Don't forget the wages they would have been on also as below Thor'd from an old post shows the highest wages at the time. I recall listing on the radio when an ex Mag player (I dunno if it was Howey) said he couldn't believe what he got offered as it was far more than he was going to accept anyway. Shearer would be on over £400,000 a week using that same Index. They were paying players good money also to get them to come up North but I'll tell you honestly, I love it, love it, when I read that last sentence
November 1992: Eric Cantona joins Manchester United on £10,000-a-week deal
Just months into the first Premier League season and Alex Ferguson completed the signing that would secure Manchester United their first title in 26 years and set the platform for many more to come.
Back then, £10,000-a-week was a lot of money in the football world. The Premier League was called the Premiership, Alex wasn't a Sir and there was no transfer window. How times have changed...
June 1995: Dennis Bergkamp joins Arsenal on £19,000-a-week deal
After several years in the doldrums, Arsenal would become United's main rivals in the late 90s and early 2000s, and the signing of Dutch forward Bergkamp from Inter Milan paved the way.
Bergkamp would go on to sign many more contracts at Arsenal, eventually finishing his career at the club 11 years on from his first lucrative deal.
July 1996: Alan Shearer joins Newcastle United on £34,000-a-week deal
Alan Shearer's £15million move from Blackburn to Newcastle was a world-record transfer at the time, and the England striker's wage packet reflected that - nearly doubling Bergkamp's salary.
Like Bergkamp, Shearer would not move on again, but Newcastle failed to deliver the silverware during his 10-year St James' Park career that their investment promised - despite Shearer's goals.