10 most expensive Tottenham signings of all time: From Mauricio Pochettino flop to James Maddison
Tottenham have become one of global football’s superpowers in recent years.
The Lilywhites have risen from humble beginnings to become one of English football’s most successful clubs, and they have had some truly seismic signings along the way.
Tottenham will be desperate to push on and win more trophies after their Europa League success, and that will undoubtedly require some significant spending from the club hierarchy in the coming years.
However, money is no use without shrewd decision-making, and that can be proven by some of their past signings.
With that in mind, Tottenham News rounds up the Lilywhites’ 10 most expensive buys of all time, featuring some impressive stars and some total flops.
10. Pedro Porro – £39m from Sporting CP
Tottenham signed Pedro Porro on an initial loan deal from Sporting CP in January 2022, and it became a permanent deal for a fee of £39million in the following summer.
The right-back has since gone from strength to strength during his time in N17, and has become one of the Lilywhites’ most important players.
Porro played more Premier League minutes than any other Spurs player during the 2024-25 campaign, and has been a consistently reliable performer for them.
It was an expensive outlay for Spurs when they first brought him in, but his value has skyrocketed since then.
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9. Davinson Sanchez – £42m from Ajax
Spurs paid £42m to sign Davinson Sanchez from Ajax in the summer of 2017, and they got six years of service from the Colombian centre-back.
The defender was a key part of the Lilywhites side that made it to the Champions League final in 2019, although his time with the club was marred by inconsistency and errors.
He slowly fell out of favour during the latter stages of his time in N17, and ultimately left to join Galatasaray in 2023 for a fee of just £8.1m.
Given the return that Spurs received for him, his signing will surely go down as a failure.
8. James Maddison – £40m from Leicester City
James Maddison arrived at Tottenham on the back of consecutive seasons of 20 and then 19 Premier League goal contributions respectively, and he has also produced the goods for the North Londoners.
13 goal involvements in his first full campaign was backed up by a further 16 in his second season, as he established himself as one of Spurs’ key players.
The England international has undoubtedly been a good buy, but with injury concerns a frequent issue for him, there has always been a small sense of ‘what could have been?’
7. Cristian Romero – £42.5m from Atalanta
Cristian Romero was a completely unfamiliar name for English football fans when he first joined Tottenham in 2021.
The centre-back had spent the previous three seasons in Serie A with Genoa and Atalanta, and initially wasn’t a particularly important player when he moved to the Lilywhites.
However, as time went on, Romero became more and more irreplaceable for his team, and has been one of the best defenders in the Premier League in recent years.
He is always prone to the odd moment of madness, but that cannot take away from the fact that he has been an excellent signing for Spurs.
6. Brennan Johnson – £47.5m from Nottingham Forest
Brennan Johnson was a significant outlay for Tottenham when he completed his switch from Nottingham Forest for £47.5m in 2023.
The Wales international was fresh from keeping his boyhood club in the Premier League after their return to the top flight.
His impact in North London has been questioned at times, but he has slowly become an increasingly valuable member of the squad.
The winger is unlikely to ever be the jewel in the Lilywhites’ crown, but his winning goal in the Europa League final certainly repaid his transfer fee, if not more.
5. Xavi Simons – £51m from RB Leipzig
Xavi Simons arrived at Spurs to plenty of excitement in the latter stages of the summer 2025 transfer window, but his impact has been limited so far.
It is clear that he has needed time to adapt to the Premier League and get up to speed with the relentlessness of the play.
- Simons notched 36 Bundesliga goal contributions in two years before his move to Spurs
- He has spent time in the academies of both Barcelona and PSG
£51m was an expensive outlay for Tottenham to spend on a player with no experience in English football.
However, Simons has had an excellent footballing education, having been part of the academy setups at both Barcelona and PSG, and there is undoubtedly more to come from him in a Spurs shirt.
4. Mohammed Kudus – £55m from West Ham
Mohammed Kudus arrived at Tottenham a matter of months before Simons in 2025, and ultimately ended that summer as the club’s most expensive purchase.
The winger was at the centre of a rare piece of business between Daniel Levy and the West Ham hierarchy, who notoriously did not see eye to eye on several occasions.
However, Levy’s willingness to put his personal grievances to one side appears to have been invaluable to the Lilyewhites so far, who appear to have a star on their hands.
Fans elsewhere in the Premier League laughed when Tottenham splashed £55m on the Ghanaian, but it was a signing that could draw a very different reaction later down the line.
3. Richarlison – £60m from Everton
Richarlison was an eye-catching buy for Tottenham when they parted with a total package of £60m to sign him from Everton in 2022, and he hasn’t really lived up to expectations so far.
The Brazil international was an all-action striker during his time on Merseyside, who occasionally allowed his temper to get the better of him.
However, in North London, consistency issues and regular injury problems have prevented him from ever really nailing down a starting spot.
Richarlison has produced the occasion moment that reminds fans of what he can do, but those have been too few and far between for a player of his price tag.
2. Tanguy Ndombele – £63m from Lyon
Tanguy Ndombele is undoubtedly the biggest failing on this list for Tottenham.
Signed as a young midfield prodigy from Lyon who was tipped to go on and conquer European football, the Frenchman never settled into life at Spurs.
His transfer fee rose to £63m after add-ons, and that ultimately bought Spurs just 91 appearances across the duration of his five-year stay with the club.
That included loan spells with Lyon, Napoli and Galatasaray between 2022 and 2024, befor ehis contract was terminated by mutual consent in the summer of 2024.
A rare error of the Mauricio Pochettino era, Ndombele’s arrival has to go down as one of Spurs’ biggest failures of all time.
1. Dominic Solanke – £65m from Bournemouth
Dominic Solanke is Tottenham’s club-record buy at a fee rising to £65m after add-ons.
The striker arrived in N17 after a career-best Premier League season of 19 goals and three assists for Bournemouth, but he is yet to match that level of performance at his new club.
The England international managed 16 strikes in his debut campaign, but just nine of those came in the league, and he was wasteful with his finishing.
Solanke was signing designed to take Spurs to the next level as a team, and that simply hasn’t happened so far.
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