5 most expensive Spanish footballers of all time

Spanish football took its time to get noticed on the international stage but club football has thrived in the Iberian peninsula and dominated Europe since the 1950s. The lure of Real Madrid and Barcelona has seen a number of records broken in transfer fees to bring the best players to Spain in the past few decades.

But what about Spanish players themselves? Foreign signings are all well and good but it's the local boys the fans want to see doing well. And there have been a number of players who accomplished a lot to convince other clubs to pay big money for their signature.

We look at the five most expensive Spanish players ever sold on the transfer market.

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5) David Villa: £34m

In the summer of 2010, 35,000 fans crammed into a portion of the Camp Nou to witness one of Barcelona's biggest transfer coups in recent years. With Zlatan Ibrahimovic loaned (and eventually sold) to AC Milan and Thierry Henry reaching the end of his career in Europe, the Catalan club had managed to sign Spain's best striker.

Valencia never really wanted to let go of David Villa. He had scored 129 goals in five seasons for Los Che and had won the Zarra Trophy for the fourth time in 2009/10. But a single Copa del Rey trophy in 2008 was not enough to convince him that a club in financial disarray was the best place to pursue his dreams of winning titles.

The club also needed the money and Barcelona paid £34m to sign him just before he left for the World Cup where he scored crucial goals in Spain's eventual triumph.

A mobile forward who could shoot well with both feet, he slotted in to Barcelona's attacking lineup on the left or centre and formed a partnership with Lionel Messi to lead the club to eight trophies - including two league titles and a Champions League.

4) Juan Mata - £37.1m

Juan Mata joined Manchester United from rivals Chelsea

Another player who Valencia did not want to sell was Juan Mata but his £23.5m move to Chelsea was necessary for the club to survive. However, that's not the fee that puts him on this list.

After serving Chelsea well for two seasons where he even walked away with the Chelsea Player of the Year award in 2012 and 2013, he was suddenly cast aside for players such as Brazilian midfielder Oscar who put in a shift for the new manager - Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese manager considered Mata a luxury player and it was evident from the number of minutes he played. He was often substituted or came on as a substitute.

Manchester United decided to step in and put an end to his misery and Mourinho finally let him go (after Chelsea had played United) in the January transfer window.

At the time, £37.1m was a club record before they spent big on Anthony Martial, Angel Di Maria and Paul Pogba. And as fate would have it, Mata ended up playing under Mourinho again when he took over the hot seat at Old Trafford.

3) Gaizka Mendieta - £40.1m

Gaizka Mendieta was a flop in Serie A even though he was one of the best midfielders in Spain

Oh, look! Another Valencia player makes the list. But this was before their finances derailed the club and almost relegated them. Back then Los Che were a force to reckon with in La Liga and were among the top four clubs in the league.

Gaizka Mendieta was a midfielder who spent nine seasons with the club and played under a number of managers who got the best out of him. But he wasn't always a midfielder, he started out as a right-back before he was deployed as a midfielder, much to the fans' astonishment.

Under Claudio Ranieri and later Hector Cuper, Mendieta's stock rose and he soon became one of the most coveted midfielders in Spain, prompting the Valencia president to say: "I'd rather go hungry than sell him!"

But when Lazio came in with a monstrous 7,500m pesetas (€45m) bid for the reigning 'Best Midfielder in Europe', they accepted as it was the highest fee paid for a Spanish player at the time.

However, he could not make it work in Serie A and was branded one of the most expensive flops ever and the "most disappointing waste of money in the history of the game" as he failed to live up to the standards set by Pavel Nedved and Juan Veron who had moved to Juventus and Manchester United respectively.

2) Fernando Torres - £50m

Fernando Torres made the switch from Liverpool to Chelsea

It was quite easy to spot Fernando Torres on the pitch thanks to his blonde hair that made him stand out. And yet defenders lost track of him thanks to his explosive pace and well-timed runs in behind them.

Liverpool knew what they were getting when they signed him from Atletico Madrid. A player who finished top scorer in two of the three full seasons he spent at the club. The Spanish striker struck up a telepathic partnership with club captain Steven Gerrard that occasionaly wreaked havoc in the Premier League.

But off the pitch, the club was being run aground by American owners who replaced Rafa Benitez with Roy Hodgson in 2010/11. By then Torres was the subject of a lot of interest from other clubs but Hodgson vehemently denied a sale, saying: "He is not for sale and we don't welcome any offers for him. We want to keep him."

By January 2011, however, Torres had become disillusioned and an initial £40m offer from Chelsea (which was rejected) saw Torres submit a transfer request. The Anfield club soon realised that they could not keep him and soon accepted Chelsea's renewed bid of £50m to make him the most expensive Spanish player and British transfer at the time.

His Chelsea career, however, was far from being as good as his stint in a red shirt as he scored just 45 goals in three-and-a-half seasons at Stamford Bridge.

1) Alvaro Morata - £70m

Alvaro Morata signed for Chelsea from Real Madrid (Image credit: Chelsea)

Having progressed through the youth ranks at Real Madrid, Morata did not get his first break until he was transferred to Juventus in 2014. A forward who could lead the line and play wide on occasion, Morata's versatility made him an all-round attacker not only with Juventus but also with the Spain national team.

One of the main reasons he thrived at Juventus was his pace and work-rate on and off the ball. He had the ability to lose his marker and took up great positions on the pitch to aid the attack.

Zinedine Zidane liked what he saw and asked Real to exercise his buy-back clause but appearances were few and far between in Los Blancos' star-studded lineup.

With Antonio Conte needing a striker after falling out with Diego Costa, Chelsea soon came in with a record bid that eclipsed the £50m fee they paid for Torres - an initial £58m bid that could soon rise to £70m in add-ons if Morata achieved certain milestones in a blue shirt.

"I think for sure he is good signing for us," Conte said on Chelsea's official website. "Morata is a young player who has a lot of experience. He has played with Real Madrid and Juventus and has a lot of experience for the league and also in the Champions League.

"Morata for sure is a first-choice, a good striker and a player with the right prospects for Chelsea. He is very young, for sure he can improve a lot and I hope to show his value with us."

He has experience in Serie A and La Liga while he has also displayed a big-game mentality in the past. But the bid makes him the most expensive Spanish player ever at just 24.

No pressure, Alvaro.