Top Five Most Expensive Football Players Ever

With transfer values going up every year how long will it be before we have our first £100 million player? Manchester City are already rumoured to offer Tottenham this amount for Gareth Bale but who are the top 5 most expensive players ever. I'm sure that by the start of the new Premier League season this list below might change considerably with the likes of Radamel Falcao, Edinson Cavani and Robert Lewandowski linked continuously to Premier League clubs especially as they will have extra TV money to spend. Here is the list at present, the figures are the amount they paid at the time and have not been inflationary adjusted.

5. Zinedine Zidane - £45 million

French former international player Zinedine Zidane takes part in an event for fans in front of a store of his sponsor on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, on February 28, 2013. Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG) English midfielder David Beckham and Zidane have autographed balls and jerseys for thirty fans selected via Twitter

Probably one of the best players ever to grace a football field. In 2001 Real Madrid parted with 150 billion Italian lire (£45 million) to sign him from Juventus. He scored a famous volley in the 2002 Champions League Final with his weaker foot as they beat Leverkusen 2-1. He retired at the end of the 2006 season and famously got sent off for his head butt in the World Cup Final.

4. Fernando Torres - £50 million

Chelsea's Spanish forward Fernando Torres gives a press conference at St. Jakob stadium in Basel on April 24, 2013, on the eve of the team's Europa League semi-final football match against Basel

The Spaniard had four great seasons at Liverpool scoring 65 goals in 102 league games but in January 2011 Chelsea put in a £40 million bid which Liverpoolrejected, they wanted £50 million, which, on the 31st January 2011 Chelsea paid to secure his services. He has never really settled at Chelsea and has struggled to look like a world class striker.

3. Kaka - £56 million

Kaka of Real Madrid reacts during the La Liga match between Atletico de Madrid and Real Madrid at estadio Vincente Calderon on April 27, 2013 in Madrid, Spain

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite or "Kaka" for short signed for Real Madrid from AC Milan on 8th June 2009. The reason for Milan selling him was purely economic, they could not let £56 million go. Scored 8 goals in his first season and in 2011 graced the cover of FIFA 2011.

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - £59 million

Paris Saint-Germain's Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic looks on during the French L1 football match Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) vs Nice, on April 21, 2013 at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris

Wins titles wherever he goes, Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan and now PSG, all in the last 10 years or so. In 2009 Barcelona signed him fromInter Milan for £59 million. In 2011 he had just scored 28 goals in 32 matches for AC Milan convincing the rich owners of PSG to sign him on 17 July 2012. In his first season he took his team to the Quarter Finals of the Champions League losing narrowly to Barcelona.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - £80 million

Real Madrid's Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the UEFA Champions League semi final first leg football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid on April 24, 2013 in Dortmund, western Germany

The second best player on the planet behind Lionel Messi, he became the most expensive footballer in history on 26 June 2009 when he signed for Real Madrid from Manchester United for £80 million pounds. He has scored 143 league goals in 132 appearances for Real Madrid and rumours are he might be heading back to these shores. If so a bid of substantially more than £100 million would be required.