Who is the most expensive Chelsea player of all time?

Todd Boehly’s spending spree after taking over Chelsea was as impressive as it was wild. Graham Potter had to contend with a dressing room bursting at the seams with players of varying ability and value.

Chelsea have spent big before and reaped the rewards. The Roman Abramovich era made the Blues serial champions and laid the groundwork for his successor to come in and try the same approach.

They haven’t achieved the same results yet. The 2024-25 season has so far exceeded the expectations of the wider football public but it’s a more conservative approach to the transfer market that’s allowed Enzo Maresca to lead his team in a relatively normal manner since taking over as manager in the summer of 2024.

Who is Chelsea’s most expensive ever signing?

Chelsea record signing is Enzo Fernandez, who joined from Benfica in 2023 as a World Cup winner with Argentina. He was rated extremely highly and became the fifth most expensive player in football history – and the most expensive played of the 2020s – when the Blues forked out £106.8m for his signature.

Fernandez played his way back into the starting eleven and captained the Blues to three consecutive wins after questions over his future in November. He scored in back-to-back games against Leicester City and Aston Villa to reinforce Maresca’s decision to bring him back into the side.

Who held the Chelsea transfer record before Enzo Fernandez?

Fernandez is just one of three Chelsea signings in the ten most expensive transfers of all time. Moises Caicedo joined after him for a cool £100m and the previous record holder was Romelu Lukaku, whose £97.5m took him back to Chelsea from Inter Milan and 2021.

Lukaku took over from Kepa Arrizabalaga. Kepa joined from Athletic Bilbao in 2018 for £71.6m, which made him the world’s most expensive goalkeeper mere weeks after Liverpool signed Alisson. He is currently on loan at Bournemouth.

Chelsea signed Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid for a then-record fee of £58m. After a loan and eventual move to Atletico Madrid and a subsequent loan to Juventus, Morata signed for AC Milan in the summer of 2024.

Though he’s never been the club record signing for either Chelsea or Arsenal, Kai Havertz’s move to Chelsea from Bayer Leverkusen in 2020 puts him fifth on Chelsea’s most expensive signings list. Havertz is the most expensive German player of all-time, however. He’s also their second-highest value sale – his move across London to Arsenal for £65m makes him the third most expensive signing in the Gunners’ history.

The other signings in Chelsea’s top ten list have been a mixed bag in terms of their impact at Stamford Bridge.

Wesley Fofana joined from Leicester City in 2022 for £70m (sixth on the list) and Mykhailo Mudryk’s switch from Shakhtar Donetsk cost Chelsea £62m (seventh) in 2023. 23-year-old Mudryk has struggled to justify the fee under successive Blues managers but has time on his side. Where he spends that time is another question.

Christian Pulisic has a share of joint eighth placed with Morata. The USA international signed from Borussia Dortmund for £58m. Jorginho’s £57m move from Napoli makes him Chelsea’s tenth most expensive signing of all time.

Chelsea's ten most expensive signings of all time