Who are the most expensive Greek players of all time? We run through a list of highest transfer fees paid for Greek stars.
In a 2022 social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, a user by the name of @KingVasilopita posted a football meme template featuring Greek winger Christos Tzolis after his move to then-Premier League side Norwich City. The post in question is displayed below:
While it is a satire of the varying prices at which players of different nationalities transfer between clubs, it does highlight the general opinion among Greek football supporters that our players, up until recently, have been undervalued in the market. Tzolis, for example, went for only €11.5 million including add-ons, despite being one of the biggest talents at PAOK and in the Greek Super League at the time.
Over the last few years, however, the market’s landscape has undergone significant changes. All of a sudden, Greek players are not only being linked with moves to teams from Europe’s top five leagues, but to some of the biggest clubs in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France, for huge fees.
The likes of Tzolis, who has since rebuilt his career from that infamous move to England, was heavily linked with AC Milan and Manchester United before his record-breaking move to Arsenal. Konstantinos Karetsas caught the interest of Bayern Munich and Juventus prior to his transfer to Borussia Dortmund, while Olympiakos’s talented trio of academy graduates, Christos Mouzakitis, Konstantinos Tzolakis and Babis Kostoulas, have all moved on for big money.
15. Kostas Mitroglou – Olympiacos to Fulham – €15.2m
After the first half of the 2013/14 season, Kostas Mitroglou had Europe at his feet. For Olympiacos, he scored a hat-trick in the Champions League, was the Greek Super League top scorer and helped Greece qualify for the 2014 World Cup, with three goals over a two-legged play-off against Romania. Naturally, he had plenty of suitors.
Premier League side Fulham eventually won the race to acquire Mitroglou, and he joined the West Londoners for €15.2 million, becoming both Fulham’s record signing and the most expensive transfer for a Greek player at the time.
Unfortunately, a combination of injuries, bad luck, and a lack of trust from manager Felix Magath meant that he made only three league appearances as Fulham was relegated. Some have since labelled Mitroglou as the worst January signing in the history of the Premier League. I wrote an article attempting to debunk that assumption in 2024. The next summer, he returned to Olympiacos on loan, where he built himself back to his scintillating best, before once again becoming one of the most potent strikers in Europe, at Benfica.
14. Sokratis Papastathopoulos – Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal – €16m
Known by many abroad simply as Sokratis, the Greek centre back was rated as one of the best in the Bundesliga during his time at Borussia Dortmund. After a four-year stint with the German giants, he became Unai Emery’s third summer signing as the new manager of Arsenal for €16 million while also joining former Dortmund teammates, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, in North London.
Sokratis’s time with the Gunners is a polarising one. He started consistently under Emery in his first season, helping the club finish fifth in the Premier League, narrowly missing out on Champions League football to local rivals Tottenham Hotspur and losing in the Europa League final to fellow London rivals Chelsea. But with the decline of the club’s form during the first half of the 2019/20 season, Emery was sacked and in his place came Mikel Arteta.
Despite initially starting under the Spanish manager and becoming the first Greek player to lift the FA Cup, like several players who joined Arsenal before Arteta became head coach, Sokratis was eventually phased out of the first team and dropped entirely from their Premier League squad at the start of the 2020/21 season.
He had his contract terminated by mutual consent in January 2021, joining Olympiacos on a free transfer.
13. Konstantinos Koulierakis – Wolfsburg to Roma – €16.5m
Despite suffering relegation with Wolfsburg in 2025/26, Konstantinos Koulierakis still commanded plenty of suitors across Europe.
It was Serie A side Roma who eventually picked up the 22-year-old at a cut price €16.5 million.
12. Panagiotis Retsos – Olympiacos to Bayer Leverkusen – €17.5m
A cautionary tale to any young, highly rated Greek prospect looking to leave their homeland for pastures new, Panagiotis Retsos was one of the shining lights of Olympiacos’ rather average 2016/17 season when he was starting at such a young age for Thrylos under former manager Paulo Bento.
Naturally, after his first full senior campaign, helping the Piraeus side win their seventh straight Super League title and competing in the Europa League, he attracted a lot of interest. With the summer transfer window drawing to a close, Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen paid €17.5 million, which was then the record sale for a Greek player at the time, to bring Retsos to Germany.
The talented defender enjoyed a decent first campaign in the league, but persistent thigh injuries started to hamper Retsos, setting his career back in Germany. During several loan spells to Sheffield United, Saint-Étienne, Hellas Verona, and Olympiacos, Retsos was unable to find fitness and consistent game time.
It was only once he returned to Piraeus permanently that the experienced defender reignited his career, becoming a mainstay at centre-back and helping Thrylos win a famous UEFA Conference League title in 2023/24.
11. Vangelis Pavlidis – AZ Alkmaar to Benfica – €18m
After a few seasons in the Netherlands, first at Willem II and then with AZ Alkmaar, Vangelis Pavlidis established himself as one of the best strikers in Dutch football.
At the end of his final season in the Eredivisie, where he was the league’s top scorer with 29 goals, Portuguese giants Benfica came calling and signed Pavlidis for €18 million and he followed in the footsteps of other Greek players, like Karagounis, Katsouranis, Mitroglou, Samaris and Vlachodimos to play for the Lisbon side.
The 26-year-old enjoyed an excellent first season in Portugal, scoring 19 goals and assisting 7 in the league, and 29 in all competitions, including a Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona. And since then, the goals have not stopped flowing.
So, as it stands, money well spent for Benfica.
10. Konstantinos Mavropanos – VFB Stuttgart to West Ham United – €20m
From being labelled an Arsenal flop, to one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga, and back to supposedly being a bad player again, somewhere in the middle is the truth when it comes to Konstantinos Mavropanos.
The former PAS Giannina defender, after being named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season on multiple occasions during his time at Stuttgart, returned to the Premier League, this time as a much more experienced player, to West Ham United for €20 million.
People forget that Dinos had a decent first season in East London, rotating with fellow centre backs Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma in David Moyes’s squad and even scored the goal against his former club Arsenal, in a 2-1 win that would be one of the catalysts for the Gunners missing out on the Premier League title.
However, we cannot shy away from the fact that Mavropanos endured a pretty poor 2024/25 campaign. A vocal minority of supporters scapegoated him, despite the vast majority of the squad also having a poor season and him not being the sole reason for that. Sadly the Greek defender suffered relegation at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
9. Fotis Ioannidis – Panathinaikos to Sporting CP – €22m
Named back-to-back Super League Greek Footballer of the Season, Fotis Ioannidis was sure to eventually move on to pastures new after several seasons as Panathinaikos’ talisman.
The questions were simply: when and to who?
Late in the 2025 summer transfer window, those questions were answered as Ioannidis swapped Athens for Lisbon in a deal worth an initial €22 million.
8. Konstantinos Tzolakis – Olympiacos to Hull City – €23.3m
Olympiacos’ shot-stopping hero in their triumphant run to the UEFA Conference League title in 2023/24, Konstantinos Tzolakis quickly established himself as one of the best keepers in the Super League after stepping up from their academy.
Two seasons of brilliance between the sticks led Hull City to fork out the money to bring him to the Premier League, shortly before the Tigers reunited the goalkeeper with his fellow academy graduate Christos Mouzakitis for a bargain €15 million.
7. Odysseas Vlachodimos – Nottingham Forest to Newcastle United – €23.6m
One of the stranger transfers on this list, Odysseas Vlachodimos left Nottingham Forest, where he had only made five Premier League appearances during the 2023/24 season, to Newcastle United for €23.6 million, making him the most expensive goalkeeper that the Magpies had ever signed at the time.
It is also worth noting that this transfer coincided with the sale of English midfielder Elliot Anderson, who went the other way to Nottingham Forest, which may have been part of a strategy for both clubs to comply with Premier League Profit and Sustainability Regulations.
Sadly for Vlachodimos, the transfer did not worked out. The 31-year-old only made one appearance in all competitions in a League Cup fixture, where he played 45 minutes and kept a clean sheet. A combination of a lack of game time and the excellent form of both Konstantinos Tzolakis and Christos Mandas for Olympiacos and Lazio respectively, led to Vlachodimos also losing his place as a starting goalkeeper for Greece.
Thankfully, Vlachodimos went on to resurrect his career on loan at Sevilla.
6. Giannis Konstantelias – PAOK to Borussia Dortmund – €26m
In a move that sparked anger and dismay amongst PAOK supporters, Giannis Konstantelias left the Thessaloniki-based club for Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2026.
Unfortunately for the creative talisman, he suffered a devastating ACL injury in one of his first forays for his new club.
5. Stefanos Tzimas – FC Nurnburg to Brighton – €26.5m
Stefanos Tzimas, is the perfect reflection of PAOK’s excellent work at producing academy players in recent times. The young striker impressed for the U19s and PAOK’s B team before being given a shot at the senior squad, even contributing with four goals during the Thessaloniki side’s title win in 2023/24.
To many PAOK supporters’ surprise, however, Tzimas was sent out on loan to 2.Bundesliga side 1.FC Nuremberg, rather than giving him the chance to fight for his place in Razvan Lusescu’s squad. Tzimas lit up the German second division, scoring 12 goals in 23 league matches.
Midway through the 2024/25 season, and following Premier League side Brighton’s interest in purchasing Tzimas, Nuremberg paid PAOK €18 million to facilitate the transfer of the Greek striker to the south of England for €26.5 million.
4. Konstantinos Karetsas – Genk to Borussia Dortmund – €30m
Konstantinos Karetsas had been playing senior football for several seasons before Borussia Dortmund paid big money to sign the teenager from boyhood club Genk.
Already a mainstay in the Greek national team, Karetsas dazzled the Belgian Pro League with goals and assists at a ludicrously young age, prompting an initial €30 million fee.
3. Charalampos Kostoulas – Olympiacos to Brighton – €35m
The whole reason why I wrote this blog, Charalampos Kostoulas made the move from his boyhood club, Olympiacos, to Brighton & Hove Albion for €35 million (plus €2 million in add-ons, as reported by The Athletic). Sport24.gr even reported that, with goal performance bonuses, the fee could rise even higher to €40 million.
Kostoulas is officially the biggest sale brokered by Olympiacos and indeed in Greek Super League history.
A versatile forward who can play anywhere in the attacking line, Kostoulas was one of the highest-rated youngsters in the Olympiacos academy for some time. After getting senior minutes with the B team in Super League 2, the now 18-year-old and youth teammate Christos Mouzakitis caught the eye of Thrylos manager Jose Luis Mendilibar, after both starred in the U19s winning the UEFA Youth League in 2024.
The Basque coach not only made both players part of the squad for the 2024/25 campaign, but they also became integral to the Piraeus side reclaiming the Greek domestic double in the club’s 100th anniversary season. The young forward scored vital goals in the derbies against PAOK, came on as a super-sub to score twice in a comeback win 2-1 against Aris.
Fast, physical, a strong mentality and an eye for goal, these are the qualities Brighton fans can expect when they get the chance to see Kostoulas up close.
While it was a very large fee for someone so young, and with admittedly very little senior football experience before the 2024/25 season, Brighton and manager Fabian HĂĽrzeler clearly believe in the potential of one of the biggest talents to come out of Greece in recent years.
2. Kostas Manolas – Roma to Napoli – €36m
A record now beaten, Kostas Manolas made the interleague move from Roma to Napoli for €36 million in the summer of 2019, which, until recently, had him top of the list for most expensive Greek players ever.
Touted as one of the best defenders in Serie A and in Europe, with giants of the game, including Barcelona, previously linked with the centre back, the Naxos native had a good start in Naples, helping them win the Coppa Italia in his first season.
However, persistent injuries began to affect his playing time over the next few seasons, and perhaps Napoli fans never saw the player, who made Roma’s Team of the Decade in 2020, at his very best.
Eventually, Napoli sold Manolas to one of his former clubs, Olympiacos, for just €2.5 million in January 2022.
1. Christos Tzolis – Club Brugge to Arsenal – €40m
Christos Tzolis had a circuitous route to the top, but after rebuilding his career following a failed move to Norwich City, the winger earned a record-breaking move to Premier League champions Arsenal.
List of the most expensive Greek players in history
- Christos Tzolis – Club Brugge to Arsenal – €40m
- Kostas Manolas – Roma to Napoli – €36m
- Charalampos Kostoulas – Olympiacos to Brighton – €35m
- Konstantinos Karetsas – Genk to Borussia Dortmund – €30m
- Stefanos Tzimas – FC Nurnburg to Brighton – €26.5m
- Giannis Konstantelias – PAOK to Borussia Dortmund – €26m
- Odysseas Vlachodimos – Nottingham Forest to Newcastle – €23.6m
- Konstantinos Tzolakis – Olympiacos to Hull City – €23.3m
- Fotis Ioannidis – Panathinaikos to Sporting CP – €22m
- Konstantinos Mavropanos – Stuttgart to West Ham – €20m
- Vangelis Pavlidis – AZ Alkmaar to Benfica – €18m
- Panagiotis Retsos – Olympiacos to Bayer Leverkusen – €17.5m
- Konstantinos Koulierakis – Wolfsburg to Roma – €16.5m
- Sokratis Papastathopoulos – Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal – €16m
- Kostas Mitroglou – Olympiacos to Fulham – €15.2m
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