There is a new record holder in West London, as Chelsea ended an unprecedented period of January spending with the marquee signing of Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.
Having already tried and failed to capture the World Cup Golden Boy earlier in the window, Chelsea cooled their interest before ramping up a second assault with only a few days of the window remaining.
A tiresome period of protracted negotiations later, and Chelsea had their man, with Fernandez's move being confirmed just after the 11pm deadline for a British record fee of €121m (£107.9m).
With a great fee comes great expectations, and Fernandez will no doubt be expected to make an immediate impact at Stamford Bridge, which is more than can be said for some of his nine-figure predecessors.
Using data from Transfermarkt, Sports Mole counts down the top 10 most expensive transfers in British football history.
10. Wesley Fofana - £71.7m
© Reuters
Forever driving an incredibly hard bargain for their most prized assets, Leicester City recouped a fee north of £70m for the sale of defensive starlet Wesley Fofana to Chelsea last summer.
The former Saint-Etienne man had endured a nightmare period with injuries at the King Power, but his exploits for the Foxes when fit - including an FA Cup final triumph in 2021 against Chelsea - convinced the Blues to pay the big bucks for his services.
Unfortunately for Fofana, fitness problems have reared their ugly head again, and he has been restricted to just six appearances in a Chelsea shirt so far - one of which saw him score his first goal for the club against AC Milan in the Champions League - due to a serious knee problem.
Graham Potter recently revealed that Fofana is back with the group as he steps up his recovery, and his imminent return will be welcomed with open arms as he aims to kickstart a long period of success with the Blues.
9. Virgil van Dijk - £75.5m
© Reuters
One of the few players on this list who has arguably justified their mammoth price tag, Virgil van Dijk made the £75.5m move from Southampton to Liverpool midway through the 2017-18 season and was playing in the Champions League final less than a year later.
While that night in Kyiv ended in heartbreak, Van Dijk was an immovable force during Liverpool's run to European glory in 2019 - one of seven pieces of silverware the 31-year-old has collected with the Reds.
Also getting his hands on the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Community Shield, Van Dijk - who was named UEFA's Best Player in Europe in 2019 - has already entered the conversation over the greatest defenders to ever grace the Premier League.
The first half of the 2022-23 season cannot be consigned to history quickly enough for Van Dijk, who is currently out with a hamstring problem, but there is plenty of life left in his legs yet.
8. Romelu Lukaku - £75.6m
© Reuters
The only player to feature twice in the top 10, Romelu Lukaku first broke Manchester United's bank in 2017, swapping Everton for Old Trafford in the same vein as his predecessor Wayne Rooney.
The Belgium international would not go on to enjoy the same level of success as Rooney, though, failing to even make 100 appearances for the club before he was gone for good.
Sixteen Premier League goals in his debut season was a respectable return for Lukaku, who ended his Man United spell with 42 strikes and 13 assists to show from his 96 outings before Inter Milan offered him an escape route.
7. Jadon Sancho - £75.8m
© Reuters
As is the case right now with Jude Bellingham, another Englishman at Borussia Dortmund dominated the talk of the transfer market in 2020 and 2021, and Manchester United won the intense battle to bring Jadon Sancho back to his homeland.
The Red Devils paid just north of £75m for the 22-year-old, who was once on the books at Manchester City, but his re-integration into English football has not gone as smoothly as most would have hoped.
Sancho only registered three goals and as many assists in 29 Premier League games last season, and he has been restricted to just 15 appearances in all tournaments this term after spending a good chunk of the winter period following an individual fitness programme.
Sancho has lost his place in the England squad amid his troubles, but he made his highly-anticipated return in Wednesday's EFL Cup win over Nottingham Forest, and Erik ten Hag has affirmed that he will have a major part to play in the coming months.
6. Harry Maguire - £77.6m
© Reuters
Prior to selling Fofana to Chelsea for an astronomical fee, Leicester City would take a large chunk out of Man United's budget during the summer of 2019, parting ways with Harry Maguire after just two seasons.
The 29-year-old did not miss a single Premier League game for the Red Devils in his debut season and was quickly given the captain's armband, but there has been little for Maguire to cheer at club level in recent months.
Often the target of criticism and ridicule, Maguire has lost his place in the Red Devils' XI amid a number of high-profile errors, and his prospects of regaining his spot have not been helped by the strong form of Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and makeshift centre-half Luke Shaw.
Still one of Gareth Southgate's most trusted performers, Maguire was one of England's best players at the 2022 World Cup, but whether he will still don the Man United jersey next season remains to be seen.
5. Antony - £84.7m
© Reuters
Bringing the Ajax cavalry to Old Trafford, Ten Hag insisted on the signing of Brazilian trickery specialist Antony in the summer transfer window, so much so that Man United paid nearly £85m to prise him away from Amsterdam.
The 22-year-old got off to the start that he would have been dreaming of, scoring on his debut in a 3-1 win over Arsenal as the Red Devils handed the Gunners their only top-flight defeat of the season so far, and he netted in his side's following clashes with Manchester City and Everton as well.
Now with 22 appearances under his belt, Antony has five goals and one assist to show for his efforts, and the consensus is that the Brazil international should certainly be doing more to justify his extortionate price tag.
Antony has not directly contributed to a goal in eight Premier League games since October's win over Everton, and while flashes of flair are all well and good, the odd flip flap will count for nought if the end product is not there.
4. Paul Pogba - £93.6m
© Reuters
Previously the masters of the free transfer landscape before Barcelona stole that label, Juventus did not pay a single penny to bring Paul Pogba to the club in 2012, and they sold him back to the club that let him go for over £90m four years later.
Having won a host of domestic silverware and reached the Champions League final with the Bianconeri, Pogba had unfinished business at Old Trafford as he returned in 2016, but to some, he left again six years later with that business still unfinished.
Consistency was extremely hard to come by in the Premier League for Pogba, who came up with 39 goals and 53 assists in 233 games for Man United, all while dealing with a multitude of injury problems.
Setting up four goals in one game against Leeds United last August was not a sign of things to come in his final season, though, and Pogba made the identical move back to Juventus on a free transfer, although he is still waiting for his first competitive appearance of the season due to yet another injury setback.
3. Romelu Lukaku - £97.5m
© Reuters
Speaking of players returning to their former stomping grounds, Romelu Lukaku rediscovered his golden touch at Inter Milan after leaving Man United, which caught the eye of the club he previously left without having scored once in 15 appearances.
Chelsea spent the equivalent of £97.5m to re-sign the Belgium international from the Nerazzurri, whom he had fired to the Serie A title in the 2020-21 season, but it only took a few months for things to turn incredibly sour.
Having openly admitted to struggling with Thomas Tuchel's system and wanting a return to Inter Milan, Lukaku's wish was granted - on loan at least - as he returned to the Premier League to score just eight times in the top flight for Chelsea last season.
The striker's San Siro reunion has not gone swimmingly either, netting just twice in 10 games during an injury-hit campaign, and he may very well still be replaying his shocking World Cup misses against Croatia in his head.
Chelsea still have Lukaku under contract until 2026, but their wealth of attacking additions has seemingly closed the door on any chances of the misfiring Belgian reigniting his Stamford Bridge career again.
2. Jack Grealish - £100m
© Reuters
Onto the man whose record has just been surpassed, Jack Grealish became the first £100m player in British transfer history after Manchester City paid that nine-figure sum to prise him away from Aston Villa in 2021.
The boyhood Brummie would fulfil his silverware ambitions at the Etihad Stadium immediately, although he has evidently not experienced the same creative freedom in Pep Guardiola's system as he did at Villa Park, where the spotlight was always shining bright on him.
Scoring just three goals and providing three assists in 26 Premier League games last term, the pressure that a £100m price tag will undoubtedly bring may have been playing on the mind of the 27-year-old, who is yet to settle down this season either.
With over four years left to run on his Etihad contract, there is ample time for Grealish to make the desired impact in Manchester, but he can no longer proudly claim to be the most expensive in the land.
1. Enzo Fernandez - £107.9m
© Reuters
Todd Boehly and co have earned a vacation after fighting tooth and nail to bring Enzo Fernandez to the club during the winter transfer window, having already got seven deals over the line before deadline day.
Being knocked back time and time again by Benfica, who insisted that the 22-year-old's mammoth release clause was to be paid, Chelsea ultimately bowed to the Eagles' demands to get a deal over the line.
Benfica had only paid €12m (£10.6m) to bring Fernandez to the club from River Plate in the summer, but his value sky-rocketed tenfold after a memorable World Cup campaign with Argentina, winning the title and being named the tournament's best young player.
Now set to be part of a Chelsea midfield overhaul - with Jorginho gone and N'Golo Kante and Conor Gallagher potentially following suit in the summer - Fernandez would do well to hit the ground running in the Premier League, both for his sake and Chelsea's, who committed to an eight-and-a-half-year contract for the Argentine to stay in line with Financial Fair Play regulations.
