--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-07-28T19:06:53.750Z last_updated: 2026-07-18T04:00:00+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/brighton/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlYXJndXMuY28udWsvc3BvcnQvMjYyOTAyODYuYnJpZ2h0b24tdHJhbnNmZXItcmVjb3JkLWZ1bGwtbmV3LXNpZ25pbmctdG9wcy1saXN0Lz9yZWY9cnNz --- # How much would these big Albion signings be worth as record-breaker Vuskovic arrives? - **Source:** - **Published:** 18 Jul - **Club:** Brighton - **Original URL:** https://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/26290286.brighton-transfer-record-full-new-signing-tops-list/?ref=rss Brighton and Hove Albion FC Football Sport Luka Vuskovic will arrive at Albion as their record signing after his move from Spurs. And he is ahead of TWO former Leeds forwards in the all-time top three calculated to take into account factors such as inflation and football’s increasing revenues. Vuskovic has signed for an initial £46 million as Albion make significant changes to their playing resources in central defence. That saw him replace Georginio Rutter as the Seagulls’ record signing. Football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire has looked at other major deals down the years and worked out what the fees would be worth now. In two years, Rutter’s fee has risen to £42.4 million, keeping him second in the standings. And third place goes to a man who led the attack back in the old First Division days. Andy Ritchie was brought south from Manchester United for what at the time was a significant fee of £500,000 in the 1980-81 season. Pressure was high as he replaced the fans’ idol Peter Ward. Ritchie went on to hit 26 top-flight goals for the Seagulls and was top scorer as they finished 13th, their best-ever placing right up until 2021-22. He was sold to Leeds towards the end of the 1982-83 campaign. The fee which brought Ritchie from Old Trafford would now be worth almost £36.5 million. For more context, a terrace season ticket had just been introduced at the Goldstone and cost £35 for the 21 home league games. The match programme has been increased in price to 25p and a replica shirt was perhaps more expensive than you might expect at £9.90 (large sizes not available). Ritchie’s attacking sidekick from those days, Michael Robinson, is not far behind on the list. He was brought in from Manchester City in the summer of 1980 for £400,000 and that would now be worth £30.6 million. Between the two 1980s stars we find Joao Pedro, who was brought from Watford for £30 million which now equates to £34.2 million. Looking back at some old deals, there are still some bargains there. Mark Lawrenson’s move from Preston cost £8.4 million by current values and Brian Horton was a £2.6 million capture from Port Vale. The £100,000 fee for Bobby Zamora from Bristol Rovers would be £678,000 by modern standards. And Ward was plucked from Burton Albion for a £4,000 fee which would be worth £377,000 to the current Albion. The numbers are not just altered to allow for inflation. They are arrived at by a formula far more sophisticated than that. Albion's top six fees in real terms (Image: BHAFC/Argus) Maguire and Jason Laws, a colleague at Liverpool University, came up with an index which looks at how clubs’ buying power has changed over the years as money coming into the game has dramatically increased. It is more succinctly described as “a football inflation index”. Looking at some other landmark deals, Craig Mackail-Smith joined ahead of the 2011-12 season for what would now be £7.7 million. Shane Duffy’s fee is converted to a present-day £6.3 million and Maty Ryan is £7.8 million. Jurgen Locadia and Jose Izquierdo remain just below the £20 million bar. The money paid for Alireza Jahanbakhsh would be £23.9 million these days. And the £20 million for Adam Webster would now be worth £28.1 million, which puts him in Albion’s top-six fees paid according to the index. Maguire was asked to get his spread sheets and calculator out and come up with an inflation-linked all-time Prem transfer ranking. Albion keeper signs long-term contract then moves on loan Can this Hurzeler verdict on Tuchel and England help Albion next season? Albion keeper follows Sanchez path as he signs loan deal The Laws-Maguire Index which resulted found that Alan Shearer’s move from Blackburn to Newcastle in 1996, which was £15 million at the time, would now be worth £223 million, which tops the list. Moves taking Rio Ferdinand and Juan Sebastian Veron to Manchester United complete the top three. Moises Caicedo’s move from Albion to Chelsea was the 16th most expensive in real terms, with a value calculated as £123.6 million according to the index.