If Gareth Bale Is Worth £100 Million, Then How Much for These Former Greats?

This summer has been something of an unusual one in world football, with transfer fees rising to eye watering figures.

Much has obviously been made of Real Madrid's chase for Gareth Bale, and a prospective £100 million transfer fee, but that potential world-record deal is merely the tip of the iceberg.

As money both new and old does battle to make waves across the European landscape, mega-money moves have been pretty commonplace this summer. Headline transfers included Edinson Cavani to Paris Saint-Germain for £56.7 million, Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez to Monaco for £52.8 million and £39.6 million, respectively, and Neymar's move to Barcelona for £50.1 million.

Yet below that level there were also a number of other deals involving big fees: Shakhtar Donetsk procured Bernard from Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro for £22 million, Gonzalo Higuain joined Napoli for £32.5 million, Mario Goetze moved to Bayern Munich for £32.5 million, whilst Tottenham Hotspur splashed out £26.4 million on Roberto Soldado. (All figures via Transfermarkt)

In terms of transfer fees, figures have become astronomical. Indeed, they have come some way since Diego Maradona twice broke the world transfer record in the 1980s or when Roberto Baggio did likewise in 1990 as he exchanged Fiorentina for Juventus in an £8 million move.

With all that having been said, here's a look at seven greats of the game from days gone by—prior to the days of Messrs. Maradona and Baggio—and a look at how much they would have potentially cost if they were at their peak in the modern game:

NB. Potential Values came out of my own head and what I'd willingly pay for them in the modern era, based on position (forwards invariably cost more), consistency and ability—Nothing too rigorous. 

PS. I would not pay £100 million for Gareth Bale.

Continue the debate on Twitter: @AA_Richards

Silvio Piola

The highest goalscorer in the history of Serie A, Silvio Piola notched 274 league goals in 537 appearances in a 25-year career, representing the likes of Pro Vercelli, Juventus, Lazio, Torino and Novara.

A pure No. 9 in every sense, Piola was adept at shooting from distance or sniffing out chances from close range, a good finisher with either foot, as well as being strong in the air.

Breaking through with Pro Vercelli as a 17-year-old in 1930-31, Piola scored 13 goals in 32 games in his first (full) debut season at senior level. He would net 51 goals in 127 matches before leaving for Lazio in 1934 as a 20-year-old.

Piola's first campaign in Rome saw him net 21 times, and he would remain with the Biancoceleste for nine years, scoring 143 goals in 227 matches. Subsequently, he would twice win the Capocannoniere for top scorer in Serie A during that time.

He spent the 1943-44 campaign with Torino, scoring 27 goals in just 23 matches, before swapping to local rivals Juventus with whom he would spend two years, netting 26 goals in 57 games.

At the age of 34 he made his final move, joining Novara, but due to his exemplary fitness, he spent another seven years in the top-flight until his retirement, scoring 86 times in the process. Such is the fondness with which he is remembered, Novara's stadium bears his name, as it has done since 1976.

Nonetheless, despite his personal successes in the top division of Italian football, the Scudetto always eluded him. However, in 1938 he did win the World Cup, scoring five goals, including two in Italy's 4-2 final win over Hungary.

On the international stage Piola scored 30 goals in 34 games for Italy from 1935-52, a tally which one can assume would have only been far greater had it not been for the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

For a career built around longevity at the top level, every bit as much as goalscoring excellence, Piola in his pomp would certainly cost a princely sum in the modern era.

Potential Value: £60 million.

Gunnar Nordahl

The legendary Swede's name stands the test of time with regards lovers of calcio, his distinguished spell with AC Milan having marked him as one of Italian football's true greats and his five Capocannoniere awards remain unparalleled.

A composed and devastating finisher when presented with even the slightest hint of an opportunity, Nordahl was a mixture of accomplished technique—he was an outstanding volleyer—intelligence and physical power. In short, he was as universal a centre-forward as they come.

According to Fifa.com, his former teammate Gunnar Gren said of him: "He would sneak into positions that others would not know existed. He was one of the best players there has ever been, and in my opinion one of the best goalscorers."  

Nordahl began his career as a 16-year-old with minnows Hornefors, and he scored 68 goals in 41 appearances for them before moving to top-tier club Degerfors, with whom he scored a further 56 times in 77 league games.

In 1944, aged 23, he would join IFK Norrkoping and during his four-and-a-half seasons with the VitaBla, he would only earn further success. 93 goals in 95 appearances was a staggering achievement in itself, but that he would lead the club to four successive Allsvenskan titles speaks volumes of the forwards quality, even today.

However, it is his time in Serie A which is more greatly remembered, particularly his time as part of the renowned Gre-No-Li trio—comprising he, Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm—which so thrilled supporters of the Rossoneri in the 1950s.

The trio led the club to their first Scudetto in over 40 years as they won Serie A in 1951. Nordahl would have his hands on the trophy in 1955 also, whilst there were also a quadruple of successes in the Coppa Italia during his San Siro stint.

During seven-and-a-half years with Milan, Nordahl would score a staggering 210 goals in 257 games, his goals output per Serie A season reading as such: 16 (half season), 35, 34, 26, 26, 23, 27, 23. To this day, he remains their all-time leading goalscorer.

The final two years of Nordahl's career saw him with AS Roma and would see him strike a further 15 goals in 34 games. Thus, his 0.77 goal per game average in Serie A makes him the most efficient goalscorer in the league's history; only Silvio Piola and Francesco Totti have scored more goals in the Italian top-flight than the Swede.

Moreover, his international record remains peerless, Nordahl netting 43 goals in 33 games for his country. The pinnacle of his international career came at the Olympic Games in London in 1948, with his seven goals leading Sweden to the gold medal.

Were he around today, Gunnar Nordahl would be one of the most sought-after centre-forwards in world football. He was the most complete and devastating striker of his era.

Potential Value: £85 million.

Alfredo Di Stefano

Widely considered to be among the greatest footballers of all time, Alfredo Di Stefano was an instrumental part of Real Madrid's early domination of the European Cup during the 1950s and is, perhaps to this day, the epitome of the universal footballer.

The blonde arrow lit up fields in Argentina, Colombia and Spain with his mixture of technical quality, tactical nous and sublime vision which meant that he was equally at home starting attacks or finishing them. His 21-year club career encompassed five clubs, two continents, 521 league appearances, 377 league goals and much more besides.

A Buenos Aires native, Di Stefano made his debut for River Plate in 1945 as a 19-year-old. The following year he went on loan to Huracan where he scored 11 goals in 24 matches before returning to River where he would score 49 goals in 65 games over the next three seasons.

Due to a footballer's strike in Argentina in 1949, Di Stefano sought pastures new and moved to the lucrative Colombian league to ply his trade with Millonarios. Four years in Bogota would lead to three Colombian championships and 90 goals in 102 league matches.

From there he would move to Europe and Spain, where Barcelona and Real Madrid both laid claim to his signature—at one point it was agreed he would play two seasons with each, but Barcelona eventually backed away from the move—and in 1953 he completed a move to Los Blancos.

For 11 years Di Stefano more than played his part as Real proceeded to place themselves at the pinnacle of European football. In his first season, he led the club to their first La Liga title in 21 years. He would go on to secure a further seven league titles.

Yet it was performances in the newly founded European Cup which propelled Di Stefano's rise to greatness and cemented his place as a legend with Madridistas. Between 1956 and 1960, Real won five successive crowns, a record that has yet to, and may never, be beaten. Additionally, they claimed the inaugural Intercontinental Cup in 1960, beating Uruguayan side Penarol.

Alongside Raymond Kopa, Paco Gento, Hector Rial and Ferenc Puskas, Di Stefano was a part of a formidable attacking quintet and he scored 307 goals in 396 matches for Los Merengues, whilst assisting many more. His brilliance was twice rewarded by France Football magazine, who twice presented Di Stefano with the coveted Ballon d'Or in 1957 and 1959.

In 1964, Di Stefano would join Espanyol, where he would play two seasons at the tail end of his career. On the international stage, Di Stefano never appeared at a World Cup despite playing for three different countries: Argentina, Colombia and Spain.

2014 will mark the 50th anniversary of Di Stefano's final competitive match for Real Madrid and his legacy remains as strong as ever. Cristiano Ronaldo's current goalscoring feats may be doing his case the world of good, just as Raul's goals and longevity did his, but Alfredo Di Stefano remains the greatest in the club's illustrious history.

Potential Value: £100 million.

Pele

With a total 1,281 goals in 1,383 games, taking in a career which included three World Cup successes and saw him given the accolade Football Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, there aren't too many ways left to describe the impact Edson Arantes do Nascimento had on world football in the 20th century.

The prototype for the modern centre-forward, Pele was strong, quick, excellent in the air and a clinical finisher with either foot. However, far from being merely a pure No. 9, Pele also had the movement, intelligence, vision and supreme ball control that seemingly allowed him to do whatever he wanted when in possession, which made him an equally devastating No. 10.

A complete attacker in every sense of the word, he would go on from being a precocious teenager to Brazil's most celebrated star of the beautiful game.

At club level, Pele began his 18-year career with Brazilian side Santos at the age of 15, scoring on his first team debut in a friendly against Corinthians in 1956. The next two years would see him become a star for his club, before the 1958 World Cup in Sweden highlighted to the world his emergence.

By the end of the tournament, the Selecao were lifting their first Jules Rimet trophy, Pele scoring the only goal in a hard fought quarterfinal against Wales, making him the youngest scorer in World Cup history. aged 17 years and 239 days. A 23-minute hat-trick saw off France in the semifinals, before he scored twice in the final win over Sweden, including perhaps the most iconic of all Pele's goals, where he lifted the ball over a defenders head before volleying past the goalkeeper.

He would return to club football with Santos, touring the world to play in lucrative exhibition matches throughout his career, whilst also leading the club to successive Copa Libertadores titles in 1962 and 1963 and a number of state championships.

In 1969, Pele netted his 1,000th career goal at the Maracana. The following year, back in the yellow shirt of his country, Pele's legacy was set at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

Injury had curtailed his efforts in both 1962 and 1966, Brazil retaining their crown in '62, but falling at the group stage in '66. However, now 29, Pele was at his peak, his mix of technical and physical prowess now aligned with vast experience, and alongside a glistening attack featuring Rivelino, Tostao and the effervescent Jairzinho.

Their opening match saw Czechoslovakia beaten 4-1, before world champions England were defeated 1-0. Romania were next to be dispatched, before a 4-2 win over Peru in the quarterfinals and a 3-1 win over Uruguay in the semifinals. In the final, Italy were vanquished 4-1 in a performance which was the perfect embodiment of o jogo bonito—the beautiful game. Pele scored his 12th World Cup goal during that game and teed up Carlos Alberto's sublime fourth.

For many, the man commonly known as Pele simply was, and remains, the best. "O Rei"—The King.

Potential Value: £120 million.

George Best

For 11 years George Best was the whirling dervish whose effervescence shone so brightly and lit up the European game with Manchester United. He would walk away from Old Trafford at just 27, for various short-lived sojourns elsewhere, but his legend continues to live on in Manchester, such was his fantasy and his impact.

Gloriously talented the Northern Ireland winger was a combination of pace, balance, sublime skill, the capability to bamboozle the world's best defenders and with an eye for goal. The attacking triumvirate involving he, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, led United to two Football League titles and success in the 1968 European Cup.

Best was handed his United debut four months past his 17th birthday in September 1963 and in his debut season he scored six times in 26 appearances.

His performances over the next three years continued to dazzle, particularly his two-goal showing against Benfica in the Estadio da Luz, aged just 19, in 1966. But it was in the 1967-68 campaign when the man hailed as "the fifth Beatle" went stratospheric.

28 league goals and the FWA Footballer of the Year award were his reward for outstanding consistency and some magical moments as United finished second in the title race, but it was in Europe where he would enhance his reputation to ever greater levels.

United advanced through the early stages of the European Cup, skirting past Maltese club Hibernians, Yugoslavian side Sarajevo and Gornik Zabrze of Poland, which led them to a semifinal clash with Real Madrid. Best scored the only goal of the first leg at Old Trafford, before a thrilling tie at the Santiago Bernabeu ended in a 3-3 draw, which meant United went through to the Wembley final to face Benfica.

After 90 minutes the score remained 1-1, but in the second minute of extra time, Best broke the game wide open. He embarked on a slaloming run through the heart of the Benfica backline, before rounding the keeper and rolling the ball into the net. Further goals from Brian Kidd and Bobby Charlton added gloss to the scoreline—United winning 4-1—and it proved the pinnacle of Best's career. He had scored in every round and, following his league and cup exploits, was deservedly awarded the 1968 Ballon d'Or.

His career would continue, and though there would continue to be glistening moments—notably a six-goal haul in one FA Cup match—that night at Wembley represented the pinnacle, both for player and club.

In total Best made 470 appearances and netted 179 goals for United, before walking away, but the love of the club's support lived on.

At his funeral in 2005, a fitting tribute in the shape of a banner was visible along his route, reading: "Maradona good; Pele better; George Best."

Potential Value: £90 million.

Franz Beckenbauer

The leader of the most successful Bayern Munich side ever and the brains behind Germany's 1974 World Cup success, Franz Beckenbauer redefined the role of the libero and is quite possibly the best defensive footballer the game has ever seen.

Elegant and decisive, tactically assertive and an outstanding reader of the game, Beckenbauer was capable of playing anywhere through the centre of his side with distinction. He began in midfield—although he made his Bayern debut in 1964 playing on the left-wing—before dropping back into defence, eventually becoming an attack-minded sweeper.

Bayern's rise to prominence mirrored that of Der Kaiser, their promotion to the Bundesliga coming at the end of his first full season with the club. Success swiftly followed with the DFB-Pokal in 1965-66 and the now-defunct Cup Winners' Cup the following year.

Beckenbauer's leadership qualities and on-field demeanor saw him handed the Bayern captaincy in 1968-69, and he led the Bavarians to their first league title.

Greater honours were to come as he led the club to three league titles in a row from 1972 to 1974, as well as a trio of European Cup triumphs in 1974, '75 and '76, superseding Dutch rivals Ajax as European football's most dominant club. That final triumph played its part in Beckenbauer's second Ballon d'Or award, having also claimed the honour in 1972 as well.

After 528 games and 77 goals for Die Roten, Beckenbauer moved to the NASL in 1977, joining for New York Cosmos for four seasons. In 1980 he returned to Germany for a two-year spell with Hamburg, whom he led to a Bundesliga title.

On the international stage, Beckenbauer proved nothing short of imperious for West Germany from his first cap in 1965 to his last in 1977.

All in all he claimed 103 caps, scoring 14 goals, a member of World Cup squads which finished runners-up (1966), third place in 1970 and eventually claimed the brand new FIFA World Cup trophy in 1974, beating bitter rivals Germany on home soil in the final.

Moreover, 1972 saw Germany win the European Championships, beating Czechoslovakia 3-0 in the final, before losing to the same opponents on penalties four years later.

All told, Beckenbauer was a defender without compare. Few have ever read the game as well, not many have ever been as clean and decisive in the challenge and almost none, either before or since, have ever been as technically adept.

Potential Value: £65 million.

Johan Cruyff

If Rinus Michels was the Godfather of total football, then Cruyff was his greatest pupil and the perfect on-field embodiment of Michels' philosophy.

An attacking midfielder and on-field leader, Cruyff was a tremendous playmaker, tactically aware to move into a variety of positions, intelligent enough to bend matches to his own particular will and with the technical ability to start and finish moves; not dissimilar to Di Stefano, he was very much a universal footballer.

Though slightly built, Cruyff debuted for Ajax at just 17 in 1964, his dazzling footwork and excellent vision standing out straightaway. The following season he began to firmly establish himself as a regular with the Amsterdammers scoring 25 goals in 23 matches as they won the Eredivisie, the beginning of six titles in eight years.

Confident and opinionated, Cruyff more than played his part as Ajax dominated the early 1970s with three successive European Cup crowns. His performances throughout the course of 1970-71 saw him win the first of three Ballon d'Or's in 1971 (1973 and '74 the others) and he continued to grow into his role as leader of Michels footballing revolution with Ajax.

1972 saw Cruyff score 33 goals in all competitions for Ajax, his piece de resistance coming in that year's European Cup final as Ajax destroyed the catenaccio style of Inter Milan. A dominant Ajax controlled the match from start to finish and Cruyff had the decisive say, scoring both goals in a 2-0 victory.

He would depart Ajax the following year for Barcelona, guiding them to their first La Liga crown in 14 years and his five-year spell with the Catalan club would see him ingratiate himself to such an extent that he effectively became one of their own. Spells in the United States and with Levante followed, before he returned to Ajax in 1980.

Two years followed before he defected to arch-rivals Feyenoord—angered by Ajax decision not to offer him a new contract—and teamed in midfield with a young Ruud Gullit, he would lead the Rotterdammers to a league and cup double before retirement. That final season would also see him named Dutch Footballer of the Year for a fifth time.

At international level, Cruyff featured 48 times in an 11-year career with the Oranje, scoring 33 times.

His best moments would come at the 1974 World Cup, once more under the tutelage of Michels, as the Netherlands reached the final, playing some of the most aesthetically pleasing football that the game has, to this day, ever seen.

Their mastery of total football and their effortless interchanging of positions had seen the Dutch cruise through to the final, scoring 14 goals and conceding just one in their six matches. However, against an outstanding West Germany in the final, the Dutch succumbed to a 2-1 defeat, despite having taken a second-minute lead. Cruyff was named player of the tournament, but had to make do with a silver medal.

A player whose list of personal honours are seemingly endless, Cruyff is remembered for being more than merely a footballer. He was an artist, an activist and he remains a reference point for the beautiful game.

Potential Value: £110 million.