Le Fée to join top 10? The most valuable players to have ever joined the English Championship

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Set to sign 

©TM/IMAGO

Sunderland seem set to make some waves in the January transfer window as they race towards signing Roma midfielder Enzo Le Fée. The 24-year-old French talent is, according to the Northern Echo, travelling to England to complete his move to the Stadium of Light in what will likely be an initial loan deal until the end of the season. The recent reports suggest that should the Black Cats win promotion to the Premier League in the coming months, Le Fée’s move to the club will be made permanent after a fee of around €23 million was agreed between the two clubs. 

Rumour

E. Le Fée

Central Midfield

AS Roma		96 %		Sunderland
Serie A				Championship

Coincidentally, when Le Fée completes his move to the English Championship he’ll become the joint most valuable player in the English second tier, tied for first place with no less than four players, including his future teammate Jobe Bellingham at Sunderland. But where does the French midfielder rank among the most valuable players to have ever joined the Championship? While it may not be the best league in England, it certainly is one of the strongest in European football and throughout the years the division has welcomed a number of stars to its clubs. So let’s take a look through the most valuable players to have ever plied their trade in the Championship. 

To no great surprise, many of the most valuable players to have ever played in the league are talents that have been loaned to clubs in the division from elsewhere. For example, at the very top of our list is none other than Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who was on loan at Southampton last year from Manchester City. At the time the defender had a market value of €25m, which constituted the most valuable market value for any player making a move to the Championship. In second place is a player that was in a similar situation. In 2021 Bournemouth midfielder Todd Cantwell was loaned to Norwich City when he could still lay claim to an impressive market value of €20m. Interestingly enough, Cantwell recently returned to the division to play for Blackburn Rovers, but his market value has since fallen to €3.5m. In total, 14 of the top 20 players on the list were loaned to Championship sides from clubs in the Premier League or elsewhere in Europe’s top divisions. 

However, that’s not to say that the Championship’s clubs don’t have money to spend. The biggest ever signing made by a Championship club was when Burnley signed left winger Mike Trésor for €18m in the summer transfer window and as a result the 25-year-old talent makes it on to thirteenth place on our list. Equally, Harry Wilson (who features twice on the list) sits fourth and fifth due to his €14m move from Liverpool to Sunderland in 2021 and his impressive loan spell at Cardiff City the season before that. Conor Coady’s €8.7m move to Leicester City in 2023 also puts the defender fourteenth on our list, while blasts from the past like Craig Bellamy (sixteenth), Yakubu (15th) and Seth Johnson (11th) all hold their own against more recent Championship stars.