REAL MADRID have stunned European football by agreeing to sign a 16-year-old forward for £38.7million.
Vinicius Junior, playing for Brazilian club Flamengo, won’t join the Champions League finalists until 2018, when he turns 18, but it’s a record-breaking deal for the Spanish giants.
Football Whispers have looked at the top ten teenage transfer fees through the years.
Vinicius Junior: Flamengo to Real Madrid – £38.7m
LONG understood to be one of the hottest prospects in world football, the Brazilian teenager can play anywhere in the attack and has been dubbed ‘the next Neymar’.
At just 13-years-old, he was called up to Brazil’s Under-15 side, and he has continued to shine ever since.
Named the best player at the South American Under-17 Championships this year, he has 12 goals in 15 appearances for that Brazil team, showing deadly finishing, dribbling ability and an eye for a pass.
Real Madrid have won themselves a gem of a talent.
Anthony Martial: AS Monaco to Manchester United – £36m
THE deal that took Martial to Manchester United in 2015, could be one that grows and grows.
The initial £36m fee has been paid, but bonus and clauses could see it rise by another £25m.
The Frenchman, now 21-years-old, found his second season much tougher, but he is slowly showing signs of life under Jose Mourinho.
Finishing the season with 25 league appearances, four goals and six assist. The 2017-18 campaign will be huge for the Frenchman.
Lucas Moura: Sao Paulo to PSG – £32.5m
THE Brazilian winger signed in the summer of 2012, but his reported £40m move would see him arrive in Paris until January the following year.
The teenager finished his time in Brazil before joining up with Carlo Ancelotti in the French capital.
Sir Alex Ferguson moaned about the amount PSG had paid for the youngster, but with just 45 goals in 233 games for the Parisian club, the Scotsman might look back fondly that United didn’t land his signature.
Lucas has been somewhat of a success in Ligue 1, but has never quite hit the heights that were expected with such a big money move and now has been linked with a transfer to Liverpool.
He’s got a long way to go to fulfil that original transfer fee.
Mario Gotze: Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich – £31.5m
IT was somewhat a knife in the back when Gotze announced that Bayern Munich would pay his £31.5m release clause and take him to Bavaria.
“Gotze’s agent told us he wants to make use of his release clause and move to Bayern,” read a Borussia Dortmund statement at the time.
What shocked most was the timing, coming just before BVB took on Bayern at Wembley in the Champions League final.
His three years in Munich were mixed, scoring a World Cup winning goal in 2014 and playing 114 times – scoring 36 goals.
But injuries hampered his time there and in the summer of 2016 he made the move back to Dortmund.
However, injuries again have stopped Götze becoming the player everyone thought he could be.
Luke Shaw: Southampton to Manchester United – £29m
IF Lucas or Gotze haven’t been a success, the crazy amount that United paid to bring Shaw from Southampton pales in comparison when you look at the success of all three players.
Unfortunate to break his leg against PSV Eindhoven, the left-back, despite moving in 2014, he has still played more for Southampton than he has Man United.
Mourinho has spoken about the areas that Shaw must improve and why he wasn’t playing, but it looks like Shaw’s career will have to continue away from Old Trafford.
Renato Sanches: Benfica to Bayern Munich – £27.5m
AFTER his superb displays for Portugal at Euro 2016 and being crowned Tuttosport’s Golden Boy in 2016, it was easy to see why Bayern stumped up the money to sign him last summer.
However, the award doesn’t always guarantee success, ask Martial or Raheem Sterling.
Still a teenager, the powerful stride of Sanches has made just 17 appearances for the German giants this season and his future up in the air at the moment, linked with a rumoured transfer to Juventus and Manchester United.
Gabriel Jesus: Palmeiras to Man City – £27.2m
MANCHESTER CITY were struggling for goals when this Brazilian striker was finally ready to be unleashed on the Premier League.
Jesus had started like a kid possessed before a metatarsal injury against Bournemouth ruled him out for weeks.
His seven goals and four assists in just ten league games gave us the briefest hint as to what his big money transfer could mean to City.
Wayne Rooney: Everton to Manchester United – £27m
BOUGHT for the same price as Jesus, but 13 years earlier, it highlights the huge amount of money that United paid to take the mercurial talent from Goodison Park in 2004.
The fee was originally reported as £20m, but with add-ons, it went up to near £30m.
After scoring his 250th goal from the club, winning the Champions League and five Premcrowns, there’s no doubt that Rooney has achieved everything he could have at Old Trafford.
This may have been his last season with the Red Devils and with a last minute appearance in Wednesday’s Europa League win, that could have been a fitting goodbye.
Marquinhos: AS Roma to PSG – £27m
BOTH United and Chelsea have tried to sign Brazilian defender Marquinhos recently, but it was PSG that stumped up the money to take the youngster to the Parc des Princes in 2013.
He had only spent one season at AS Roma before the move, but they were heavily compensated for their troubles.
Now, with David Luiz gone, the 22-year-old has established himself as first-choice in Paris, guided by his friend and mentor, Thiago Silva.
It will take a record-breaking move to convince the Parisians to sell one of their crown jewels.
Sergio Ramos: Sevilla to Real Madrid – £23.3m
WHEN he signed for Real Madrid from Sevilla in 2003, Ramos was a rampaging full-back.
Fourteen years later and he has enjoyed an excellent career in the Spanish capital as a dominant centre-back.
This season, he has added his fourth domestic league title, adding to his two European Championships, two Champions Leagues and World Cup.
Now he gets a chance to improve that record again when he lines up against Juventus in Cardiff.
Money well spent.
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