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On the cheap: 10 of the best Premier League bargain buys

Swansea’s Michu is turning out to be the transfer of the season and we have a look back at past deals which saw players move for next to nothing.

MICHU’S GOAL AGAINST Chelsea in the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg was his 16th in 25 appearances since arriving at Swansea in the summer.

Having found the back of the net 15 times for Rayo Vallecano last season, the Spaniard was hardly an unknown, especially to fans of La Liga, but even they will have been more than a little surprised at the instant impact he has made in English football.

Swans boss Michael Laudrup isn’t alone in calling him “the bargain of the season” and if a club was to enquire about the 26-year-old now, they would no doubt be quoted a figure nearing ten times what was paid for him in the summer.

Below, we’ve picked out some of the Premier League’s best bargains from past years. Sure, you could say that any player bought for a sum and sold on for a substantial profit fits the bill (Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United, for instance) but we’ve decided to stick to transfers which costed relatively little or nothing.

Michu - Rayo Vallecano to Swansea: £2m
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  • Michu - Rayo Vallecano to Swansea: £2m

  • Ole Gunnar Solskjaer -Molde FK to Manchester United: £1.5m

  • Gary McAllister - Coventry to Liverpool: Free

  • Jay-Jay Okocha - Paris Saint-Germain to Bolton: Free

  • Sol Campbell - Tottenham to Arsenal: Free

  • Brad Friedel - Liverpool to Blackburn: Free

  • Tim Cahill - Millwall to Everton: £1.5m

  • Demba Ba - West Ham to Newcastle: Free

  • Paolo Di Canio - Sheffield Wednesday to West Ham: £1.7m

  • Eric Cantona: Leeds to Manchester United: £1.1m

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21 Comments
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    Mute Tomás O'Connor
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    Jan 10th 2013, 7:53 PM

    Nicolas Anelka – Arsenal bought him for £500,000 and sold him to Real Madrid for about £23million then used £10million of that to buy Henry

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    Mute colm connolly
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    Jan 10th 2013, 8:13 PM

    Agreed but the sell on was £20 I think Madrid got £23 for him when he moved to psg

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    Mute Alan Kelly
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    Jan 10th 2013, 9:51 PM

    And it was PSG that sold him for €500k to Arsenal!!!

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    Mute colm connolly
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    Jan 10th 2013, 11:07 PM

    And real Madrid sold him back to Madrid for £23m and then he went on loan to Liverpool before being sold to man city then onto fernabache in turkey then Bolton then Chelsea and now he is in china, so get your facts right before you try to look smart

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    Mute colm connolly
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    Jan 10th 2013, 11:56 PM

    Sorry Madrid sold him
    Back to psg for £23m

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    Mute Joseph McGranaghan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 12:10 AM

    Peter Schmeichel to United from Brondby, £550,000, now that was a bargain!!!

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    Mute Joyful Jim
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    Jan 10th 2013, 8:50 PM

    Zat Knight to Fulham for 30 pairs of tracksuits

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    Mute 5☆Fily
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    Jan 10th 2013, 9:31 PM

    Fulham were robbed :)

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    Mute Alan O'Dwyer
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    Jan 11th 2013, 4:43 AM

    Denis Irwin – Oldham Athletic to Man Utd for £625,000. Up there with Cantona & Schmeichel for Fergie’s best deals.

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    Mute Do The Mars Bar
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    Jan 10th 2013, 8:49 PM

    Am I right that in 92 United paid a British record fee for Keane for £3.75m? £1m looks cheap now compared to some other transfers but it’s still sizeable compared to transfers then no?

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    Mute Joseph McGranaghan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 12:22 AM

    It was in ’93 and it was an English record, the British record was big Duncan disorderly from Dundee United to Rangers for £4million. It also has to be noted that the gap between £1 million and £4million was at the time was proportionally larger than it is now, is now probably better seen as being similar to the £6million paid for Hernandez and the £24 million for van Persie. Also when put in context with the fact it was only £100,000 higher than the first million pound player over 10 years previous and the explosion in fees around that time that saw the record explode to £15million by 1996.

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    Mute Ger Ryan
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    Jan 10th 2013, 9:49 PM

    Patrick Vieira cost Arsenal in around £4m from AC Milan. This was at the time when transfer fees were beginning to skyrocket out of control. It was small change in the wider scheme of things.

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    Mute David Mooney
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    Jan 10th 2013, 8:20 PM

    Cantona was overrated at the time anyway!

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    Mute Paul Bracken
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    Jan 10th 2013, 9:49 PM

    Djimme Traore Liverpool to charlton I think for about 3 million squid….

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    Mute John Deane
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    Jan 10th 2013, 9:45 PM

    Michu is bargain of the season. £2million

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    Mute 5☆Fily
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    Jan 10th 2013, 7:24 PM

    Demba Ba cost Newcastle £5m

    They took over the transfer fee debt that West Ham had agreed with Hoffenhiem which was 5 million and the first installment was due in the close season.

    The stuff about west ham or Newcastle paying nothing was rubbish, his German club never wanted him to go so hardly let him go free !

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    Mute robert mc anaspie
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    Jan 10th 2013, 7:28 PM

    Michu Rayo Valecane to man city!???

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    Mute David Jones
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    Jan 11th 2013, 9:58 AM

    Cr7 cost ?14m sold for ?80m.

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    Mute Joseph McGranaghan
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    Jan 11th 2013, 11:02 AM

    £12.75million

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    Mute richie lynch
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    Jan 11th 2013, 11:26 AM

    Wasn’t Ba only on loan at West Ham? Open to correction but I Thought he came from Hoffenheim in Germany?

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    Mute colm connolly
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    Jan 11th 2013, 12:05 PM

    Kinda he was on loan with view to a permanent deal but when the hammers went down Newcastle stepped in and paid the £5m to hoffenheim

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