West Brom's 13 most expensive summer transfer signings of all-time - including Man Utd star and €17m gem

West Bromwich Albion fans are still waiting for the the summer transfer window to ignite with only one player having arrived at the Hawthorns, after 14 were released following the Baggies’ ninth-place finish in the Championship, four points off the play-offs.

With Semi Ajayi the biggest loss from the retained list, having already signed for Bristol City, Ryan Mason has brought in Nat Phillips from Liverpool for £3m, ending a run of eight loan spells since 2019 that’s only featuring 29 appearances for the Reds themselves. There are plenty more holes for Mason to fill, ahead of what might be one of the most competitive Championship seasons in the modern era.

Relegated Southampton and Ipswich are set to be contenders for an immediate return to the Premier League while Sheffield United should again be one of the teams to beat, and Birmingham City and Wrexham could be two of the best promoted sides in recent memory.

But it feels unlikely that any signings in the coming months will trouble this list of the 13 most expensive West Brom arrivals in summer transfer windows, one of whom is now teammates with Lionel Messi.

Why Jake Livermore and Daryl Dike don’t make the list

Like most clubs who don’t rhyme with ‘Belsea’, West Brom have done most of their big business in between seasons, as this list shows. Jake Livermore is the only winter arrival to have cost eight figures, joining for £10m in January 2017 and helping Tony Pulis’ side to 10th in the Premier League that campaign as part of 216 appearances at the Hawthorns.

Oklahoma’s own Daryl Dike is the only other January signing who would’ve featured in this list, he crossed the pond for £7m from Orlando Pirates after previously impressing on loan at Barnsley.

And interestingly, their second most expensive ‘summer’ signing actually came in autumn as Karlan Grant joined the Baggies in October 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic meant the window only opened in late July and so only closed as the leaves began to change, which was when Grant signed at the Hawthorns.

The now-27-year-old is the only player from this list who’s still at West Brom, though Grady Diangana is the other signing from the current decade with the bulk of the list drawn from the mid-2010s. All of these figures are courtesy of Transfermarkt, which lists transfers in euros.

West Bromwich Albion’s 13 most expensive summer signings

• Salomon Rondon from Zenit St Petersburg for €17.00m - 2015/16
• Karlan Grant from Huddersfield for €16.5m - 2020/21
• Nacer Chadli from Tottenham for €15.20m - 2016/17
• Oliver Burke from RB Leipzig for €15.20m - 2017/18
• Jay Rodriguez from Southampton for €13.70m - 2017/18
• Grady Diangana from West Ham for €13.50m - 2020/21
• Brown Ideye from Dynamo Kyiv for €12.63m - 2014/15
• James Chester from Hull City for €11.30m - 2015/16
• Lee Hughes from Coventry City for €9.00m - 2002/03
• Kenneth Zohore from Cardiff for €8.90m - 2019/20
• Jonny Evans from Manchester United for €8.30m - 2015/16
• Matheus Pereira from Sporting for €8.25m - 2017/18
• Kieran Gibbs from Arsenal for €7.5m - 2017/18