---
title: "‘Bargain of the century’ – Chelsea fans on Twitter laud their club’s transfer history following Van Dijk announcement"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/bargain-of-the-century-chelsea-fans-on-twitter-laud-their-clubs-transfer-history-following-van-dijk-announcement/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Jack Saville"
section: "Chelsea Football Club"
published: "2017-12-28T19:20:27Z"
modified: "2017-12-28T19:20:27Z"
---

# ‘Bargain of the century’ – Chelsea fans on Twitter laud their club’s transfer history following Van Dijk announcement

**In the last 24 hours the footballing world have reacted to the news that Virgil Van Dijk will join Liverpool on January 1st, especially the Chelsea supporters in the Transfer Tavern who were keen to draw comparisons with their own club’s transfer activity.**

Times are changing thick and fast in modern day European football, as the economy continues to allow for transfer fees to rise astronomically year on year. When Fernando Torres – a hugely successful proven goalscorer in the Premier League – left Liverpool to join Chelsea for a British transfer record [£50 million](https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/9380389.stm) in 2011, the footballing world gawped with astonishment at the enormity of the fee, but fast-forward 6 years and his price looks like peanuts in the current market.

Liverpool’s signing of Virgil Van Dijk for a whopping and world-record breaking [£75 million](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/27/liverpool-agree-world-record-75m-fee-with-southampton-for-virgil-van-dijk) really puts things into perspective, and the fee a key indicator of how quickly the market has sky-rocketed in recent years.

Perhaps the big spenders like the Manchester clubs, Chelsea, PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid can all be blamed for this, but the development of the transfer market is arguably working in favour of clubs with more modest ambitions.

The Chelsea supporters on Twitter used their own transfer of Cesar Azpilicueta from Marseille for a fee of just [£6.5 million](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/19366944) as an example to illuminate how far the market has changed, and also as an excuse to poke fun at Liverpool supporters.

And The Blues on Twitter were eager to point out plenty of other bargains they have acquired over the years who were brought to the club for a pittance in comparison to Van Dijk’s fee.

Here’s what the Chelsea supporters had to say about Chelsea’s transfer history and Azpilicueta’s fee…

> Best time to remind people that Chelsea signed Azpilicueta for just £7 million.
>
> — Sripad (@falsewinger) [December 27, 2017](https://twitter.com/falsewinger/status/946083999943819264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

https://twitter.com/AshAnother/status/946110817837174784

https://twitter.com/MattHackett19/status/946114407821709312

https://twitter.com/harshagooner/status/946307190675013633

> Cheaper and times better
>
> — Hazardisity (@Hazardisity) [December 27, 2017](https://twitter.com/Hazardisity/status/946088646267899904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

> Wow that’s crazy! Nice job Chelsea!
>
> — Friend of Jericho (@Yasha2001) [December 27, 2017](https://twitter.com/Yasha2001/status/946099137895731202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

> For the price Liverpool are about to pay for Van Dijk, you could have 10.7 Cesar Azpilicueta’s
>
> — Kieran Whitehead (@KizzleKicks7) [December 27, 2017](https://twitter.com/KizzleKicks7/status/946076634892980225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

> Virgil Van Djik – 75 million \
> Cesar Azpilicueta – 7 million \
> We got the biggest bargain of the century.
>
> — Jamie (@JamieCFC98) [December 27, 2017](https://twitter.com/JamieCFC98/status/946083825884585984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

https://twitter.com/ShadyYourMaker/status/946120494528557063