LUIS SUAREZ – AJAX TO LIVERPOOL, £22.8 million (WINTER 2011)
If we are looking for record fees, precocious talent, and all-round controversy in abundance, what better way to start countdown than with Luis Suarez.
Signed by Liverpool in January of 2011 for a then-club record £22.8 million – a record which ultimately only stood for a few hours – Suarez arrived in Merseyside having made something of a name for himself in European football.
Having scored 111 goals in just 159 games at his former club Ajax, the temperamental Uruguayan forward was as famous for his controversies on the pitch as he was for his goal-scoring exploits – having bitten an opponent in Holland just two months prior to his move to England.
Despite these issues – amongst many others – continuing to plague Suarez’s time spent playing for Liverpool, the all-action forward quickly established himself as a cult hero amongst the club’s numerous fans – and a player to be feared amongst opposing club’s defensive lines.
After scoring 82 goals in 133 appearances, as well as claiming the 2013-14 PFA and FWA Footballer of the Year awards, Suarez eventually departed for greener pastures, joining Barcelona in July of 2014 for a fee of around £65 million.