1. Zinedine Zidane, £46.7million move from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001 Following the controversial arrival of Luis Figo in the Spanish capital a year before, Real president Florentino Perez continued his now-infamous Galacticos project with the capture of the then FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane from Italian giants Juventus for a still-world record fee.

2. Luis Figo, £37million, Barca to Real 2000 Perez was elected Real president in the summer of 2000 on the back of his promise to do the unthinkable and bring the star player from arch-rivals Barcelona to the Bernabeu. Upon appointment he was true to his word, breaking the world transfer record by signing Luis Figo for £37million.

3. Hernan Crespo, £35.7million Parma to Lazio 2000 In the summer of 2000 Sven-Goran Eriksson's Lazio were Serie A champions and flush with cash following the sale of Christian Vieri to Inter Milan a year before for a then-world record fee. They spent £35.7million of their money on Parma's Hernan Crespo, who finished top scorer in the league in his first season in Rome but was unable to help the club defend their Scudetto and also left for Inter in 2002.

4. Robinho, £32.5million, Real Madrid to Manchester City 2008 After having been taken over by the super-rich Abu Dhabi investment group on the final day of the 2008 summer transfer window, the new owners made a signal of their intent by beating Chelsea to the signing of unsettled Brazilian star Robinho from Real Madrid in a Premier League record deal worth £32.5million

5. Gianluigi Buffon, £32million Parma to Juventus 2001 With Parma selling off all their best players Italian giants Juventus pipped Roma to the signing of Azzurri stopper Gianluigi Buffon for £32million - a figure which remains a world record sum for a goalkeeper.