{"id":201072,"date":"2025-06-20T23:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T23:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201072\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T23:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T23:11:12","slug":"liverpools-five-most-expensive-academy-sales-ever-as-jarell-quansah-prepares-to-take-the-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201072\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool’s five most expensive academy sales ever as Jarell Quansah prepares to take the crown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over recent seasons Liverpool have become incredibly savvy operators when it comes to the transfer market.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only are the Reds now famed for their thorough approach to incoming deals, they have also built a reputation as being one of the best around at selling players, too.<\/p>\n

With Michael Edwards at the helm, Liverpool<\/a> have secured some excellent money for players who were either no longer needed or had pushed to leave the club.<\/p>\n

Part of this has been utilising the quality within the Liverpool academy<\/a>, and moving young players on when the time is right. <\/p>\n

This has been in evidence once again this year, with Jarell Quansah<\/a> set to leave for Bayer Leverkusen.<\/p>\n

Reports suggest Quansah will bank Liverpool around \u00a335m<\/a> in total, which would make him the most expensive sale of an academy player in Liverpool history<\/a>. But, discounting players who were brought to the club from rival academies, who are the current top five? <\/p>\n

\"JarellPhoto by Liverpool FC\/Liverpool FC via Getty Images5. Michael Owen to Real Madrid, 2004<\/p>\n

Although the Liverpool academy is well-known for bringing through a good amount of talent these days, its heyday was arguably in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Within a five-year period, Liverpool brought through Robbie Fowler<\/a>, Michael Owen<\/a>, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard.<\/p>\n

Of that princely quartet, it is no surprise that two feature on this list. The first is Owen, who props up the current top five in fifth place. <\/p>\n

Owen should certainly be higher, but with just one year left on his contract in 2004, the Ballon d\u2019Or winner joined Real Madrid for just \u00a38m<\/a>, more or less the same as Los Blancos paid for Trent Alexander-Arnold earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\"Michael26 Dec 1999: Michael Owen of Liverpool celebrates after his secong goal during the Newcastle United v Liverpool FA Carling Premiership match at St James’s Park, Newcastle. Mandatory Credit: Ross Kinnaird\/ALLSPORT4. Robbie Fowler to Leeds, 2001<\/p>\n

Three years before Owen left for Madrid, strike partner Fowler became Liverpool\u2019s record sale as he joined Leeds in November 2001.<\/p>\n

In reality, it was a sad end for the man nicknamed \u2018God\u2019 at Anfield<\/a>, and he perhaps should have been kept around by Gerard Houllier.<\/p>\n

Instead, Fowler was shipped off to Leeds for \u00a311m<\/a>, where injuries prevented him from hitting the heights of his days at Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Fowler\u2019s Reds story was not yet over, and he returned on a free transfer in 2006.<\/p>\n

3. Harry Wilson to Fulham, 2021<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2021, and the Liverpool academy was not quite as productive as the mid-90\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the Reds were still producing a decent amount of talent, and were able to cash in after seeing Harry Wilson<\/a> head out on a series of impressive loans.<\/p>\n

Having done well at Fulham in their promotion-winning 2020\/21 campaign, Liverpool enticed the Cottagers into buying Wilson in a permanent sale.<\/p>\n

After playing only twice for the Liverpool first-team, Wilson was packed off for \u00a312m<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n

2. Caoimhin Kelleher to Brentford, 2025<\/p>\n

Once Quansah completes his move to Bayer Leverkusen, two of Liverpool\u2019s top four academy sales of all time will have happened under Arne Slot\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n

And while Quansah\u2019s fee should be applauded in the corridors of Anfield, it is fair to say Liverpool were potentially underpaid for Caoimhin Kelleher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"CaoimhinPhoto by Marc Atkins\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Kelleher was a brilliant understudy for Alisson Becker before leaving for Brentford just a matter of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The eventual fee could reportedly reach \u00a318m, which would bump him up to the top of this list. But, for now, the initial \u00a312.5m<\/a> keeps him in second.<\/p>\n

1. Neco Williams to Nottingham Forest, 2022<\/p>\n

Until the ink is dry on Quansah\u2019s contract with Leverkusen, Nottingham Forest\u2019s Neco Williams<\/a> will remain Liverpool\u2019s all-time top academy transfer.<\/p>\n

Williams was clearly too good to remain back-up to Alexander-Arnold after emerging through the ranks in 2019, and a loan at Championship side Fulham in 2021\/22 confirmed that.<\/p>\n

Happily, a Premier League move was in the offing for Williams, who joined Forest for a hefty-looking \u00a317m<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

Although the price-tag initially appeared to weigh on him a little, Williams has pushed on to become a consistent Premier League performer for Forest, and the fee has long since looked like good business all around. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over recent seasons Liverpool have become incredibly savvy operators when it comes to the transfer market. Not only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[9422,94,49398,53169,2719,69033,37434,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-caoimhin-kelleher","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-harry-wilson","11":"tag-jarell-quansah","12":"tag-michael-owen","13":"tag-neco-williams","14":"tag-robbie-fowler","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114718224274019654","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}