When Rangers bought Duncan Ferguson for a British transfer record in the summer of 1993 it was seen as a brilliant bit of business, buying Scotland’s most promising youngster as well as securing the most natural, long-term successor to Mark Hateley – £4million seemed like a bargain.
Off the back of one of our most successful seasons in history – a treble and just one goal away from the inaugural Champions League final – strengthening the squad in such a way was a huge statement of intent and showed just how big a player we were in the European football scene, but how much would that record fee be in today’s money?
An article in The Athletic has filled a bit of space in the international break by looking into Premier League transfers since it’s inception and what they would be worth now with Ferguson’s move to Everton being included, now, given that when we signed him from Dundee United just the season before and we paid exactly the same fee it doesn’t take a genius to do the maths.
In 1994 Ferguson completed his permanent transfer after a loan spell on Merseyside for the same £4m we spent which, if the same move was completed now would fetch Rangers the pricely sum of £89.9m, just above Thierry Henry following his move to Arsenal from Juventus. If you factor in that he signed for Rangers a year earlier then the relative fee that we paid would have been over the £90m mark.
Tor Andre Flo who we signed for a Scottish record of £12m in 2000 isn’t included in the list but looking at similar players who moved that year, his valuation would be around the £65m mark.
It’s incredible how much the game, and England in particular, has moved on following the birth of the Premier League and just goes to show exactly how we have been left behind on the transfer front, where once we would compete, and beat, clubs down south for Champions League winners, now we keep an eye on their Under-23 teams to see if we can pick up a bargain or two – changed days indeed.