Liverpool sprung a festive shock by announcing the signing of Virgil van Dijk for £75m, a world-record fee for a defender.
The transfer fee involved isn't quite on the levels of that Neymar's ground-breaking £198m switch to PSG, but the money Liverpool paid Southampton is enough to make Van Dijk the world's most expensive defender.
Here, Sportsmail looks at the 10 most expensive defenders in football.
10 – Eliaquim Mangala
Fee: £32m
Selling club: Porto
Buying club: Manchester City
Date: August 2014
The former Valencia centre half has endured a mix-spell since moving to the Eithad.