Ranking PSG's 10 Most Extravagant Transfer Signings

The words extravagant and Paris have gone hand in hand since the first shops opened on the Champs Elysees.

Since Paris Saint-Germain opened its doors to the Qatar Sports Investments group, that extravagant spending has spread to itself to the football team.

However, not all their huge money signings came after 2011. They might not have been as often as they are now, but every once in a while, Les Parisians opened up the chequebook in style.

Saturday is the anniversary of David Beckham joining PSG in 2013. He joined on a free transfer, so there was no extravagant transfer fee involved. According to John Lichfield, via The Independent, he even donated his substantial wage to charity. But everything about Beckham’s presence in Paris was like any record-breaking transfer deal.

Beckham’s debut against Marseille even had the privilege of “BeckCam” focused on every move—or lack thereof, as he sat on the bench—the former England captain made.

Ranking PSG’s 10 most extravagant transfers signings doesn’t just come down to the fee or the wages paid. It comes down to the value plus their worth or taking a risk and paying a handsome sum for an unheralded player.

There is no doubt that PSG’s transfer policy has changed in recent years; last season’s spending even got them in trouble with UEFA, leading to this season’s Financial Fair Play sanctions. PSG will continue to spend big, though, and if you make this list in a few years’ time, it may have a few new entries.

Here are PSG’s 10 most extravagant transfer signings.

Most of PSG’s transfers before QSI were mostly around the £4/5 million mark, but one or two moves still jumped off the page.

Back in 1998, PSG paid Turkish club Fenerbahce £10.9 million for Nigerian midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha. That was a huge fee for a player 17 years ago, but he was a great servant to the club. He played 84 games and scored 12 goals.

Just on the outside of the list are both Ezequiel Lavezzi and Yohan Cabaye. The Argentine signed from Napoli for €26 million in the summer of 2012. At the time Leonardo said it was historic for the club, but it has never quite hit those heights.

In 75 games, Lavezzi has only scored 14 league goals for PSG, compared to the 38 strikes he managed in five seasons at Napoli.

Cabaye was PSG’s big signing last January. They paid Newcastle United £20 million to take the French international back to Ligue 1 to provide PSG with another option in midfield. It hasn’t quite worked for the former Lille playmaker, and doubts have been raised over his ability since the move.

Overall it has been a disappointment for everyone except Newcastle.

On this list, the £30.4 million that PSG spent to bring Nicolas Anelka back for his second spell in Paris is the highest amount paid from outside of the QSI-era. In his first spell, Anelka played 10 times, scoring twice before Arsenal lured him to London.

In 2000, Anelka returned to the Parc des Princes, but his performances failed to live up to the hefty price tag. In 39 games and more than 3000 minutes, Anelka only scored 10 times.

During his first season back, Anelka made his debut as a substitute against Rennes, while starts against Sedan and Metz also went without a goal. Anelka then scored six goals in four games, the last of the run coming in Week 9 against Nantes. He would only score twice the rest of the season.

With PSG advised they could only spend €50 million this summer due to FFP sanctions, it was a huge surprise when they blew the whole amount on Chelsea’s David Luiz.

The debate will rage on forever regarding whether or not he is worth the money, but that will never change the fact that PSG obviously believed that he was.

His performances have been inconsistent at best. In the Champions League at home to Barcelona, he was excellent, but in league games where PSG should dominate, he hasn’t always looked a top-class defender.

The home fans love him, he is a star in Paris and only time will tell on the value of Luiz’s move.

"El Flaco" was the first marquee signing in the new QSI-era. The €42 million signing from Palermo in Serie A was a signal of intent from the Parisians.

Plucking one of Italian football’s crown jewels from under the noses of some bigger teams was PSG’s way of announcing themselves to the rest of Europe in 2011.

It was never important as to how Pastore played or how well PSG performed with the Argentine in the side. It was the opening of the floodgates, and without this move, some of the players above him in this list wouldn’t have arrived in the French capital.

When PSG lost to Barcelona in the quarter-final of the Champions League on goal difference in 2013, it was suggested that what the club lacked was a proper centre-forward.

That summer, PSG went out and spent €60 million on Uruguayan Edinson Cavani from Napoli. His job was to lead the attack with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, create a partnership with the Swede and take PSG to the next level.

It hasn’t quite worked as of yet. The 16 goals in his first league campaign were the ideal start, but eight goals in 20 games this season fail to show progression. Happiness, tactics and instability have taken their toll, and Cavani, rightly or wrongly, has struggled to adapt to life in Paris.

Some of his complaints about PSG tactics are unfounded—with Ibrahimovic in the team, Cavani has plenty of chances to play central—but his complaints have led to a spotlight on his performances when he plays solely through the middle. That’s when he has disappointed most.

Lucas Moura signed in the summer of 2012 but didn’t join the Ligue 1 club until January 2013. At times he has shown signs of magic and imagination, inspiring awe in the Parc des Princes crowd.

He is still young, so he will frustrate and show inconsistencies, but little by little, game-by-game, he is beginning to find an end product and is a threat all over the pitch.

Lucas contributed 10 assists last season, he now has seven goals this campaign and is becoming one of PSG’s most important players.

This season, the €42 million spent to bring him from Sao Paulo looks like money well spent.

One of the biggest names joining your club is always going to be a huge occasion. When it’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it becomes headline news all over the world.

Unveiled at the Trocadero with the Eiffel Tower in the background in 2012, it was the move that turned PSG into a serious contender. No longer were they wanting to be part of the European elite, bringing in Zlatan, at least in terms of media involvement, took them to the next level.

At just under £20 million, the Swede has been extremely good value for money. He scored 29 goals in his first season and without injury could have surpassed that in his second. Two league titles and one Coupe de la Ligue trophy. You can’t say he hasn’t made a huge difference at the club.

Around the same time that Ibrahimovic joined the club, PSG also brought in AC Milan and Brazil captain Thiago Silva. His signing had a simple objective: to turn PSG into a defensively stronger side and make them dominant at the back.

In his first season, he looked imperious. At times it seemed almost impossible to get past him and the €40 million spent felt like a bargain.

Going forward there have been a few problems. He looked sluggish at the end of his second season, and Blanc admitted that his captain was taking it easy before the World Cup.

This season he has struggled to get that original form back. There were signs against Saint-Etienne last week that he still had the ability to dominate. Even if he can’t find that level of performance again, he has been a wonderful signing.

Brazilian defender Marquinhos had only played for one year at AS Roma before PSG came calling in 2013. Spending £28 million on a 20-year-old centre-back with only one year's experience in Europe would always be a huge risk, but it is one that is paying off.

Thrust into the first team this season, when Thiago Silva picked up an injury against Napoli, Marquinhos adapted perfectly to the pressure. His performance against Barcelona in Paris was an indication of how far the young defender could go.

There have been rumours of interest from Barcelona and Manchester United, but although the initial outlay on a 20-year-old was huge, he is the defender on whom PSG should be building their defence for the next 10 years.

After helping Pescara to promotion from Serie B, it was no surprise that young Italian Marco Verratti was linked with a host of Serie A clubs.

It was a surprise when not only did PSG spend upwards of £11.75 million on the 19-year-old in 2012 but that the Italian Under-21 international chose to move his career to France.

Speaking on the day he signed, the midfielder described his excitement, via Eurosport:

The players here are great champions. I've seen them on television and now I'm training with them. It gives me a huge desire to do well here.

It doesn't happen every day that a young player can join a great club like this. I'll do my best to repay PSG's faith in me.

It’s safe to say that he has fully repaid that faith. Last season he became integral to the Parisian midfield, and now they look lost without his tenacity and excellent passing.

It was a risk to bring the young Italian to Paris, but he is now integral to their success. He will always attract attention from other European sides, but it would be a huge mistake to ever let him go.

Back in 2003, PSG finished in 11th place, 10 points behind Bordeaux in fourth. Despite their lower league place, the attraction to join the Parisians was always a huge draw.

Three years had passed since PSG had splashed out on a player from within Ligue 1—Just under £10 million spent on bringing Stephane Dalmat from Marseille in 2000—Going big on Portuguese striker Pauleta from Les Girondins was a huge statement on intent from the Parisians, and it would be a move they would never regret. It was seen as a lot of money at the time, but it was the outlay needed if PSG were going to compete with the dominance of Olympique Lyonnais.

Pauleta would never win the league with PSG; finishing second in his first season, only three points behind Lyon, was the best he could manage. However, the Portuguese striker scored 76 league goals and remains PSG’s all-time leading goalscorer with 109 in total.

If the Parisian club ever sign someone whose value is less than £131,000 per league goal, they will be a very lucky club. In comparison, Ibrahimovic is currently costing £285,000 per strike.

In years to come, it would be a tragedy if Pauleta was forgotten from the annals of the club's history. His transfer fee may seem like peanuts compared to modern times, but it was a huge move at the time for a club struggling to find its identity.