2 hours ago
3
“In their Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven, Bayern Munich made four substitutions in the 62nd minute,” writes Stephan Wijnen. “The four players entering the pitch together had a combined estimated value of €265m (Harry Kane, Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry and Alphonso Davies). Is this the most expensive combined substitution ever?”
Before we go any further – a player’s estimated value is not an objective measure, but using transfer fees doesn’t necessarily work, with some players moving for no fee (Kylian Mbappé, for example). Like Stephan in his question, we are going to use Transfermarkt’s valuations in a bid for consistency, and will focus on the value of players coming on.
Let’s start with Bayern, who matched their Champions League effort in November’s Bundesliga win over Leverkusen as Kane (€65m), Olise (€130m) and Luis Díaz (€70m) came on together in the 59th minute – with their team already 3-0 up.
Mykola Kozlenko has three suggestions, and it may not surprise you to learn that two of them come from Real Madrid. “In January 2025, Real brought on four players after 63 minutes in the Copa del Rey against Minera – Vinícius Júnior (€200m), Mbappé (€160m), Lucas Vázquez (€3.5m) and Chema Andrés (€500,000).”
That’s a total of €370m (£322.5m) based on market values at the time – but Madrid can beat that by €10m (£8.7m) with just two simultaneous substitutes. “In the 62nd minute of their La Liga game at Alavés last April, Vinícius Júnior (€200m) and Jude Bellingham (€180m) came on for Rodrygo and Arda Güler,” notes Mykola.
We’ve had a look around for recent examples – largely Euro megaclubs in Cup competitions – but can’t top Madrid’s total. In Manchester City’s recent Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg against Newcastle, Pep Guardiola sent on Erling Haaland (€200m), Rayan Cherki (€50m) and Rodri (€75m) together in the 71st minute – a total of €325m (£283.3m).
Elsewhere, Barcelona brought on Raphinha (€80m), Pedri (€140m) and Robert Lewandowski (€9m) together during last month’s Copa del Rey tie against Racing Santander (total: €229m), while PSG threw on Désiré Doue (€90m), Nuno Mendes (€75m) and Ousmane Dembélé (€100m) in their Coupe de France clash with Paris FC. A total of €265m, but it didn’t help much – Luis Enrique’s side lost the game 1-0.
Jürgen Klopp’s quadruple Liverpool substitution at Aston Villa in May 2024 didn’t pay off either. With his team leading 3-1, Klopp sent on Darwin Núñez (€70m), Dominik Szoboszlai (€75m), Ryan Gravenberch (€35m) and Curtis Jones (€35m) – €215m (£187.4m) in new blood, but Villa grabbed a draw thanks to two late Jhon Durán goals.
How about international teams? Well, one example can be found a few miles from Knowledge HQ, at Wembley Stadium. “England v Serbia in November 2025, 64th minute: ellingham (€180m), Phil Foden (€80m), Eberechi Eze (€65m) and Jordan Henderson (€2.5m) all came on together – a total of €327.5m (£285.4m),” adds Mykola.
-
Can you do any better? Email us with your answers
Perfect hat-trick of assists
“In Liverpool’s 6-0 win over Qarabag, Virgil van Dijk achieved a ‘perfect’ hat trick of assists (one with his right foot, one with his left foot, one with his head),” writes Joe Adamson. “How common is it for a player to manage this in one game?”
Another Liverpool player can match Van Dijk’s achievement, with an added twist. “Against Arsenal in 1995, Stan Collymore provided a perfect hat-trick of assists for Robbie Fowler to score a perfect hat-trick. Collymore provided an assist with right foot, head then left while Fowler scored right, left then head,” points out James Lavelle.
Almost-one-club players, part two
Last week, we took a look at footballers who were almost one-club players, but played a tiny fraction of games for another team. We’ve had plenty of other suggestions, although a few readers seem to have missed the word almost in the headline. That said, there are some very worthy additions to the list (based on the rules set out last week):
98.42% Steve Bull – 570 appearances: 561 for Wolves, 9 for West Brom (nominated by Neil Withers, and many others)
98.50% Lloyd Doyley – 401 appearances: 395 Watford, 3 Rotherham, 3 Colchester (Peter Lee)
99.02% Jaime Magalhães – 413 appearances: 409 Porto, 4 Leça (Alan Gomes)
99.28% Alex McLeish – 694 appearances: 689 Aberdeen, 5 Motherwell (Adam Harcus)
99.40% Jimmy Lawrence – 499 appearances: 496 Newcastle, 3 Hibernian (trinder19)
99.47% Oliver Glasner – 574 appearances: 571 SV Ried, 3 Lask (Ian Bendelow)
99.69% Trevor Brooking – 649 appearances: 647 West Ham, 2 Cork City (Hammer63)
After leaving West Ham in 1984, Brooking played for amateur sides in New Zealand (Manuwera) and Western Australia (Kelmscott), plus one appearance for English non-leaguers Newcastle Blue Star – none of which count by our criteria.
Brooking then went on to make two League of Ireland appearances for Cork City in December 1985. “I don’t think I did too well there. We lost both games so it’s just as well as it wasn’t a long-term contract! It was just a bit of fun,” he said back in 2013.
Finally, some honourable mentions who don’t quite make the shortlist …
Pierce Sweeney (97.00%) – 388 of 400 career games for Exeter
Alvin Martin (97.22%) – 596 of 613 career games for West Ham
Callum McGregor (93.17%) – 559 of 600 career games for Celtic
Steve Perryman (92.42%) – 854 of 924 career games for Spurs
Billy Bonds (89.37%) – 799 of 894 career games for West Ham
Terry Paine (87.07%) – 815 of 936 career games for Southampton
Knowledge archive
David Noble, an exasperated Oxford United fan, has written in with a potential update – but first, here’s the original question from September 2018.
“Leeds haven’t had a penalty awarded in their favour in 44 league games, back to their home game v Reading last season – is that a record?” tweeted @smw30.
“My team, Sheffield United, beat it in 1992,” wrote Darren White. “United were awarded a penalty on 23 March 1991 at Wimbledon and didn’t get another one until the first ever Premier League game – at home to Manchester United – on Aug 1992. That’s 50 games without a penalty. Incidentally, Brian Deane scored both.”
At Italia 90, England ended a remarkable 53-game, four-and-a-half year run without being awarded a penalty. Bryan Robson scored one in Israel on 26 February 1986, and that was it until the quarter-final against Cameroon on 1 July 1990. It was Gary Lineker’s first penalty for England in his 56th game; he scored it to equalise with seven minutes remaining, then netted another penalty in extra-time.
Chris Rawson wrote in to say that Burnley are currently on a run of 47 games without a penalty (the Clarets ended up with five spot-kicks that season), while Sean DeLoughry had an even better example. “Galway United can push the record up to an impressive 72 games.”
Now, as David points out, the U’s have surpassed that. “I think the total is now 84 games after the 0-0 draw at Coventry – none since the second leg of our League One playoff semi-final.” Cameron Brannagan (who once scored four penalties in one game) scored his spot-kick against Peterborough 635 days ago, and one Oxford fan is vowing not to shave until his side get another penalty.
Oxford’s run is now at 85 games after Tuesday’s home defeat by Norwich – level with Mansfield Town, who endured what is thought to be a Football League record penalty drought between 30 November 2013 and 22 August 2015. When the Stags finally got a spot-kick, they missed it in a League Two game against … Oxford United.
Can you help?
“Wolves now have four players with the surname Gomes, in their first-team squad,” notes Paul Vickers. “Is this a record, at least in a British league?”
“With Sheffield Wednesday on the brink of relegation in February, what is the earliest a team has been demoted to another division?” asks Kevin Bartholomew.
On a similar theme, Gabriel Berry asks: “With the Owls still on -7 points after 31 games, which teams have ended the season with a negative points total?”
“FC Magdeburg won 5-4 at Greuther Fürth last week, avenging a 5-4 home defeat to the same team in August,” writes Jason Smith. “Have there been more than 18 goals in two teams’ league meetings in a season, and are there other examples of unusual repeated scores?”
“Assuming Arsenal win the league and Wolves remain bottom, are there any other instances of a league’s top and bottom teams also being first and last alphabetically?” asks Martin Villau.
“All eight of this year’s FA Trophy fifth-round ties ended in away wins (two on penalties),” writes Stephen James. “Has this happened before in a cup competition?”
“Has a footballer ever been sent off but still won player of the match?” asks Jimmy Clark.
-
Mail us with your questions and answers
