Baggio would be below average today

Exactly 30 years ago, an Italian technician became the world's most expensive footballer. Economic Daily explored the dramatic evolution of the transfer market from that milestone until today.

1990: Roberto Baggio (£8 million)
The brilliant Italian dribbler is among the legends of Italian football. On 18 May 1990, just before the World Cup hosted by Italy, Baggio officially became a Juventus player, transferring from Fiorentina. Allegedly, he didn’t want to join the Turin rival, but Fiorentina was facing financial problems. “At that time, the highest sums were paid for players at their peak. Today, top fees go more to young stars like Sancho, Haaland, or Mbappé. Hypothetically, Baggio would cost at least €100 million today,” said sports analyst and football agent Jozef Tokos for Economic Daily.

Baggio scored one of the most beautiful World Cup goals ever against Czechoslovakia in 1990, though the world best remembers him for missing a crucial penalty in the 1994 final against Brazil. For many, he remains an underappreciated genius. “He was so exceptional that he defied categories, and Italy always expected everything from him,” wrote journalist Samo Marec in his book Football: A True History, dedicating a full chapter to Baggio.

This decade marked the first major increase in record transfers and overall financial investment. After Baggio’s move, the record was broken eight times in the following ten years. “There were several milestones. Personally, I remember Alan Shearer’s transfer to Newcastle for £15 million very clearly. Practically every year, a new record was set,” added Tokos.

2000: Luís Figo (£37 million)
Ten years later, Portuguese winger Luís Figo topped the global football transfer list. Interestingly, just days before, Hernán Crespo briefly held the title of the most expensive player until Figo broke the record. Like Baggio, Figo’s move was explosive and closely watched, as he left Barcelona for bitter rivals Real Madrid. He became the first signing in Real's Galácticos project. The following year, Frenchman Zinédine Zidane joined Madrid and set another record. However, the market then quieted until 2009.

2010: Cristiano Ronaldo (£80 million)
The second decade of the new millennium saw Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo rise to the top. Around this time in 2009, CR7 became the world’s most expensive player, moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid. The early 2010s were still affected by the global financial crisis, and the transfer spiral only resumed after the economy recovered. “The football industry has grown several percentage points each year recently,” Tokos noted.

2020: Neymar (£198 million)
Three decades after Baggio’s record-breaking transfer, the title of the most expensive footballer belongs to Neymar, who joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 for nearly £200 million—almost 25 times Baggio’s fee. “Transfer fees between 2010 and 2020 surged dramatically, especially in the last three years of that period. The overall transfer curve in the last three decades rose extremely. However, the coronavirus crisis will almost certainly freeze record-breaking transfers for a while,” Tokos believes.

Therefore, Neymar’s 2017 move remains unmatched for now. Still, some price correction was inevitable. In the last 3–4 years, clubs often paid excessive amounts for players whose real value was lower, forming a sort of transfer bubble that distorted the market. “Look at players like Nicolas Pépé or Harry Maguire last summer. Sure, they’re not bad players, but if we go 30 years back, Baggio was on a completely different level,” Tokos concluded.