7. Ousmane Dembélé, Barcelona
£94.50 million from Borussia Dortmund
Has there ever been a more stratospheric rise to the top of the game in soccer? Two years ago, Ousmane Dembélé hadn’t played first team football for anybody. He made his debut for Rennes in November 2015, and by the end of the season had racked up 12 goals and five assists.
This prompted Dortmund to invest £13.5 million in his services last summer. In his half century of games for them, Dembélé contributed directly to 32 goals. He may have scored more than he assisted in France, but he became an assist machine for Dortmund. The very best creative players around the world would struggle to get to 21 assists in one season, yet that is what the young Frenchman did.
And so to Barcelona he did go. It’s impossible to write about transfers this summer without referring to how prices have rocketed, but the stunning fee for Dembélé makes him the joint-second most expensive player ever. He only turned 20 in May, and has played just 328 minutes of international soccer.
The price tag is clearly influenced by his clear potential. He could feasibly play at Barcelona for at least a decade, so in that sense it’s a solid investment. The price will also have been driven up by the fee Barca received from PSG for Neymar, who Dembélé will no doubt replace. Having sold the Brazilian, the Catalan giants had around £200 million to splurge. Everyone knew it so they were always going to have to pay a premium on their transfer business. Let’s hope the hefty price does not weigh heavily on Dembélé’s shoulders.