Andrei Kanchelskis’s £5million move from Manchester United to Everton in 1995 would now be worth £104million. That is the sharpest number in Kieran Maguire’s Laws-Maguire Index, and it sits inside a table that makes Everton’s early Premier League spending look far bigger in modern money than it did at the time.

Everton’s early Premier League spending

Maguire said the index adjusts original transfer fees for changes in buying power as club revenues have grown over time. He also described Everton’s early Premier League years as an “imperial” phase, when they were very much at the top table on transfer fees.

The rest of the table makes the point quickly enough. Alan’s £15million world-record move from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United in 1996 would now be worth £236.9million. Romelu Lukaku's £75million switch from Everton to Manchester United in 2017 rises to £112.6million. Jack Grealish's £100million move from Aston Villa to Manchester City in 2021 would be £132.7million now.

There is a reason Kanchelskis stands out. His £104million revaluation is enormous for a 1995 transfer, and it lands above Lukaku’s later sale, even before you get to the visual shock of comparing a £5million fee with modern market expectations.

What the table says about Everton

The table does not argue that Everton had the same spending power as today’s richest clubs. It does show that, in the early Premier League era, they could compete on transfer fees in a way that now feels distant from the club’s modern profile.

Eliot Anderson’s proposed £116million switch from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City was used as the benchmark that placed him 31st on the revaluation list, which gives the scale some extra context. Everton also finished 13th in the 2025 Premier League table and collected 49 points across 38 league matches, a decent reminder that the club’s present-day standing is nowhere near that old spending phase.

For once, the interesting part is not a record fee or a headline chase. It is how a £5million signing from Manchester United can be reframed as a £104million move when club finances are run through a modern revenue lens.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →