Mohamed Salah transfer fee – How it compares to Premier League’s top scorers

March 30, 2025
Jack Lusby

Mohamed Salah is joint-fifth with Sergio Aguero in the Premier League‘s all-time goalscorers list, but the Egyptian is only Liverpool’s ninth-most expensive signing.

Salah’s brace in Liverpool’s recent 3-1 win over Southampton saw him draw level with Aguero on 184 goals in the Premier League.

Only four other players have scored more since the league’s inception in 1992: Alan Shearer (260), Harry Kane (213), Wayne Rooney (208) and Andy Cole (187).

Though Salah is potentially playing out his final campaign at Liverpool the expectation is that he will overtake Cole to become outright fourth-top before the season’s end.

That undoubtedly makes the transfer fee Liverpool paid to sign him a modern-day bargain.

How much did Liverpool sign Mohamed Salah for?

Liverpool landed Salah at the second time of asking in 2017 when they agreed a deal worth an initial £36.9 million with Roma.

A further £7 million was later paid in various appearance and performance-related bonuses, taking the full transfer fee to £43.9 million.

Where does that fee rank among the Premier League’s top goalscorers?

For the purposes of this comparison, we will take the transfer fees paid by the clubs at which each of the Premier League‘s top scorers netted the majority of their goals.

Unsurprisingly, given he signed for Liverpool at least six years and as many as 22 years later than those others joined their respective clubs, Salah’s £43.9 million fee is top of the pile.

The next-closest is Aguero, who moved from Atletico Madrid to Man City in 2011 for around £38 million, while two of those in the top 10, Robbie Fowler and Harry Kane, were academy graduates at Liverpool and Tottenham respectively.

However, that is clearly not an accurate representation of the money spent for each player, with that only possible through conversion.

Using Totally Money’s Transfer Index, we can estimate how much the deals for each of the Premier League‘s top 10 goalscorers would be worth today:

1. Alan Shearer (260 goals) – Blackburn to Newcastle, 1996 – £138m
2. Andy Cole (187) – Newcastle to Man United, 1995 – £123m
3. Wayne Rooney (208) – Everton to Man United, 2004 – £119m
4. Sergio Aguero (184) – Atletico Madrid to Man City, 2011 – £96m
5. Mohamed Salah (184) – Roma to Liverpool, 2017 – £57.7m
6. Thierry Henry (175) – Juventus to Arsenal, 1999 – £50m
7. Jermain Defoe (162) – West Ham to Tottenham, 2004 – £40m
8. Frank Lampard (177) – West Ham to Chelsea, 2001 – £33m
9. Harry Kane (213) – Tottenham academy, 2004 – no fee
10. Robbie Fowler (163) – Liverpool academy, 1984 – no fee

* Fees estimated based on Transfermarkt and XE.com

At face value, Salah is exactly where he should be in terms of the Premier League‘s top goalscorers – but the sizeable jump in converted fees from his place in fifth and the rest of the top five is stark.

Considering Liverpool’s No. 11 is only four goals away from overtaking Cole into fourth, the £65.3 million difference in value sums up the club’s excellent business.