Over the years, we have seen record-breaking transfers of well over £100 million to players moving clubs for just £1. The football market has changed a lot over time, and transfers have only become more and more expensive thanks to the investment in football and the amount of money this industry is worth. The money in football is no joke, with players investing in massive opportunities like clubs, businesses and even online casinos with the likes of live dealer casino games and online slots. However, today we are going to be looking at the opposite, and looking at the strangest football transfer fees of all time.
John Barnes
Making over 550 appearances in professional senior football and almost 80 appearances for the England national team, John Barnes will go down in history as one of the greatest wingers the First Division has seen. The legendary winger started his career out at Second Division side Watford, before being promoted to the First Division in his first season with The Hornets. Prior to this move, he found himself at Sudbury Court FC in West London, but went on to join English giants Liverpool, where he really made a name for himself and became an iconic figure in the city. Despite costing the Reds around £800,000, his initial transfer fee to Watford was beyond extraordinary. The English winger cost Watford a set of football kits in return for the pacey forward.
Collins John
Not necessarily known for being the most prolific striker the Premier League has seen, Collins John was a forward, most known for his time at Fulham, before being sent out on loan to Leicester, scoring 20 goals in 4 years at Craven Cottage. Despite signing for Fulham for roughly £600,000, the 17-year-old at the time cost FC Twente a set of encyclopedias and learning materials to be donated to a local high school in Nijverdal. Although DES Nijverdal didn’t get any monetary value for their forward, the local area was supported and even allowed the Dutch striker to cameo in the Premier League and receive a senior international call-up from the Netherlands.
Franco Di Santo
The 2 time FA Cup winner, Franco Di Santo, had a strong 5 year stay in English football, known mostly for his time at Wigan, and in Germany for his time spent at Werder Bremen and Schalke 04. His first big move to Chelsea cost the Blues around £3.4 million, but his fee to Audax Italiano in the Chilean Premier Division was one of the strangest transfer fees we have seen. For the Chilean side to sign the Argentinian forward, Club Deportivo Godoy Cruz U20s required a fee of two goal nets and 40 litres of paint. Despite the strange and cheap transfer fee, Di Santo was featured in 61 games from 2006 to 2008 before getting his big Premier League move, even managing to get an International call-up from the Argentina national team.
Kenneth Kristensen
The Norwegian 3rd division forward never really made it in the professional game as a standout name, or even reached the top European leagues, however, his name will most definitely go down in history for one of the world’s strangest transfers when he moved from Vindbjard to Floey. As expected, there isn’t much money thrown around in the Norwegian lower divisions, so transfer fees remained at smaller numbers, meaning Kristensen was allowed to move to this new side for a rough fee of a pile of shrimp that matched the weight of the player.
Ernie Blenkinsop
In the 1920s, the big transfer fees for players were not a common practice, however, this takes nothing away from the bizarre nature of Ernie Blenkinsop’s transfer to Hull City. Cudsworth Village FC were a small football team with little actually known today about the club, and when it was disbanded, one of their star players, Ernie Blenkinsop, caught the eye of Hull. The transfer fee for the full back did include some form of monetary payment, £100 to be exact, as well as a barrel of beer. The cheap transfer fee set up Blenkinsop’s successful football career, going on to join Sheffield Wednesday, making almost 400 appearances before leaving to Liverpool, where he became unfortunate with injuries. Despite this, he made over 25 appearances for his national side.
Gary Pallister
The 4-time Premier League winner and 3-time FA Cup winner, Gary Pallister, is most recognised for his time in the famous red shirt of Manchester United. Making over 300 appearances and winning numerous awards on a national and international scale, Pallister began his professional career at Middlesbrough, after moving from Billingham Town for a very peculiar transfer fee of a set of kit, a bag of balls and a goal net. Considering the centre back went on to win Premier League titles, individual player of the year awards, and even England caps, the fee Middlesbrough had spent seems relatively minimal, even making £2.3 million from the Manchester United transfer.