Chelsea is currently breaking their transfer record with the signing of Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for an eye-watering £117m. This summer has seen other massive deals, such as Elliot Anderson costing Manchester City £116m and Sandro Tonali moving to Tottenham for £92.5m. However, significant value can still be found at the cheaper end of the market. To emphasize this, we have assembled an XI of Premier League stars signed for a combined total of less than £117m.
Emiliano Martinez, now considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world and Argentina's number one, joined Aston Villa from Arsenal in 2020 for £17m. While seen as a calculated risk at the time, it has proven to be a bargain. In defense, Daniel Munoz joined Crystal Palace from Belgium two-and-a-half years ago for less than £7m. The Colombia international has been tremendous value, winning the FA Cup in his first full season and the Conference League in his second, with transfer rumors now linking him to clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid. Ezri Konsa, signed from Brentford in 2019 for £12m, has completed seven seasons with Villa, making over 200 Premier League appearances, winning the Europa League, and representing England at the World Cup.
Bournemouth defender James Hill had a breakthrough 2025-26 season, playing 29 times in the Premier League after being signed from League One side Fleetwood Town. The Cherries also succeeded with left-back Valentin Truffert, who cost around a third of the fee they received for Liverpool-bound Milos Kerkez. Truffert arguably had a better season, missing only 40 minutes of the campaign as Bournemouth achieved European qualification. John McGinn, signed by Villa from Hibernian during their Championship days, has become a modern-day hero with over 300 appearances and a Europa League trophy. Notably, McGinn cost around 85% less than the Conference League-winning captain, Dean Henderson, in the same season.
Granit Xhaka, the most expensive player in this XI, has been a bargain for Sunderland following their return to the Premier League. A Bundesliga winner with Bayer Leverkusen in 2023-24 and a former Arsenal captain, Xhaka was targeted by Chelsea this summer for a reunion with Xabi Alonso, but the Black Cats refused to let him go. Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye, signed in 2024 after a season with Marseille, has been an inspired move. Across two seasons, the Senegal international has scored 17 goals, which is more goals than the millions spent on his transfer, and the ratio can only get better. Bournemouth’s 20-year-old talent Kroupi, signed from Lorient for £12m, was a breakout star with 13 goals in his debut season. The club hopes to keep him, though his performance makes that increasingly difficult.
Gabriel Martinelli remains a bargain for Arsenal, costing just £6m in 2019. He has scored 62 goals, meaning his cost per goal is less than £100,000, and he became a Premier League champion earlier this year. Arsenal is now paying over five times that amount to bring in his potential upgrade, the £34m man Christos Tzolis. Finally, Jean-Philippe Mateta has provided impressive value for Crystal Palace, hitting double figures in goals for three consecutive seasons and reaching 50 Premier League goals in total, defying the inflated market for centre-forwards. In other news, Liverpool is tipped to hijack Manchester United to sign an £80m-rated Premier League star described as a massive asset, while analysts are predicting which clubs the summer's biggest free agents will sign for. Additionally, the Premier League issued a statement explaining why Tottenham’s James Maddison was not awarded a penalty against Leeds.
Aged 28, Konsa still has a fair few years left at the top level.
They’ll be hoping to keep the exciting 20-year-old to themselves a while longer, but if he can back up his 13-goal debut season in English football, they might start finding that difficult.
