2000 HERNAN CRESPO

£ 35.5M > PARMA > LAZIO

When Crespo swapped Parma for Lazio in the summer of 2000, Italian journalist Vittorio Malagutti described the deal as a “monument to capital gains”.

The rationale for the blockbuster transfer was simple: as coach Sven- Goran Eriksson said, “I wanted to try to win the Champions League.” That never happened, partly as, in January 2001, Eriksson left Stadio Olimpico to become England manager.

The media were less surprised by the fee than the identity of the player. This was no reflection on Crespo’s considerable gifts, but he was hardly a galactico – unlike Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane, the next two players to break the transfer record by moving to Real Madrid. Yet he was a model modern striker: industrious, intelligent, he could score with his head, either foot and stretch defences ( or more accurately, goalkeepers) with powerful long- range shots.

The 25- year- old frontman had flourished at River Plate and Parma, but he was hardly a household name – even in Italy. Ultimately, the deal worked out for Crespo. He endured a slow start in the Eternal City – after scoring four goals in three months, he told Eriksson,

“Mister, I don’t score many before Christmas”, to which the Swede responded, “Hernan, by Christmas the season is half over.” He took the hint, bagging 22 goals in the second half of the campaign to win the capocannoniere.

The Argentine’s subsequent career would be dictated by transfers. After notching 48 goals in 73 games for the Biancocelesti, their debts prompted his sale to Inter in 2002. He was sold ( against his will) to Chelsea in 2003, loaned to Milan ( where, in 2005, he became the first player since Ferenc Puskas in 1962 to score twice in a European Cup final and still lose) and then moved on to Inter, Genoa and Parma, where he retired in 2012.

Crespo was the first player to score for five different clubs in the Champions League, is still Argentina’s fourth- highest goalscorer of all- time ( with 35 in 64 appearances), landed league titles in Argentina, England and Italy, the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Cup. It was a glittering CV, but if the goal- getter had managed to settle at one team during his prime – or been coached for longer by Carlo Ancelotti, who got the best out of him at both Parma and Milan – he surely could have won so much more.