Most expensive Primeira Liga XI of all time

With Felix moving to Atletico Madrid for 120 million euros, we take a look at the most expensive XI to ever depart the Portuguese league.

There have been some impressive movers in the past decade, from defence to attack, and this is an illustration of the most expensive players to leave the country based on each position.

GK: Ederson (€40M)

By some margin, Ederson is the most expensive goalkeeper to leave the Portuguese Primeira Liga, joining Manchester City for a huge 40 million euros back in 2017. Second? Jan Oblak - who joined Atletico Madrid for €16M back in 2014.

LB: Fabio Coentrao (€30M)

Coming in at left back, it’s Fabio Coentrao, who cost 4 million euros more than Porto’s own expensive left back Alex Sandro, who joined Juventus for €26M in the summer of 2015. Coentrao now plies his trade in Brazil with Flamengo, after spending last season with Portuguese side Rio Ave.

CB: Eder Militao (€50M)

He only joined Porto in October of last year - but already he’s off. And with it, has become the most expensive defender in Primeira Liga history. Many will be watching closely to see how the 21-year old Brazilian international performs for Real Madrid next season.

CB: Victor Lindelof (€35M)

Benfica boast the other most expensive centreback to be sold by a Primeira Liga team. Bought by Jose Mourinho and Manchester United back in June 2017, he was a regular in the starting lineup last season, and is starting to prove that he’s worth the outlay.

RB: Nelson Semedo (€35M)

The Benfica right back was sold to Barcelona in the same summer that Lindelof departed for Manchester United, and cost a total of 35 million euros. Whether he will remain at the club for much longer, though, is less clear, with Atletico Madrid a potential destination.

CM: Axel Witsel (€40M)

Belgian international Axel Witsel was a then-record fee paid for a Benfica player, with Zenit picking up the central midfielder for no small fee back in 2012. He went on to play well over 100 games for the Russian club for 4 years, before a brief spell in China. He’s now on the books of Dortmund.

CM: Joao Mario (€40M)

The first - and last - Sporting player to feature on this list, the Portuguese outfit received a huge 40 million euros for the services of Mario thanks to an offer from Inter Milan. Fair to say the move hasn’t quite panned out as well as many would have hoped - and he could be on the move again this summer.

LW: Shoya Nakajima (€35M)

The only player on this list that wasn’t sold from one of the Big Three, Nakajima was bought from Portimonense for a huge 35 million euros by Qatari side Al-Duhail, a club-changing sum of money and ultimately testament to the quality of the Japanese winger.

CAM: James Rodriguez (€45M)

The former Porto man has arguably gone on to have the best career of all the players in this team. One of the stars of the Colombia team and, for a time, one of Real Madrid’s key players too, James first moved from Porto to Monaco - and despite the large expense paid, he still made Monaco a healthy profit when then sold to Madrid for €63M a year later.

RW: Hulk (€60M)

Slightly misleading, this one. Ultimately, Hulk cost Zenit a huge €60million - though Porto only got to keep €40M of that. In any case, Hulk is justifiably in the team, previously the most expensive player to ever leave the Portuguese league - until now.

ST: Joao Felix (€120M)

After just 10 months of senior football, Felix is off to Atletico Madrid for an astronomical 120 million euros. The most expensive player to leave Portugal in history.

Hulk. Photo author: Вячеслав Евдокимов. License link.