Mohamed Salah (£36.9m) Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah became the Africa's most expensive player after completing his move to Liverpool from AS Roma for a fee of £36.9 (€42m) in the summer transfer window of 2017 season. Salah enjoyed a highly successful season with Roma, helping them finish as runners-up in the Italian Serie A behind champions Juvenuts. He scored 19 goals and provided 15 assists in 41 appearances in all competitions. Sadio Mane (£34m) Sadio Mane The Senegal winger, was the Africa's most expensive player when he joined Liverpool from Southampton for €41.2m (£34m) in July 2016, before Egyptian Salah's transfer to Liverpool broke his record. Wilfried Bony (£28m) Wilfried Bony Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony joined Manchester City for £28m, arriving from Swansea in January 2015. The athletic goalscoring machine has been in a terrific form in 2014, having finished as the Premier League's top scorer of the calendar year of 2014 with 20 goals. Emmanuel Adebayor (£25m) Emmanuel Adebayor The towering Togolese striker demonstrated his scoring abilities with Arsenal over 3 seasons, from 2006 to 2009. Manchester City, who were in a rebuilding process at the time, signed the 'New Kanu' from their rivals for £25m in the summer of 2009. Michael Essien (£24.4) Chelsea's Michael Essien (Photo: Reuters) Chelsea completed a swoop for Ghana's midfielder Michael Essien for what was a club record fee of £24.4 in the summer of 2005. Coach Jose Mourinho and the Blues were in his pursuit all over the summer and had several bids turned down, until Lyon finally accepted the aforementioned fee. Didier Drogba (£24m) Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. (Reuters) After being named the French Ligue 1 Player of the Year in 2004, Drogba left Marseille for Chelsea for a then club record fee of £24 million. The Ivorian striker earned a legendary status with the Blues, helping them to 11 titles including a Champions League trophy in 2012 and three Premier League accolades. Yaya Toure (£24m) Yaya Toure (Photo: Reuters) After spending three seasons at Barcelona, the burly Ivorian midfielder decided to leave the Catalans as he didn't fit in their scheme. In the summer of 2010, Manchester City splashed £24 million to sign him on a five-year deal. Samuel Eto'o (£21.8m) img alt='Samuel Eto'o' title='Samuel Eto'o' src='http://english.ahram.org.eg/Media/News/2017/6/23/2017-636338246436350198-635.jpg' / Samuel Eto'o In August 2011, Cameroon star Samuel Eto'o made a stunning move to big-spending Russian side Anzhi from Italian giants Inter Milan. Anzhi paid the Nerrazzuri a reported fee of £21.8 million and a record annual salary of 20 million euros for the player, making him the highest paid footballer in the world at the time. Mehdi Benatia (£21m) Morocco defender Mehdi Benatia (Photo: Reuters) The Moroccan defender made his mark in the Serie A with AS Roma to become on top of the wish-list of several big guns. German giants Bayern Munich beat Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal to his signature for a fee of £21 million in August 2014. Andre Ayew (£20.5m) Andre Ayew (Reuters)
The Ghana winger Andre Ayew joined West Ham United in August 2016 for a fee of £20 (€24.1) coming from Swansea. He made 25 appearances with West Ham in the English Premier league in 2016-2017 season scoring 6 goals. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
