Danilo the fourth most expensive full-back ever... Luke Shaw is still No.1

The Brazilian's big money deal to join Real Madrid has seen him move into the top five for the highest transfer fees paid for a full-back

New Real Madrid signing Danilo is the fourth most expensive full-back in history following the blockbuster deal struck with Porto.

The Brazil international sealed a €31.5 million move to the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday and will join his new club when the transfer window re-opens in the summer.

That figure is the fourth highest ever paid for a full-back, with Manchester United's Luke Shaw still the most expensive player ever in his role.

The Englishman moved to Old Trafford from Southampton this summer for €37.5m, but has failed to live up to his price-tag so far and has struggled for form and fitness.



France legend Lilian Thuram is second after Juventus used the money they recouped from Zinedine Zidane's 2001 world record transfer to Real Madrid to buy the Parma defender for €36m. He spent five years in Turin and won four on-field Scudetti. He later joined Barcelona.

In third place is current Barca star Dani Alves, who Danilo had been described as a successor to. The Blaugrana splashed out a whopping €35.5m for the Sevilla wing-back in 2008 but he has been worth every penny, winning four league titles and two Champions Leagues.

Rounding off the top five is another Madrid man, Fabio Coentrao. Madrid paid Benfica €30m for the Portuguese left back in 2011 but he has had a mixed spell in Spain so far and has often played second fiddle to Marcelo.

Danilo was voted as only the fifth-best right-back in the world in a poll by Goal readers - one place behind future Madrid team-mate and direct first-team competitor Dani Carvajal.

Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm came top of our poll with a whopping 43.85 per cent of the votes, with Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic a distant second.