As transfer fees become more and more astronomical, clubs are increasingly looking at loan deals – but even these now come with hefty fees. Manchester United, Juventus and Tottenham are among clubs that have forked out serious money for temporary deals.
Romelu Lukaku has returned to Inter Milan on loan a year after joining Chelsea in a £100million deal, for a loan fee of around £7million with £3million in add-ons.
This fee, while relatively big given the nature of the loan, as a one-year deal with no option or obligation to buy, does not place the deal for the Belgian forward in the most expensive loan deals, and over the years there have been some surprisingly high fees paid.
A lot of the most expensive loan deals took place in Serie A and there has been mixed success among the loanees.
Some stayed with their clubs permanently after a successful stint while others returned to their parent club with their tails between their legs. We’ve listed the top 10 loan deals with the highest fees.
10. Mattia Destro – Roma
The Italian striker was owned by both Siena and Genoa in a fairly complicated joint deal before he made a loan move to Roma in 2012 for a fee of £10.35million.
There was an option to make the deal permanent for around £3.5million, and the forward did a superb job of replacing Fabio Borini despite a host of injury problems.
His injuries eventually caught up with him, though, and he departed on loan again less than three seasons later after scoring 29 goals in 68 games in Rome.
9. Odion Ighalo – Manchester United
A deal which surprised everyone including Ighalo himself, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer signed the former Watford star on loan from Shanghai Shenhua in January 2020.
A whopping £10.8million was paid for an initial six-month loan, which was extended for another six months following Project Restart, and the Nigerian striker scored five goals in 23 appearances for the club.
Signed as cover for the injured Marcus Rashford, Ighalo wasn’t exactly the star name United fans were expecting, but he endeared himself to them with his efforts, which is more than some superstars at Old Trafford can say.
“‘You’re going to get a pay cut to go to United.’ I said: ‘I don’t care. Make this deal happen,” Ighalo recounted after his move from the Chinese Super League.
“I want to go to United. I don’t care how much is the pay cut, I know that, make it happen’”
Odion Ighalo scored 5 goals in 7 starts for Manchester…
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