Shevchenko would be most expensive player in EPL history if bought today

Chelsea flop Andriy Shevchenko would be the Premier League's most expensive player at an eye-watering £144.4million if his transfer happened today.

The Ukrainian striker joined Chelsea from Milan for a fee of £29.4m back in 2006, but the enormous inflation of football's transfer market means Shevchenko would now command almost five times that figure.

Alan Shearer, who joined Newcastle United from Blackburn Rovers for a world record £15m in 1996, would be worth a colossal £125.1m in today's market.

Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand, who cost Manchester United £29m when they bought him from Leeds United in 2002, would cost them £121.7m if the move was to happen today.

The research has been done by TotallyMoney, who have studied every transfer since the advent of the English Premier League in 1992 and calculated a 'football player inflation' formula to work out each player's transfer fee today.

TotallyMoney's research took into account various factors that have inflated the transfer market during the Premier League era, including increased broadcasting revenue and commerical opportunities.

And with each top flight club assured of their share of these revenues, competition for star players in the market is more intense than ever.

Staggeringly, if everyday items had increased in line with Premier League inflation, a pint of milk would cost £7.62 and a loaf of bread £12.32.

Shevchenko, Shearer and Ferdinand are the three most expensive on the list, but even moves that happened two years ago would command considerably higher transfer fees now.

Paul Pogba's move from Juventus to Man United in 2016, for example, was £86m at the time but would have risen to £117.7m now.

Other players that would now cost in excess of £115m include Juan Sebastian Veron, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres and Michael Essien.

Man United's hardman captain Roy Keane would be worth £111.2m in today's money, while their record goalscorer Wayne Rooney would command £103.6m.

They calculate that Andrew Cole, bought by Man United from Newcastle back in 1995 for £6.4m, would command a whopping £91.2m today.

His strike partner at Old Trafford, Dwight Yorke, would be worth £81m, more than six times the £12.6m United paid to sign him from Aston Villa in 1998.

Over at Manchester City, their all-time record scorer Sergio Aguero looks a snip at the £35m they paid for him in 2011 given his inflated value of £99.1m.

More surprising is the massive increase in the value of Shaun Wright-Phillips, who left City for Chelsea in 2005 in a £21.4m deal but would now be valued at £95.8m.

Some players make two appearances high up in the list - Torres is one, with his 2011 move from Liverpool to Chelsea now valued at £115.5m and his 2007 arrival at Liverpool at £90.7m.

Sportsmail columnist Chris Sutton is another with his 1994 switch from Norwich to Blackburn, originally worth £5m, now calculated at £68.5m. Sutton's £10m move from Rovers to Chelsea in 1999 is now worth £61.5m.

The research found that in 1994-95, the average player in the Premier League cost £1.16m. But by the 2012-13 campaign, this average had rocketed to £5.37m - a five-fold increase.

Applying the same rampant inflation seen within football's transfer market was applied to the rest of society, the price of a pint of milk would have risen from 34p in 1992 to £7.62 today.

A loaf of sliced white bread would have soared from 55p in 1992 to £12.32, while the average house price would have risen from £52,000 to £1.2m.

Henry Keegan of TotallyMoney said: 'Many think footballers have always been paid a lot. But, compared with how much they cost now, they were an absolute steal when the Premier League began.

'What our research shows is that with the globalisation of football and its ever-increasing worldwide popularity and TV deals, the biggest football clubs can afford to compete for the very best players - and that football inflation far outweighs day-to-day inflation.'