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The Bundesliga’s most expensive signings of the past 10 years
The past decade has seen a huge inflation in football transfers. Long gone are the days when only a marquee signing would come close to 50 million, as clubs edge ever closer to repeated transfers which verge near the 100 million mark. With this in mind, Seatpick scraped search Transfermarkt data to determine, what is the most expensive Bundesliga signing of the past 10 years?
The 10 most expensive Bundesliga signings of the past 10 years
| Rank | Player | Club transferred from | Club transferred to | Year | Signing fee |
| 1 | Lucas Hernandez | Atlético Madrid | Bayern Munich | 2019 | €80m |
| 2 | Matthijs de Ligt | Juventus | Bayern Munich | 2022 | €67m |
| 3 | Leroy Sané | Manchester City | Bayern Munich | 2020 | €49m |
| 4 | Julian Draxler | Schalke 04 | VfL Wolfsburg | 2015 | €43m |
| 5 | Dayot Upamecano | RB Leipzig | Bayern Munich | 2021 | €42.5m |
| 6 | Corentin Tolisso | Olympique Lyon | Bayern Munich | 2017 | €41.5m |
| 7 | Arturo Vidal | Juventus | Bayern Munich | 2015 | €39.3m |
| 8 | Mario Götze | Borussia Dortmund | Bayern Munich | 2013 | €37m |
| =9 | Benjamin Pavard | VfB Stuttgart | Bayern Munich | 2019 | €35m |
| =9 | Mats Hummels | Borussia Dortmund | Bayern Munich | 2016 | €35m |
| =9 | Ousmane Dembélé | Rennes | Borussia Dortmund | 2016 | €35m |
| =9 | Renato Sanches | Benfica | Bayern Munich | 2016 | €35m |
* An “=” indicates a joint ranking
Seatpick can reveal that the most expensive Bundesliga signing of the past 10 years was Lucas Hernandez, when he was scooped up from Atlético Madrid by Bayern Munich for a jaw-dropping €80m in 2019. The move paid off: with Bayern, Hernandez has won the Bundesliga and Champions League.
In second place is Matthijs de Ligt, who joined Bayern Munich from Juventus last year for €67m. He was picked up by Bayern after having helped Juventus win the league title in his first season at the club. In third place is Leroy Sané, who left Manchester City for Bayern Munich in 2020 for €49m. Bayern Munich account for almost all of the most expensive Bundesliga signings of the past 10 years.
Methodology
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To find out what the most expensive Bundesliga signings of all time are, Seatpick analysed data from Transfermarkt’s Bundesliga Transfer Records page.
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A ranking was made for the most expensive signings, with information noted down regarding player, club transferred from, club transferred to, season / year of signing, and signing fee. Only arrivals into Bundesliga teams were included, not departures to different leagues.
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Any result which dated from before 2013 was excluded, and is highlighted in the spreadsheet.
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All data was collected on 23-01-2023 and is accurate as of then.
