.8 million at the"
"his club's new owners had to back him in the transfer market in order for Liverpool to progress following his side's 2–1 loss to Milan in the final. It was reported Benítez did not feel he had the complete support of the new owners, a thought that was compounded by Liverpool's initial lack of activity in the transfer window, although the club played these rumours down. Benítez's spending was, eventually, significant, breaking Liverpool's transfer record when signing Spanish striker Fernando Torres from Atlético Madrid as well as signing Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun, Lucas Leiva and Andriy Voronin. Among those Benítez"
"to Derby County for £24,000 in March 1949. The record was broken seven further times between 1949 and 1961, when Luis Suárez was sold by Barcelona to Inter Milan for £152,000, becoming the first ever player sold for more than £100,000. In 1968, Pietro Anastasi became the first £500,000 player when Juventus purchased him from Varese, which was followed seven years later with Giuseppe Savoldi becoming the first million pound player when he transferred from Bologna to Napoli. In English football, the first £1 million fee occurred in 1979, when Nottingham Forest signed striker Trevor Francis from Birmingham City. Later"
"however, new reports suggested Atlético had agreed a deal with Liverpool for Torres; the fee was rumoured to be £25 million with Luis García moving to Atlético in a separate transfer deal. On 30 June, Atlético announced a deal to sign Diego Forlán from Villarreal, in what was seen as a move to replace Torres before his departure became official. On 2 July, it was reported that Torres had cut short a vacation to fly back to Madrid to finalise the move to Liverpool. The following day, Torres passed a medical at Liverpool's Melwood training ground. He held a press"
"BBC Sport suggested that it was around £100,000. Torres enjoyed considerable success with Crawley during which time the Reds won promotion to the Football League and then League One under Steve Evans as well as reaching Round 5 of the FA Cup in 2011, to play at Old Trafford against Manchester United. Crawley disposed of three football league sides, Swindon Town, Derby County and Torquay United on the way. Torres played the full 90 minutes at Old Trafford in central midfield. Despite still being a non-league side at the time, Crawley narrowly lost 0-1, but had 52% possession and hit"
"businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought the club, in a deal which valued it and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. Liverpool once more came third in the league, this time 21 points behind Manchester United. They went out of both domestic cup competitions to Arsenal, but reached the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final where they again faced Milan. Unlike 2005, Liverpool were unable to recover from going behind, and lost the match 2–1. During the summer, Benítez strengthened his team by signing Fernando Torres for a club record £24 million, and midfielders Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun. They"
"Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for J1 League club Sagan Tosu and the Spain national team. Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth system to the first-team squad. He made his first-team debut in 2001 and finished his time at the club with 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances. Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División for Atlético, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals. Torres joined Premier League club Liverpool in"
"conference in Madrid on 4 July to bid farewell to the Atlético fans, before completing his move to Liverpool on a six-year contract. The transfer fee was the highest in Liverpool's history. In March 2008, manager Rafael Benítez stated in an interview with ""The Times"" that Torres was acquired for around £20 million, although this figure takes into account García's move to Atlético. Torres made his competitive debut for Liverpool against Aston Villa in a 2–1 win on 11 August 2007. He made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League four days past his first performance in a 1–0"
"Fernando Torres header. Due to his excellent performances Jones was rewarded and signed a new contract with Liverpool on 21 December 2012. Jones would then go on to keep another clean sheet this time in a 5–0 win over Norwich in the Premier League. He would then play in an FA Cup match v League one side Oldham, Jones was at fault for at least one of the goals conceded as Liverpool crashed out 3–2. He would then go on to play two more times in the 2012/2013 season, The first was a 3–1 defeat against Southampton, Jones also made"
"Andy Carroll, on January 2011's transfer deadline day, with Carroll's signing breaking the record for most expensive British player ever and eighth most expensive player in history, overtaking Wayne Rooney. On 22 March 2011, Comolli was appointed as the director of football at Liverpool. In an interview, he stated the role covers pretty much the whole football side of running the football club, although he does not get involved in team training or selection. In the summer transfer window for the 2011–12 season, Comolli helped Liverpool sign Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Doni, José Enrique, Sebastián Coates and Craig"
"Rangers. Third-placed Hibernian and fourth-placed Kilmarnock qualified for the UEFA Cup, while Dundee became the first SPL club - and the first Scottish club since Partick Thistle in 1995 - to qualify for the UEFA Intertoto Cup. The record for the highest transfer fee ever paid by a Scottish club was broken twice over the course of the season. Firstly, by Chris Sutton's transfer from Chelsea to Celtic on 10 July 2000 for £6 million. Then, on 23 November 2000, the £12 million fee paid by Rangers to Chelsea for Tore André Flo became the highest transfer fee ever paid"
"goalscorer. On 25 October 2009, he scored the first goal in a 2–0 victory for Liverpool over Manchester United, after which Rafael Benítez praised Torres' performance, saying, ""We were waiting for that final pass. When it came we knew he would score."" Torres was named in the FIFPro World XI for the second successive season in December 2009.<ref name=""FIFA/FIFPRO World XI announced""></ref> His stoppage-time winning goal against Aston Villa on 29 December 2009 made him the fastest Liverpool player ever to score 50 league goals. He was substituted on 65 minutes in a 1–1 draw with Birmingham City on 4"
"English record was broken twice in the space of a few weeks, both times by Manchester United, who first signed Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy for £19 million, and then signed Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón for £28.1 million. A year later, they broke the English record fee again by signing Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United for a fee in the region of £29 million, 11 years after Liverpool had paid a mere tenth of that figure to set an English record transfer fee when they signed Dean Saunders. It took two weeks for the record to be broken when"
"at Stamford Bridge. On 18 March 2012, Meireles scored a goal and provided two assists to Torres, who ended his 24-game goal drought in the 5–2 home triumph against Leicester City for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. On 4 April, he scored a belter in the final minutes of a Champions League quarter-final 2–1 victory over Benfica, setting up a last-four tie with reigning champions FC Barcelona; he won his first title in English football on 5 May, after a 2–1 win against his former club Liverpool in the FA Cup final where he replaced Ramires for the last"
"Ferdinand, for which he has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence. Chelsea then drew QPR again in the FA Cup, winning 1–0 at Loftus Road thanks to a Juan Mata penalty. On 29 April 2012, Chelsea exacted revenge on QPR in the reverse league fixture with a ruthless 6–1 victory, with four goals being scored in a nightmare opening 25 minutes for Rangers. Fernando Torres became the first player in over 20 years to score a hat-trick in this West London Derby. It was QPR, however, who had the last laugh. After holding Chelsea to a 0–0"
"play-off final at Old Trafford. 30 May 2011: Swansea City become the first Welsh club to earn promotion to the Premier League, beating Reading 4–2 in the Championship play-off final at Wembley. 1 June 2011: Gérard Houllier steps down as Aston Villa manager by mutual consent following his illness. Also on 1 June, Convers Sports Initiatives owned by Russian Vladimir Antonov completed its takeover of Portsmouth. 2 June 2011: Mark Hughes resigned as a Fulham manager after having spent 11 months as manager. 3 June 2011: Tottenham Hotspur signed Aston Villa's goalkeeper veteran Brad Friedel on a free transfer as"
"start of an eight-year period during which they won a number of trophies. Arsène Wenger, whose club Arsenal have been cited as an example of good financial governance by UEFA, questioned Chelsea's behaviour after the signings, saying, ""Chelsea supported the financial fair play. In the morning they announce a £70 million loss, in the afternoon they buy £75 million worth of players. Where's the logic in that?"" In Italy, Milan club vice-president Adriano Galliani criticised English teams for their transfer spending in the wake of the big money moves for Torres and the £35 million spent by Liverpool on Andy"
"Luís Figo made a controversial £37 million move from Barcelona to fierce rivals Real Madrid. From that time through the 2015–16 season, Real Madrid held the record, with the next players to subsequently break the record being Zinedine Zidane in 2001 when he signed for £46 million from Juventus, Kaká from Milan for just under £60 million in 2009, and £80 million transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United in the same year, lastly being Gareth Bale in 2013, who became the first player to cost €100 million when he transferred from Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester United claimed the record in"
"Chelsea on their way to the last four. Branislav Ivanović, Victor Moses, Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres wrapped up victory for the blues. These are the major football honours won by Chelsea and Leeds United. There have been few direct player transfers between Chelsea and Leeds United. The first came in 1991, when left-back Tony Dorigo moved from Chelsea to Leeds for £1.3 million. Chelsea have never bought a senior player from Leeds, although they did controversially sign Leeds youth players Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods in 2006. Duncan McKenzie, Mickey Thomas, Vinnie Jones, Mikael Forssell, Terry Phelan, David Hopkin,"
"at £150,000. The move to Peterborough was not a success, with Torres even considering returning to Argentina and consulting a sports psychologist after not being selected or being played out of position. He was transfer listed by the club following their promotion to the Championship and subsequently joined Lincoln City on a one-month loan on 17 September 2009. On 28 October 2009 Torres signed for Lincoln until January. He was transfer listed again by Peterborough at the end of the 2009–10 season. In July 2010, Torres joined Crawley Town on a two-year contract. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but"
"Jordan Rhodes Jordan Luke Rhodes (born 5 February 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championship club Norwich City on loan from Sheffield Wednesday and the Scottish national team. He started his career at Ipswich Town and after loan spells at Oxford United, Rochdale and Brentford he joined Huddersfield Town. In the 2011–12 season, he was the top scorer in England with 36 league goals, breaking Huddersfield's club record for most league goals scored in a season. In August 2012, he became English football's most expensive player outside the top flight when he joined Blackburn Rovers"
"for the club until another number 9, Fernando Torres, did so in 2008). The first came on 9 November 1946 in a 3–0 home win against Portsmouth with the goals coming in the 30th (penalty), 70th and 79th minute, he followed this up a week later with a 4-goal haul away at the Baseball Ground in a 4–1 win over Derby, this included a 6-minute hat-trick, 43rd, 46th and 49th minutes with the 4th coming in the 60th minute. The record breaker came on 23 November at home to Arsenal in the 15th, 61st and 68th minutes of a 4–2"
"months later when Manchester United signed Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest for £3.75 million. In 1994, Blackburn Rovers paid a record £5 million for Chris Sutton from Norwich City, a decade after the world's first £5 million transfer. Then, in 1995, the national record fee was broken three times in six months – first when Andy Cole joined Manchester United from Newcastle United for £7 million, then with Arsenal's £7.5 million move for Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp from Inter Milan, and finally with Liverpool's £8.5 million move for Nottingham Forest's Stan Collymore. The 1996 transfer of Alan Shearer from Blackburn"
"Roberto Mancini, manager of Manchester City, confirmed on 3 January 2011 that a fee of £27 million (€32 million) had been agreed with Wolfsburg for Džeko, which was City's second highest transfer figure, after Robinho's £32.5 million (€42.5 million) move from Real Madrid in 2008. The transfer fee was the sixth highest in the Premier League history at the time. Also, the sum broke the Bundesliga record departure transfer fee, Bosnian record transfer fee, as well as that of any player from ex-Yugoslavia at the time. The previous ex-Yugoslav record stood for more than a decade – the transfer fee"
"the 1950–51 season, Sunderland paid a world record transfer fee when signing Welsh striker Trevor Ford from Aston Villa, for £30,000 (£ today), during a time when Sunderland were known as the ""Bank of England club"" because of their large money signings. Sunderland made significant progress in the FA Cup for the first time since the resumption of football after the war when the reached the competition's semi-final in the 1954–55 season. They played Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, but were beaten 1–0, ending their chances of playing against Newcastle United in the final. In January 1957, a letter was"
"this league to achieve fame, money and satisfaction of reaching a defining peak in football excellence. Sales and revenue through advertising and technology have been determining factors in the commercialisation of football which has resulted in the globalisation of the sport. The main reason for sport organisations adopting the business model is to ensure their financial sustainability for the future. In order to gain a larger market share of audiences, well known football players from different countries who have loyal local fans are recruited. An example of this is Liverpool Football Club in the Premier League recruiting Fernando Torres from"
"by Tom Hicks and George Gillett, American businessmen, via a leveraged takeover from previous owner David Moores. The initial purchase was met with mixed reactions, with little immediate protest following increased on-pitch success and high quality purchases such as Fernando Torres. However, from the 2008 season and amid mounting debts, waning on-pitch form and conflicts with manager Rafa Benitez, as well as a perceived reduction in transfer spending the popularity of the ownership of Hicks and Gillett began to fall. In January 2008 during the FA Cup game against Havant and Waterlooville when Liverpool were trailing 2-1 certain sections of"
"Birtles and Colin Barrett put Forest through 2–0 on aggregate. On 9 December 1978 Liverpool ended Forest's 42 match unbeaten league run dating back to the November the year before. The unbeaten run was the equivalent of a whole season, surpassing the previous record of 35 games held by Burnley in 1920–21. The record stood until surpassed by Arsenal in August 2004, a month before Clough's death. Arsenal played 49 league games without defeat. In February 1979 Taylor authorised the English game's first £1 million transfer, signing Trevor Francis from Birmingham City. In the April European Cup semi final home"
"the third time in two months that the national transfer fee record has been broken. 20 August 1988 - Liverpool gain revenge for their FA Cup final defeat by Wimbledon in May by beating them 2-1 in the Charity Shield. 23 August 1988 – Kevin Moran leaves Manchester United on a free transfer after 10 years and joins Spanish side Sporting Gijón on a free transfer. 26 August 1988 – Alan Ball prepares Portsmouth's challenge for an immediate return to the First Division by paying Aston Villa £315,000 for striker Warren Aspinall. 27 August 1988 – Millwall begin their life"
"five new players, including Ander Herrera (£29 million), Luke Shaw (£27 million) and a new record transfer fee for Ángel Di María (£59.7 million), as well as a lucrative loan deal for Radamel Falcao from Monaco. Largely as a result of the large new domestic TV deal, the net Premiership spend was £410 million, £350 million to overseas clubs and £60 million to Football League clubs. According to Deloitte, La Liga invested £425 million and Italy's Serie A spent a total of £260 million, followed by the Bundesliga with £250 million and Ligue 1 with £100 million. Following the announcement"