In January 2019, FIFA released a global transfer market report that revealed, inter alia, that the total spending on international transfers in 2018 reached a new high of USD 7.03 billion, 10.3% more than in 2017. A new record was set with 16,533 international transfers, 5.6 % more than in 2017, involving 14,186 players of 175 different nationalities. The highest transfer fee paid was the transfer of Neymar from FC Barcelona to PSG, priced at USD 263 million.
If comparing these figures with football transfers historically, the level of transfer fees being paid for players has been exploding in recent years. In 1995, in comparison, only USD 403 million were spent on 5700 international transfers.