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Florian Wirtz will be the joint seventh most expensive footballer - based on initial fees
Emlyn Begley
BBC Sport journalist
Florian Wirtz is set to become the 10th footballer to move for a nine-figure fee after Liverpool agreed to pay Bayer Leverkusen an initial £100m for the Germany attacking midfielder.
Including add-ons, the Reds could end up paying Leverkusen £116m.
The move will make Wirtz, 22, Liverpool's club record signing, the most expensive German football ever - and the biggest sale by a Bundesliga club.
Liverpool already have the world's second most expensive goalkeeper - Alisson - and centre-back - Virgil van Dijk.
The British record for an initial fee remains the £107m Chelsea paid for Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez in 2023.
Six months later they signed Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo for an initial £100m, which could rise to £115m.
Wirtz's initial fee means he moves for exactly half the world record, which remains the £200m PSG paid Barcelona for Neymar in 2017.
Here BBC Sport looks at some of the most expensive players ever - by position, league and nationality.
We are using initial fees, excluding add-ons, where possible - including reported figures where they were officially undisclosed.
Premier League
Highlights: Fernandez free-kick helps Chelsea beat Villa
Chelsea's £107m addition of Argentine Fernandez remains the British transfer record.
There is then a four-way tie on £100m - with three having potential add-ons.
Wirtz's could end up being the biggest of those with £16m in add-ons, while Caicedo's could reach £115m.
Declan Rice moved from West Ham to Arsenal for a fee which could reach £105m, while Jack Grealish's move from Aston Villa to Manchester City in 2021 was for a flat £100m.
Chelsea also rank high up with their £97.5m signing of Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku, while Manchester United's acquisitions of Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba (£89m), Ajax winger Antony (£82m) and Leicester defender Harry Maguire (£80m) are next on the list.
Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol (£77m) is next, with Lukaku appearing for the second time courtesy of his £75m move from Everton to Manchester United in 2017.
Who is Liverpool's record signing?
Until the Wirtz transfer is finalised, Netherlands centre-back Van Dijk, at £75m, is Liverpool's record signing. Alisson's move from Roma for £66.8m is next.
Striker Darwin Nunez cost an initial £64m, rising to £85m, when he joined from Benfica - and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai cost £60m from RB Leipzig in 2023.
Naby Keita, also a midfielder from Leipzig, cost £48m in July 2018 - a club record at the time.
Ligue 1
The two most expensive signings of all time were made by Paris St-German in the same summer.
PSG first spent £200m on Barcelona's Neymar in 2017, before adding Monaco's Kylian Mbappe, initially on loan, in what became a £165.7m deal.
No other Ligue 1 signings make the top 40.
Randal Kolo Muani is the next highest after his £76.4m move from Eintracht Frankfurt in September 2023.
Transfermarkt reports the 16 most expensive Ligue 1 signings have all been by PSG.
La Liga
Felix shows 'class' and 'quality as he scores Chelsea's fifth goal
Spanish clubs have made three of the top 10 most expensive signings of all time, although - perhaps surprisingly - none involve Real Madrid.
Atletico Madrid's £113m move for Benfica forward Joao Felix in 2019 is third on the all-time list, when you exclude potential add-ons for Barcelona signings Philippe Coutinho (£105m, rising to £142m) and Ousmane Dembele (£96.8m, rising to £135.5m).
Level with Fernandez in fourth is the £107m Barcelona paid Atletico for Antoine Griezmann in 2019.
Coutinho and Dembele are next on La Liga list.
Real's biggest signing remains the initial £89m they paid Chelsea for Eden Hazard in 2019. That fee reportedly could have reached £150m, but it is unlikely many of the add-ons were met before he retired in 2023.
Serie A
All of Cristiano Ronaldo's FA Cup goals
The Italian league's record spend was on a 33-year-old, with Juventus paying £99.2m in 2018 for Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.
Next comes Juve's £75.3m signing of Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain in 2016, then Inter's £74m move for Lukaku from Manchester United in 2019 - which only ranks as Lukaku's third biggest move.
Juve are next, too, with Matthijs de Ligt costing £67.5m from Ajax in 2019.
Bundesliga
Kane on 'magical' Bundesliga title celebrations
As would be expected, Bayern Munich are responsible for the majority of Germany's biggest signings - topped by their £86.4m move for Tottenham striker Harry Kane in 2023.
The record before that was Lucas Hernandez's £68m move from Atletico Madrid in 2019.
They paid Juventus £65.5m for De Ligt in 2022 and last summer signed Crystal Palace and France winger Michael Olise for £50m.
Other leagues
The biggest purchase by a team outside of Europe's top five leagues is Al-Hilal's £77.6m move to sign Neymar from PSG in 2023.
Al-Nassr paid £64.5m to sign Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran in February.
Until the relatively recent Saudi spending spree, most of the biggest signings by non-European clubs had been made in China between 2016 and 2019.
They were headlined by Shanghai SIPG's £60m signing of Chelsea midfielder Oscar in 2017.
Most expensive British signings
Rice and Grealish jointly hold the title of being the most expensive British footballer.
Jude Bellingham's 2023 move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid for a initial £88.5m puts him third.
Then comes England captain Kane to Bayern, and Wales winger Gareth Bale, who made an £85m move from Tottenham to Real Madrid in 2013.
Maguire, the £80m man, is followed by Jadon Sancho, who moved in 2021 from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United for £73m. Mason Mount is next following his £55m move from Chelsea to United.
Scott McTominay is the most expensive Scot, costing Napoli £25.7m last summer from Manchester United - narrowly beating the £25m Arsenal paid Celtic for left-back Kieran Tierney in 2019.
Northern Ireland's priciest player remains Jamal Lewis, who made a £15m switch from Norwich to Newcastle in 2020.
How about other countries?
Argentina's most expensive player is Fernandez and Spain's is £71m Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who was signed from Athletic Bilbao.
France's is Mbappe, Brazil's is Neymar and Van Dijk leads the way for Dutch players.
Ronaldo is top for Portugal, Belgium's record is Lukaku and Germany's will be Wirtz.
Sandro Tonali is the most expensive Italian after his £55m move from AC Milan to Newcastle.
Goalkeepers
Haaland misses penalty against Bournemouth
Most of the priciest goalkeepers have gone to Premier League teams, led by Chelsea's £71m outlay on Kepa.
Alisson's move to Liverpool the same summer ranks second, followed by Manchester United's signing of Inter Milan's Andre Onana in 2023 for £43.8m.
Next is Manchester City's 2017 signing of Benfica's Ederson for £35m.
The Ederson move ended Gianluigi Buffon's 16-year reign as the world's most expensive keeper - following his £32.6m move from Parma to Juventus.
Thibaut Courtois' switch from Chelsea to Real Madrid was reportedly worth about £35m - but some of that may have been add-ons.
Defenders
Maguire scores late winner against Leicester
Manchester United's £80m signing of Maguire in 2019 remains the world record fee for a defender.
Second on the list is the £77m Manchester City paid for Croatia full-back Gvardiol in 2023.
Van Dijk's £75m move from Southampton to Liverpool sits third, with Wesley Fofana's £70m switch from Leicester to Chelsea not far behind.
Bayern Munich's signings of Hernandez from Atletico Madrid (£68m in 2019) and De Ligt from Juventus (£65.6m in 2022) are next.
Midfielders
The most expensive midfielder is Argentine Fernandez after his £107m move to Chelsea on 1 February 2023.
In second place is Coutinho, who cost Barcelona £105m when they signed him from Liverpool in 2018.
And then there's the four-way £100m Premier League tie - with Caicedo, Wirtz, Rice and Grealish.
Next is Pogba's move from Juventus to Manchester United (£89m) in 2016 and Bellingham's move to Real Madrid for an initial £88.5m.
Forwards
Neymar plays for Santos for first time in 12 years
Neymar and Mbappe's moves to PSG in 2017 make them the two most expensive players, let alone forwards, ever for a combined £365.7m.
Atletico Madrid's £113m move for Benfica forward Felix in 2019 is third in all positions.
Next among forwards is the £107m Barcelona paid Atletico for Griezmann, also in 2019, then Lukaku's £97.5m move from Inter Milan to Chelsea in 2021.
The record for total career transfer fees is Santos forward Neymar's £326.2m, with Napoli's Lukaku close behind on £324.5m.