Premier League’s best value-for-money transfers ever including Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea icons – and Jamie Vardy
JAMIE VARDY’S departure from Leicester brings to a close the ultimate rags to riches football story.
The rejected striker who went from non-league to a title-winning England international, scoring in a major tournament.
Across the three decades since the Premier League was founded, Vardy arguably represents the best value-for-money signing any club has made, too.
Sun Sport looks at the candidates for the top ten – but cannot look beyond the 38-year-old.
1 Jamie Vardy
(£1m, Fleetwood to Leicester 2012)
The Foxes were in the Championship when they took a gamble on Conference top-scorer Vardy – and it paid off in spades.
Vardy’s tally of 198 goals in 496 games for Leicester, 143 of them in the Prem – only Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero and Thierry Henry have scored more for a single club – would be enough in itself.
But he was the spearhead of the greatest and most unlikely League triumph of all-time in 2016, including that record 11-game scoring streak.
2 Roy Keane
(£3.75m Nottingham Forest to Manchester United, 1993)
Alex Ferguson smashed the British transfer record to bring the Irishman to Old Trafford – but was there ever an example of money well spent?
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Combative, inspirational, determined – and, if necessary, brutal – Keane was the epitome of a Fergie side until his spectacular fall-out with the manager in 2005. A relentless winner.
3 Frank Lampard
(£11m West Ham to Chelsea, 2001)
Plenty of Hammers fans were happy to see Lampard leave Upton Park. He spent the next 13 years making them regret it.
Lampard smashed a staggering 211 Chelsea goals from midfield and was a mainstay of the team that won every major trophy including Prem crowns under Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.
4 Sol Campbell
(Free Tottenham to Arsenal, 2001)
No fan of either North London side will ever forget the transfer that sparked two decades and counting of seething animosity from N17.
The England centre-half was exactly what Arsene Wenger needed as he transitioned from the “famous back five” he inherited to the 2004 “Invincibles”.
5 N’Golo Kante
(£5.6m Caen to Leicester, 2015)
One of the great unheralded transfers and a key part of the most romantic title triumph of all time.
Kante was truly outstanding as Leicester defied the odds under Claudio Ranieri, doing much the same for Antonio Conte’s Chelsea the following season.
As they said: “Around 70 per cent of the earth is covered by water; the rest is covered by N’Golo Kante.”
6 Eric Cantona
(£1m Leeds to Manchester United, 1992)
An enquiry by Leeds over full-back Denis Irwin saw Fergie wonder, out of nowhere, if the mercurial Frenchman might be available.
The shock move generated outrage from the Elland Road fans but Cantona was the spark that lit the fire of United’s greatest era – even if he struggled to contain his own temper.
Cantona, the collar upturned, was the symbol of a strutting, dominant club.
7 Peter Schmeichel
(£505,000 Brondby to Manchester United, 1991)
The Great Dane’s arrival at Old Trafford pre-dated the formation of the Prem but he was absolutely integral to their early successes.
Big teams need a keeper who can make big saves. Few made more, with his “star jump” technique one that was copied by a generation of emerging glovemen.
8 Jurgen Klinsmann
(£2m Monaco to Tottenham, 1994)
Spurs had stunned English football by landing Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa in 1978 – but that was a sideshow compared to the stunning deal that brought the German ace to N17.
Klinsmann delivered 20 Prem goals to be named Footballer of the Year before leaving for Bayern Munich, only to return to save Christian Gross’ side from relegation two-and-a-half years later.
9 Gianfranco Zola
(£4.5m Parma to Chelsea, 1996)
The smiling Sardinian schemer was the face of Chelsea’s pre-Abramovich regeneration, scoring 80 goals across seven seasons at Stamford Bridge, which brought five major trophies.
More crucially, perhaps, a player for whom nobody had a bad word. A true gent and still much-loved in SW6 and elsewhere.
10 Nicolas Anelka
(£500,000 PSG to Arsenal, 1997)
Anelka was to spend 18 years criss-crossing the globe including four of the Prem Big Six but his impact after arriving at Arsenal as a teenager was perhaps the most impactful.
The French striker replaced Ian Wright for the second half of the 1998 Double campaign before his contentious £22.5m move to Real Madrid gave the Gunners the cash required to land a winger called Thierry Henry from Juventus.