Most expensive English XI of all time after Rogers £117m Chelsea move

Morgan Rogers has become the most expensive English player in history with his move from Aston Villa to Chelsea.

The Premier League market is the most inflated in the world and English players often come at a premium these days.

We’ve assembled the most expensive XI of English players ever, fitting them into a 4-2-3-1 formation.

GK: James Trafford – £31m

Trafford’s return to Manchester City from Burnley last summer was billed as a British record deal for a goalkeeper by the selling club at £31m.

Other sources had it slightly below Jordan Pickford’s £30m move to Everton from Sunderland in 2017, though.

Unfortunately for Trafford, it hasn’t worked out. City soon spent a bigger fee on Italy international Gianluigi Donnarumma to usurp him as their first-choice keeper.

RB: Kyle Walker – £53m

When City splashed out on the signing of Walker in 2017, they made him the most expensive defender in history at the time.

After his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur, the right-back gave City eight years of service, winning six Premier League titles.

They eventually recouped just £5m when selling Walker to Burnley in 2025, by which point he’d turned 35.

CB: Harry Maguire – £80m

Some eyebrows were raised when Manchester United spent £80m to make Harry Maguire the most expensive defender ever in 2019.

Maguire had enjoyed a promising 2018 World Cup with England and consolidated his reputation with Leicester City the following season, but the Foxes were tough sellers.

There have been plenty of ups and downs in Maguire’s United career, including gaining and losing the captaincy, but he is now preparing for an eighth season in their colours.

CB: John Stones – £50m

Only Brazil international David Luiz had moved for a bigger fee as a defender than Stones when he went from Everton to Man City in 2016.

Stones went on to give City a decade of service, becoming a six-time Premier League champion before bowing out as a free agent this summer.

If it wasn’t for injuries, Stones would have made far more than the 295 appearances he gained for City, but he remains highly regarded nevertheless.

LB: Ben Chilwell – £45m

After four seasons in the Premier League with Leicester, Chilwell was widely viewed as being ready for the next step in 2020.

Chelsea came calling and bought him for £45m, from which they got 107 games of service from the left-back.

He too had his injury issues that prevented him from fulfilling his potential, but he did become a Champions League winner by the end of his debut season.

CM: Elliot Anderson – £116m

Anderson’s status as the most expensive English player of all time, after his move from Nottingham Forest to Man City, lasted all of a few weeks.

City spent so heavily on the midfielder after his two-year spell with Forest, during which time he also became a full England international.

Anderson will have his work cut out to justify the big fee City have spent on him as he begins his five-year contract.

CM: Declan Rice – £105m

Rice boasted more than 200 Premier League appearances for West Ham and had just captained them to Conference League glory when the time came for his next challenge in 2023.

The midfielder had long been linked with the biggest clubs in the country and it was Arsenal who chose to break their transfer record on him.

After a couple of years fuelling memes by failing to win trophies – not exactly from any of his own shortcomings, it must be stressed – Rice finally got his hands on the Premier League trophy earlier this year.

AM: Jude Bellingham – £115m

The most expensive English player never to play in the Premier League, Bellingham took a road less travelled to reach the top.

Three years after leaving Birmingham City for Borussia Dortmund, the midfielder made a blockbuster move to Real Madrid in 2023.

Thriving as an attacking midfielder, he won La Liga and the Champions League in his first season. Three years later, he scored seven goals at the World Cup – more than any Englishman ever had in a single tournament before.

WF: Morgan Rogers – £117m

The new most expensive Englishman of all time by virtue of his move from Aston Villa to Chelsea.

Rogers impressed over two and a half years with Villa, but some will question if he did so to a large enough extent to become a £117m player.

That’s now for him to prove on the pitch after joining Chelsea, where he may have to operate out wide – like he has to in our XI here.

WF: Jack Grealish – £100m

Rogers has surpassed Grealish as Villa’s record sale, five years after his fellow attacking midfielder’s move to Man City.

Grealish was the most expensive Englishman at the time of his move after City activated a release clause in his contract.

A tough first season with City was followed by an influential contribution towards their treble win in his second, but Grealish has generally struggled to live up to expectations since and spent last season on loan at Everton.

CF: Harry Kane – £82m

There was a time when it looked like Kane might never leave Spurs, but a hunger for trophies finally led him away in 2023 when Bayern Munich broke the Bundesliga transfer record on him.

After spectacularly failing to win any trophies in his first season there, Kane has since become a back-to-back Bundesliga champion, winning the golden boot in all three of his seasons in Germany.

With 146 goals from 147 games for Bayern to his name, Kane has been a resounding success in Munich and is a contender to be the first English winner of the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001.

Subs: Jordan Pickford (£30m – Everton), Ben White (£50m – Arsenal), Mason Mount (£55m – Manchester United), Eberechi Eze (£67.5m – Arsenal), Jadon Sancho (£73m – Manchester United), Anthony Gordon (£69.3m – Barcelona), Dominic Solanke (£65m – Tottenham Hotspur)

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