Transfer Records: Alexis Sánchez and the 20 Most Profitable Transfers Ever

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Alexis Sanchez has been bought for €26 million plus incentives today. He's undoubtedly a huge profit for Udinese.

There have been lots of profitable transfers like his.

This list will review the Top 20 most profitable transfers ever in football.

Where will Alexis rank?

Start the slideshow and find out!

Undecided: Alexis Sánchez

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From: Udinese

Bought for: €3 million from Cobreloa

Sold for: €26 plus 11.5 in incentives to FC Barcelona

Profit: €23 to 34.5 million

Alexis will land on this list on number 13 if Barcelona pay his fee in full.

If he under-performs, he'll be out of it altogether.

He'll still be a very profitable player for Udinese, though.

20. Pippo Inzaghi

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From: Juventus

Bought for: €10.4 million from Atalanta

Sold for: €37 million to AC Milan

Profit: €26.6 million

Superpippo makes this list thanks to the massive fee Milan paid to steal him out of Turin.

He doesn't quite play football, but he's there's no doubt he's the 20th most profitable transfer ever.

19. Danny

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From: Dinamo Moscow

Bought for: €3 million from Sporting Lisbon

Sold for: €30 million to Zenit St. Peterburg

Profit: €27 million

Danny? Really?

There's no way he's worth even €15million.

But Zenit still bought him for €30 million.

18. Ronaldinho

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From: Paris Saint-Germain

Bought for: €5.1 million from Gremio

Sold for: €32.25 million to FC Barcelona

Profit: €27.15 million

R10 gets in at number 18.

And he was bought on a fairly cheap price by Barcelona.

17. Pepe

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From: FC Porto

Bought for: €2 million from Marítimo

Sold for: €30 million to Real Madrid CF

Profit: €28 million

The assasin was very profitable for Porto.

He was almost a complete unknown when he signed for Madrid.

When not on a killing spree, he's one of the top defenders in the world.

16. David Villa

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From: Valencia CF

Bought for: €12 million from Real Zaragoza

Sold for: €40 million to FC Barcelona

Profit: €28 million

Maravilla was a huge profit for Valencia.

He exploded at Mestalla, so they deserve their bounty in full.

15. Fabio Coentrao

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From: SL Benfica

Bought for: €0.9 million from Rio Ave FC

Sold for: €30 million to Real Madrid CF

Profit: €29.1 million

The new Galactico was bought for €30 million when it only cost Benfica €900 thousand.

Now that's how you make money!

14. David Luiz

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From: SL Benfica

Bought for: €0.5 million from Vitória

Sold for: €30 million to Chelsea FC

Profit: €29.5 million

Another Benfica super-profitable sale.

They know what they're doing, don't they?

13. Didier Drogba

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From: Olympique Marseille

Bought for: €6 million from Guingamp

Sold for: €37 million to Chelsea FC

Profit: €29.5 million

Drogba brought a huge profit Marseille's way.

They used that money to try to bounce back in Ligue 1 (with not much success).

12. Marc Overmars

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From: Arsenal FC

Bought for: €7.5 million from AFC Ajax

Sold for: €40 million to FC Barcelona

Profit: €32.5 million

Overmars was a fantastic sell for Arsenal.

And a horrible buy for Barcelona.

Especially when you add Emmanuel Petit into the mix.

11. Edin Dzeko

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From: VfL Wolfsburg

Bought for: €4 million from FK Teplice

Sold for: €37 million to Manchester City

Profit: €33 million

Edin seemed like he was worth €37 million.

He hasn't proved it so far at City...

Wolsfburg will still swim in their money, though.

10. Nicolas Anelka

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From: Arsenal FC

Bought for: €0.76 million from Paris Saint-Germain

Sold for: €35 million to Real Madrid CF

Profit: €34.24 million

Le Sulk on his sulkiest days joined Madrid for a hefty fee.

He only cost Arsene Wenger 760 thousand euros.

Great buy, better sell.

9. Rui Costa

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From: AC Fiorentina

Bought for: €5.5 million from SL Benfica

Sold for: €42 million to AC Milan

Profit: €36.5 million

The Portuguese maestro commanded a heavy fee when he left Fiorentina.

Evenwith the huge profit, the viola still went down because of financial hardships.

8. Pavel Nedved

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From: SS Lazio

Bought for: €3.5 million from Sparta Prague

Sold for: €41.2 million to Juventus

Profit: €37.7 million

Great buy from Lazio snatching Nedved for under €4 million euros from the Czech Republic.

But he should have been worth more than what Juve paid for him.

Still, good profit.

7. Dani Alves

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From: FC Sevilla

Bought for: €0.55 million from Bahia

Sold for: €41.5 million to FC Barcelona

Profit: €40.95 million

Monchi and Sevilla are magnificent at making profit.

But none like Alves who was bought for under 600 thousand euros and was sold for just shy of €42million to Barcelona.

6. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

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From: Inter Milan

Bought for: €24.8 million from Juventus

Sold for: €69.5 million (€49.5 million plus €20 million valued Samuel Eto'o) to FC Barcelona

Profit: €44.7 million

Moratti robbed Laporta.

There's no other way to understand this transfer today.

5. Hernán Crespo

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From: FC Parma

Bought for: €4 million from River Plate

Sold for: €55 million to SS Lazio

Profit: €51 million

Hernán Crespo at 5?

And for €55 million?

Lazio ran a tight ship back then. Not!

4. Kaká

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From: AC Milan

Bought for: €8.25 million from Sao Paolo

Sold for: €65 million to Real Madrid

Profit: €56.75 million

Kaká has been a huge bust at Real.

I'm sure Milan will be happy with their €65 million profit.

3. Luís Figo

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From: FC Barcelona

Bought for: €2.5 million from Sporting Lisbon

Sold for: €60 million to Real Madrid CF

Profit: €57.5 million

Judas Iscariot himself at least borught lots of money after Barcelona got him for €2.5 million.

Shame they spent it all in Overmars.

2. Zinedine Zidane

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From: Juventus

Bought for: €3.5 million from Bordeaux

Sold for: €73.5 million to Real Madrid

Profit: €70 million

Madrid got Zidane on the cheap.

And Juve should've seen more profit.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

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From: Manchester United

Bought for: €17.5 million from Sporting Lisbon

Sold for: €94 million to Real Madrid CF

Profit: €76.5 million

A fair price and profit for CR97 if you ask me.

Both parties must be happy with what they got from this deal.