Top 10 Most Expensive Player Sales in Club History: Napoli is one of Italy’s most historic clubs, having won three Serie A titles, six Coppa Italia titles, two SuperCoppa Italiana titles, and one UEFA Champions League, formerly known as the UEFA Cup.
The club’s home matches are played at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, a tribute to their finest player. Kim Min-jae recently joined a list of the club’s 10 most expensive departures, which does not include the Argentine legend.
Top 10 Most Expensive Player Sales in Club History
Below are the particulars of Napoli’s most expensive player sales:
10. Roberto Inglese – $21.8 million
The 31-year-old striker was acquired by Napoli in 2017 and remained there for two seasons until 2019. Given that he never played for Napoli, his inclusion on this list is perhaps the oddest. He was signed from Chievo and promptly loaned back to his previous club, where he scored 12 goals in 34 Serie A appearances. He then spent the next two seasons on loan at Parma before being sold due to an obligation to purchase.
9. Simone Verdi – €22 million
In 2018, Simone Verdi inked a five-year contract with Napoli after transferring from Bologna for €25 million. The Italian forward only spent one season at Napoli, scoring four goals and dishing out three assists throughout the 2018-2019 campaign. The following season, the 31-year-old was loaned to Torino before the transaction was made permanent.
8. Fabian Ruiz – €23 million
The 27-year-old Spanish player was acquired from Real Betis following his U21 career in Spain. The midfielder is the most recent player to be added to this list, having left Napoli for Paris Saint-Germain in 2023 after four years with the club. He was one of several midfielders acquired by Paris during the same transfer window, but he has yet to establish himself as a regular starter for the French capital.
7. Allan – €23.6 million
Allan, who has 10 caps for Brazil, began his career with Vasco da Gama in his native country before transferring to Italy for three seasons with Udinese in 2012. During his five-year tenure at Napoli, he made 168 appearances and scored 11 goals in total.
The ambitious plan of Carlo Ancelotti for Everton convinced him to quit the club. Everton signed the 32-year-old from Serie A club Napoli in September 2020, and he went on to make 57 appearances for the Blues. He departed Goodison park in 2022 to join Al-Wahda, a decision he may come to regret.
6. Ezequiel Lavezzi – 30 million euros
Individually and collectively, Ezequiel Lavezzi’s five-year tenure at Napoli was fruitful. Along with Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik, 38-year-old Lavezzi was one of the “Three Tenors” of the Serie A club’s “Three Tenors.”
In the 2011-12 season, his last, Napoli won the Coppa Italia. However, after the club failed to qualify for the Champions League, he decided to depart the club. He was sold to Paris Saint-Germain in 2012, when the French club was seeking to make an impact in the Champions League. He played alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the duo was extremely lethal.
5. €40m for Kalidou Koulibaly
Koulibaly, who was also pursued by Juventus and Manchester United, had just one year remaining on his contract with Napoli when he decided to join Premier League rival Chelsea. Chelsea signed the Senegalese defender to a four-year contract. After one season at Chelsea, he moved to the Saudi League this summer after Al-Hilal made him an irresistible offer.
4. Kim Min-jae – €50 million
Kim, 26 years old, was an integral part of the Napoli squad that concluded a 33-year wait for a Serie A championship last season; he joined Napoli from Fenerbahce in the summer of 2022. In his first season in Italy, he made 35 league appearances and was named Serie A’s top defender.
He has inked a five-year contract with the Allianz Arena until 30 June 2028. Bayern was seeking to strengthen its defence after Lucas Hernández left for Paris Saint-Germain and Benjamin Pavard’s future was uncertain.
3. Jorginho – €57 million
Jorginho was instrumental to Maurizio Sarri’s Italian side as a deep-lying playmaker before the coach brought him to Stamford Bridge in 2018 with him to Chelsea. Jorginho, another of Chelsea’s most significant acquisitions in recent seasons, left Naples for London. During the winter transfer window of the 2022-23 season, he joined Chelsea’s fiercest rivals Arsenal, linking up with Mikel Arteta, a player intent on reviving the Arsene Wenger era at the Emirates Stadium.
2. Edinson Cavani – €64.5 million
Cavani tallied 52 goals for Napoli in 69 Serie A appearances.
Edinson Cavani replicated Lavezzi’s transfer, albeit a year later. This meant that Napoli lost two of their top performers to PSG within a year. Cavani’s record at Napoli was outstanding, as he scored 52 goals in 69 Serie A appearances.
With the signing of Edinson Cavani, Paris Saint-Germain broke the transfer record for the French division. The previous record was held by Monaco, who paid an estimated €60 million to Atletico Madrid for Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.
1. Gonzalo Higuain — €90 million
Gonzalo Higuain’s Real Madrid goalscoring record is better than most people comprehend, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he accomplished the same feat in Serie A. He scored 71 goals in 104 Serie A appearances, a rate comparable to Cavani’s but over a longer period of time.
Gonzalo Higuain left Napoli after three years and joined Serie A champions Juventus for €90 million, making him the most expensive player in Italian football history and allowing the 35-year-old to reunite with Cristiano Ronaldo.
