Cantona Tops PL's Most Game-Changing Transfers Ranking — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Eric Cantona tops the list, joining Manchester United from Leeds for £1.6m in November 1992 after winning the French title with Marseille and serving a two-month ban for throwing a ball at a referee
- Sergio Aguero ranks #2, arriving at Manchester City from Atletico Madrid for £35m in July 2011 and scoring the stoppage-time winner against QPR that ended City's 43-year title drought
- N'Golo Kante at #3 cost Leicester just £5.6m from French third-tier side Caen in August 2015, missed only one league game in their title-winning campaign, and was sold to Chelsea a year later for nearly 5x that fee
- Petr Cech anchors the list at #10, joining Chelsea for £7m in July 2004 and setting a still-standing record with 24 clean sheets in his debut season — conceding only 15 goals across 1,025 consecutive minutes unbeaten
- Carlos Tevez at #8 scored seven goals in West Ham's final 11 games to keep them up in 2006-07, with Sheffield United later awarded £20m in compensation over the third-party ownership of his and Javier Mascherano's registrations
- Robinho at #7 scored on his Premier League debut after a £32.5m deadline-day move from Real Madrid in August 2008 — the same day Abu Dhabi United Group completed its takeover — marking the start of £3bn+ in City spending that has since yielded eight league titles
- Notable omissions flagged by the author include Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Erling Haaland, Yaya Toure, Kevin de Bruyne, and Rodri — all won major honours but, per the author, either needed years to develop or arrived at clubs already in their trophy-winning groove
Why it matters: The list uses on-arrival impact rather than career legacy as its yardstick — which is why Haaland, Henry, and Ronaldo are excluded despite superior trophy hauls, while Cantona, Aguero, and Kante (combined fee under £43m) top the rankings. The deliberately provocative omissions are where the real fan debate will live in the comments.
Ask SkimNews
