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Football London
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Phil Spencer

The ex-Arsenal star who would be worth £108m if they signed him now - and it's not Thierry Henry

The topic of transfer values is always one which sparks huge debate in the world of football.

While the game has always been a rich business, we've reached extortionate levels of wealth over the last 10 or 20 years.

The start of the Premier League got the ball rolling as international stars started to arrive in England, and it's simply snowballed since then.

For context, Luis Figo was the most expensive player in the world in 2000, after moving from Barcelona to Real Madrid for a fee in the region of £37million.

Now, you'd get nothing more than an average Premier League player for that amount.

The current transfer record stands at £198m with Neymar's move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain setting the new, eye-watering benchmark.

Inflation has never been a more relevant topic in football with many wondering how much stars from the 80s, 90s and even noughties would be worth in today's market.

Well, wonder no more.

TotallyMoney.com have researched the 100 most expensive transfers in each season in Europe’s big five leagues since the dawn of the Premier League in 1992.

This is to compare the transfer fees from years gone by with the rate of inflation to produce the Transfer Index.

And it has produced some startling results.

While Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is Arsenal's club-record signing after joining for a fee of £56million, it's one of their former strikers who would almost double their record in today's market.

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While Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright are perhaps the most decorated strikers in recent memory, it's a certain Nicolas Anelka who would smash that landmark figure.

In today's market, the French striker would be worth a staggering £108.5million.

Anelka left the north London club in favour of a move to Real Madrid - a move which cost £31.5million in 1999.

The striker did alright after leaving Arsenal, but they certainly wouldn't have sniffed at the opportunity to pocket nine figures for a player as erratic as Nicolas Anelka.

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