Everton's record signings of the Premier League era
Everton's record signings of the Premier League era
One of Everton’s previous record signings would now have been valued at £104million in the present-day transfer market according to calculations by a leading football finance expert.
In light of England midfielder Eliot Anderson’s proposed £116million switch from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City, Kieran Maguire who is senior teacher in Accounting and Finance at the Management School, shared an intriguing table of historic Premier League transfers and what they would be worth now when updated to 2026/27 prices.
Using this method, Anderson only stands 31st on the list in terms of relative expense. In contrast, Alan Shearer’s £15million world record move from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United in 1996 would now be worth £236.9million with Stan Collymore’s £8.5million switch from Nottingham Forest to Liverpool the summer before – that Everton were prepared to match – worth £176.8million.
While there are no Blues buys on the list, £75million move from Everton to Manchester United in 2017 would now be worth £112.6million and Jack Grealish, who spent last season on loan for David Moyes’ men, would have cost £132.7million in today’s prices when he became the first £100million English footballer in 2021, going from Aston Villa to Manchester City.
Fascinated by the findings, this correspondent reached out to Maguire to provide some figures for Everton’s record signings throughout the Premier League era.
He told the ECHO: “I put the transfers you sent into the Laws-Maguire Index, which we created at the University of Liverpool with my colleague Jason Laws.
“This works by adjusting original fees for changes in buying power of clubs as their revenues have increased over time, and these are the totals.
“I took the three biggest transfers from each season and stuck them into a table and when I get more time, I will expand the sample size more to say the top 10-20 transfers or a club-by-club basis.
“This was great fun looking at it for a single club, and shows that Everton’s ‘imperial’ phase when they were very much at the top table when it came to being competitive on transfer fees, was very much at the inception/early years of the Premier League.”
Here’s a full rundown on the progression of Everton’s record signings throughout the Premier League era and how much those fees would be now based on the Laws-Maguire Index.
Daniel Amokachi with Mike Walker after signing for Everton in August 1994.
Fee paid £3million (to Club Brugge). Value now £65.9million.
Daniel Amokachi with Mike Walker after signing for Everton in August 1994. Fee paid £3million (to Club Brugge). Value now £65.9million.
Duncan Ferguson celebrates after he scored his first goal for Everton against Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby on 21 November 1994.
Fee paid £4million. Value now £87.9million.
Duncan Ferguson celebrates after he scored his first goal for Everton against Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby on 21 November 1994. Fee paid £4million. Value now £87.9million. 2 of 10
Andrei Kanchelskis with manager Joe Royle at Goodison Park after signing in 1995.
Fee paid £5million (to Manchester United). Value now £104million.
Andrei Kanchelskis with manager Joe Royle at Goodison Park after signing in 1995. Fee paid £5million (to Manchester United). Value now £104million.