Football inflation is very real, and has one ex-Chelsea star making a bold claim.
We have seen midfielders go for exorbitant amounts, but none have come close to £150 million.
Chelsea have the two most expensive ones at Stamford Bridge right now in Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, neither of whom broke £110 million.
Jude Bellingham cost Real Madrid a measly £88 million. A £150 million midfielder would have to be far and away the best in the world. Was that the case with this Chelsea legend?
Claude Makelele playing for Chelsea
Photo by Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images
Claude Makelele reckons he’d command a £150 million fee
Making 217 appearances for Chelsea, Claude Makelele was great value for money.
The Blues spent just shy of £18 million to sign him from Real Madrid, but the Frenchman thinks he’d attract a significantly higher fee in today’s market.
Prime Makelele was as menacing a defensive midfielder as Chelsea have had. Like Caicedo and N’Golo Kante after him, he did the work of two players in the middle of the park and was integral to the spine of the side.
But £150 million?
Makelele is a £100m midfielder like Caicedo
That sum is just too high to try and justify. Makelele is not 1.5x the player Caicedo is.
Makelele rates Caicedo very highly, so he surely won’t be too disappointed with the comparison.
A £100 million fee feels fair for the Chelsea legend who would walk into any starting XI in Europe.