The Most Expensive Starting 11 in the Soccer World

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SteemSports Presenter: @datageek

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SteemSports Editor/Writer: @writingamigo

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The transfer window has been shut for all major European leagues. This transfer window will be remembered by many as the craziest transfer window of all time. About twenty years ago no one could have imagined that a single player would cost 220 million euros, yet alone a teenager costing 180 million euros. It is what it is, though.

In this post, I look at the most expensive player in each position. I am going to pick a team which consists of the most expensive player in each particular position. Let's do this.

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Buffon(GK)- €52m Parma to Juventus 2001

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Buffon was bought by Juventus in 2001 , and since then he has had the title of the most expensive goalkeeper. It is pretty surprising to me considering recent transfer prices, but it's a strong pointer to how confident Juventus were in Buffon's ability even at that age; only a few would not agree that it was money well spent.

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Benjamin Mendy(LB)- €58m Monaco to Mancity 2017

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Guardiola had to undergo significant reinforcements in the full back areas after letting 3 full backs go. Mendy had always been his number one option; he did get his man, but he did not come cheap.

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David Luiz(CB)- €56M Chelsea to PSG 2014

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A few eyebrows were raised when PSG splashed so much money to sign David Luiz from Chelsea. I think it was one of those transfers that Jose Mourinho was a tad happy to complete. He is back at Chelsea for a second stint though, and he seems to be having a great time this time around.

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John Stones (CB)- €55.6M Everton to Mancity 2016

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A perfect example of a great British talent with lots of "potential." That is what the transfer market is about now; a player doesn't necessarily have to be in his prime to command a hefty transfer fee. Well, to be fair, John is still quite young and he has a lot of time to fulfill his potential.

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Kyle Walker (RB) - €57M Spurs to Mancity 2017

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Incredible piece of business for Spurs considering Walker had only one year left on his contract. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is particularly ruthless in holding on to his superstars, and when he eventually sells, it is usually for an eye popping amount.

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Neymar (AML) - €222M Barcelona to PSG 2017

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This has to be the mother of all transfers. It started out as a rumor that could never happen, but it's now a reality. There is still noise about breach of Financial Fair play rules and the conduct of Neymar and his agents during negotiations, but the fact remains that Neymar is a PSG player.

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Pogba (CM) - €105M Juventus to Manutd 2016

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In case you did not know, Pogba was a Man Utd player before being let go to Juventus for a very small compensation fee of about £850,000, well compare that to the €105M Manutd had to pay Juventus to resign Pogba. Well done, Juventus, well done!

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James Rodriguez (CM) -€78M Monaco to Real Madrid 2014

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The golden boy of Colombian football. He had a splendid tournament at the 2014 FIFA world cup event hosted by Brazil. That's when he got noticed by Real Madrid, and the rest is history. It did not quite work out for him at Real Madrid, though, and he is now at Bayern Munich trying to get his career back on track.

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Ousmane Dembélé (AMR) -€105 Dortmund to Barcelona 2017

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What do you do when you loose a star player and get paid outrageous money? Well, I think you take part of that money and sign someone capable of replacing the star player you lost. I guess that is what Barcelona did; they spent about half of the windfall they got from the sale of Neymar on Dembele. I can't help but Imagine if Dembele would have been worth that much money if PSG did not do the unexpected and meet Neymar's Release Clause. I cannot blame Barcelona though; they had to get someone in after losing Neymar, and they got their man.

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Kylian Mbappe (CF)- €180M Monaco to PSG 2018

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Yeah, I know Mbappe's current transfer to PSG is technically a loan and won't be official until the next summer, but I have included him in my team anyway. PSG have managed to complete two almost impossible transfer deals this year. Just put it in perspective that by next summer PSG will have the two most expensive soccer players in the world spending an estimated €402M on just two players

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Gonzalo Higuain (CF)- €90M Napoli to Juventus 2016

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Juventus spent most of the money they got from selling Pogba to Manutd on Higuain. Higuain still remains one of the deadliest strikers in world football. I was tempted to sneak Ronaldo into my team but opted not to, even though he has shown in recent times he can play as a center forward.

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How they line up

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Here is how they line up:

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Interesting Observations

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• All transfers have happened within the past 2 summer transfer windows except Buffon in 2001, David Luiz in 2014, and James Rodriguez in 2014.

• Manchester City have signed 3 of the 4 most expensive Defenders in the world

• France has 4 players represented on the list

• Mbappe will become the most expensive teenager in football history when his transfer to PSG is completed

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So there you have a team made of the most expensive soccer players in each position. If someone was able to put this team together for real, do you think this team would be invincible??

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