Top 10 most expensive over 30s ever as Lewandowski and Koulibaly join Ronaldo

As more and more footballers excel in their 30s, it is perhaps no surprise to see clubs fork out big money for stars in what might have once been considered the twilight of their careers.

Lionel Messi won the 2021 Ballon d'Or at the age of 34, while Karim Benzema could repeat the feat in 2022. Cristiano Ronaldo is 37 but still finished last season as Manchester United's top scorer and fellow veteran Zlatan Ibrahimovic has earned a new AC Milan deal just months before his 41st birthday.

Just this summer, Liverpool have handed 30-year-old Mohamed Salah a contract extension which makes him the best-paid player in the club's history. There have also been huge transfer fees paid for men in their 30s, from Barcelona's deal to sign Robert Lewandowski to Chelsea's move for Kalidou Koulibaly, as both sides look to add quality for the here and now.

Back in 2017, Leonardo Bonucci became the most expensive footballer aged 30 or above when he moved to AC Milan, but the fact that barely cracks the top five demonstrates how much has changed. Here, Mirror Football takes a closer look at the top 10 in full (all figures via Transfermarkt ), while noting that Sadio Mane - who recently joined Bayern Munich shortly after his 30th birthday - will also join the list if all the add-ons of his move are met.

Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan to Juventus) - £31.5m

No, your eyes don't deceive you. Bonucci is indeed on this list twice, with his cut-price (these things are all relative) return to Juve creeping into the top 10.

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The Italian international had just one season at the San Siro before beginning his second stint with the Bianconeri, and picked up where he left off. Despite being 31 when he returned, the defender has made more than 150 appearances in the second spell and even earned a Ballon d'Or nomination in 2021, finishing 14th.

Jasper Cillessen (Barcelona to Valencia) - £31.5m

Despite never holding down a regular starting spot at Barcelona, Cillessen earned the club a tidy profit in 2019. The fee paid by Valencia saw the Catalan club more than double their money three years after signing the Dutch goalkeeper from Ajax.

Neto moved in the opposite direction that same summer, just weeks before turning 30 himself, for a little less than his counterpart. While the Brazilian has remained a backup to Marc-Andre ter Stegen at Camp Nou, Cillessen has at least reached the 50 game mark for Los Che.

Gabriel Batistuta (Fiorentina to Roma) - £32.5m

The Batistuta deal happened long enough ago that it was measured in Lire, and ensured the Argentine held the record for the most expensive player aged 30 or over for more than a decade. The striker scored more than 200 times in nine years for the Viola, so the transfer felt like a slam dunk - at least in the short term.

So it proved, with the former Boca Juniors frontman hitting 20 league goals in his first season in Rome but failing to even reach double figures in the next two. Still, with those 20 goals helping the Giallorossi win what remains their most recent Scudetto, there will be many who still believe the investment was worthwhile.

Radja Nainggolan (Roma to Inter Milan) - £34.2m

Like Batistuta, Nainggolan found himself on Inter's books after playing his final Roma game, but it was a much more expensive deal than Batigol's brief loan at the San Siro. The players-plus-cash deal saw him valued at £34.2m, but it's hard not to see it as one of the worst deals of recent years.

The Belgian midfielder managed just one full season with Inter before spending two years out on loan and eventually leaving for Royal Antwerp on a free. Worse still, one of the players to move the other way, Nicolo Zaniolo, scored Roma's winner to give them Europa Conference League glory last season while Nanggolan was qualifying for the same competition with his new club.

Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli to Chelsea) - £34.2m

Koulibaly, who turned 31 in June, finally got his Premier League move this summer after years of speculation. Considering Chelsea's success with older defenders such as Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpillicueta, the Blues will feel they can justify the outlay.

"When I spoke to my good friends Edou [Mendy] and Jorginho, they made my choice easier so I'm really happy to be with you today," the Senegal captain said upon moving to Stamford Bridge. "I want to thank the fans because I saw a lot of them in London and on the plane everybody was happy for me to be here. So I want to thank them and I hope the season will be really good and we will give some good moments to the fans."

Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus to AC Milan) - £37.8m

It was Bonucci who finally toppled Batistuta's record in 2017, but his Milan spell was real blink-and-you'll-miss-it stuff. He joined the Rossoneri after helping Juve reach the 2017 Champions League final, admitting his bond with the Turin club had faded.

That summer also saw Vincenzo Montella's team fork out more than £100m, with Andre Silva and Ricardo Rodriguez also on the list of arrivals. It didn't work, though, with poor results seeing Montella sacked and Milan failing to recover enough to even earn a top-four finish.

Paulinho (Barcelona to Guangzhou Evergrande) - £37.8m

Paulinho would be on this list twice, were he not just the other side of 30 when he joined Barcelona from Guangzhou Evergrande for £36m. Instead, only his return to the Chinese Super League club makes the cut.

The Brazilian's sole season at Camp Nou shouldn't be sniffed at, with his nine league goals bettered only by Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in a title-winning campaign. He continued to bang in the goals after returning to China, but ended his second stint in 2021.

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich to Barcelona) - £40.5m

Not only is Lewandowski's move one of the biggest for a player over the age of 30, it's the biggest sale in Bayern's history. After signing the Polish international on a free transfer, the Bavarian club won trophy after trophy, with the former Borussia Dortmund man scoring 344 times, so many fans would have been happy with the return even if they hadn't received a substantial fee.

"It is the only club in the world that have no money, but then buy all the players they want," Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann said after the deal went through. "I don't know how they do it. It's a bit strange, a bit crazy."

Miralem Pjanic (Juventus to Barcelona) - £54m

That's right, it's another Barcelona signing. Pjanic, like Cillessen, joined Barca in a summer which saw the club send a player - in this case Arthur - in the opposite direction.

Bosnia international Pjanic was valued at £54m, compared to £66m for the younger Brazilian. Neither has thrived in their new surroundings, though, and the Barca man - now 32 - has just returned from a year's loan at Besiktas.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid to Juventus) - £105.3m

Bonucci's return to Juventus was far from the only big-money move for the club in the summer of 2018. Joao Cancelo joined from Valencia for a little north of £35m, while Ronaldo's record switch from Real Madrid dwarfs all the other fees in this list.

The Portugal star was 33 when he joined, but arrived on the back of three straight Champions League wins and a hat-trick against Spain at the World Cup. While he delivered more scudetti for Juve, he couldn't bring them European glory

It was Ajax who stunned them in his first season before Lyon and Porto did the business in subsequent years. Now at Manchester United, he won't even have Champions League football of any kind unless he moves again this summer.