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By CALUM CROWE Published: 16: 00 AEST, 23 August 2025 | Updated: 16: 00 AEST, 23 August 2025 View comments With Ben Gannon Doak leaving Liverpool and completing a £25million move to Bournemouth earlier this week, the young winger became one of Scotland’s most expensive footballers. There is often a degree a pressure that comes with that sort of price tag and plenty of players over the years have struggled to live up to the hype. But Gannon Doak has already shown a mature head on young shoulders given that he’s still only 19 years old, and he has already proven himself at the top level in a Scotland jersey. With the World Cup qualifiers now only a matter of weeks away, Scotland boss Steve Clarke will hope his young protégé can hit the ground running with his new club. Here, Daily Mail Sport’s CALUM CROWE takes a look at 10 other Scotland players who were transferred for blockbuster fees over the years, with varying degrees of success. .. .. Scott Mc Tominay earned himself a nomination for the Ballon d'Or after his success with Napoli Ben Doak completed his £25m move to Bournemouth last, becoming the latest big-money Scot Mc Cormack was a veritable goal machine in the English Championship a decade ago At his peak, Mc Cormack was probably the most lethal striker in the English Championship. He scored 116 goals in 307 games during prolific spells with Cardiff City, Leeds United and Fulham.  Especially at Elland Road, he was a real fans’ favourite.   After Aston Villa suffered relegation from the Premier League in 2016, they swiftly identified Mc Cormack as the man to fire them back to the top flight at the first time of asking. But it proved to be a disaster both for the club and the player.   Just six months later, a fall-out with Steve Bruce saw Mc Cormack farmed out on loan to Nottingham Forest.   After just three goals in 20 games, Mc Cormack would never play another league game for Villa and was loaned out to the likes of Melbourne City and Central Coast Mariners in Australia, as well as returning to Motherwell. Value 1/10. Steven Fletcher was a huge hit in his first season at Sunderland but things declined thereafter After scoring 22 goals in 61 games for Wolves across two seasons in the Premier League, Fletcher moved to Sunderland and made an immediate impact.   He netted five goals in his first five games and was the main man up front for the Black Cats.   Fletcher would eventually finish the season with 11 goals and was pivotal in helping Sunderland avoid relegation. But both he and the club were never really able to build on that, with Fletcher scoring just 12 league goals across the next three seasons combined.   He was loaned out to Marseille 2016, before going on to have spells with Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City, Dundee United and Wrexham. Value 5/10. Patterson has struggled with injury of late but has yet to show his best side in Everton blue Much was expected of Patterson when he made the move to Everton. He had made the breakthrough at Rangers under the guidance of Steven Gerrard and many fans felt it was only a matter of time until he displaced James Tavernier as the club’s first-choice right-back.   But he has been plagued by injury during his time on Merseyside and has struggled for form, making a total of just 49 Premier League appearances over the past three seasons.   He still has two years to run on his contract, but Everton could yet look to move him on before the end of the window. Either way, he needs a big season if he’s to force his way back into the Scotland reckoning. Value 4/10. Oliver Burke has played in the top flights of England, Spain, Scotland and Germany At just 19 years of age, and after only 13 starts for Nottingham Forest, Burke became Scotland’s most expensive footballer at the time when newly-promoted Leipzig took him to the Bundesliga in 2016.   Blessed with electric pace and powerful physique, the sky was seemingly the limit for the young forward. But rather then Red Bull giving him wings, Burke’s career never really got off the ground with the German club.   Just a year later, West Brom paid £15m to take him back to England, with Burke breaking his own Scottish transfer record in the process.   He has since dotted around clubs such as Alaves, Sheffield United, Werder Bremen, Millwall, Birmingham and is now on the books of Union Berlin.   He even had a loan spell at Celtic in 2019. Ultimately, his career has been one of unfulfilled potential. Value 1/10. Che Adams earned a big reputation at Birmingham and Southampton and now plays for Torino A prolific season for Birmingham City saw Adams score 22 goals in the Championship, prompting Southampton to splash out and take him up to the Premier League. In the next four seasons, the goals were harder to come by.   Adams scored 25 goals across his time with Saints, which maybe doesn’t sound much, but he was still one of their most reliable and consistent performers as they battled relegation year after year. When they eventually dropped down to the Championship, the Scotland striker was pivotal by scoring 16 goals as they won promotion back to the top flight under Russell Martin. Value 7/10. Gilmour endured frustration at his English clubs but has found Italian football to his liking It is often said that Brighton don’t get much wrong in the transfer market. Backed by owner Tony Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics, they have turned some huge profits on several players over the past few years.   But they definitely missed a trick with Gilmour.   He could have been a player they really built their midfield around, but instead, he was moved on to Napoli after only two seasons. It always felt like Brighton never quite had full faith in the diminutive Scotland playmaker. But he was absolutely superb in his debut season in Italy, helping to guide Napoli to the Serie A title.   Especially during the title run-in, Gilmour’s class and composure on the ball became a huge asset to Antonio Conte’s side. Brighton’s loss was very much Napoli’s gain. Value 9/10. Brentford full-back Aaron Hickey is fit again after almost two years out through injury In terms of the trend of Scottish players heading to Italy over recent years, Hickey was one of the early trailblazers.   He joined Bologna in 2020 and spent two seasons in Serie A, before Brentford identified him as one of the most talented young full-backs in Europe.   Two-footed and capable of playing on either side of defence, Hickey did well upon his arrival in west London and played 26 matches in the Premier League during his first season. But he has been plagued by injury since then — and only recently made his long-awaited comeback after 639 days out of action.   After missing almost two full years of football, Hickey needs to re-establish himself this season and, with World Cup qualifiers on the horizon, Steve Clarke and Scotland need him back at his very best. Value 6/10. Mc Burnie's career has nosedived after a bright start at Swansea and he now turns out for Hull Mc Burnie carved a reputation as hugely promising young striker after scoring 22 goals for Swansea in the Championship in season 2018-19.   Looking to arm themselves for an assault on the Premier League, newly-promoted Sheffield United clearly felt Mc Burnie could cut it at a higher level and took the young Scotland striker to Bramall Lane. But he scored just seven goals across the next two seasons before the Blades were relegated back to the Championship.   Mc Burnie failed to score at all in 28 league matches the following season and had clearly lost his way, both at club level and with the Scotland national team.   He hasn’t been capped since 2021 and his career has been blighted by off-field controversies.   He had a stint with Las Palmas last season and is now on the books of Hull City. Value 2/10. Value 2/10. Tierney looked like a potential Arsenal captain at one stage but is now back home with Celtic Tierney became the most expensive Scottish footballer of all-time when he made the move from boyhood club Celtic to Arsenal.   His first season with the Gunners was a roaring success.   Tierney swiftly established himself as first-choice under Unai Emery and continue to be a key figure in defence when Mikel Arteta took charge midway through the 2019-20 season.   The campaign would finish with an FA Cup winner’s medal, with Tierney playing in the final at Wembley as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1.   The Arsenal fans loved his all-action, tough-tackling style and many were even touting him as a future captain.  But, over the next few seasons, Tierney fell progressively out of favour under Arteta and also suffered a couple of bad injuries.   He was loaned out to Real Sociedad and eventually returned to Celtic earlier this summer. Value 6/10. Mc Tominay's goals were a huge factor in Napoli securing their latest Scudetto crown this year Unfairly discarded by Manchester United, Mc Tominay never looked back as soon as he left Old Trafford.   He had already shown his goalscoring prowess from midfield by starring for Scotland in the campaign to qualify for Euro 2024 — and that form continued in Naples.   Two goals in his first five games set the tone for a stunning campaign which would eventually see Mc Tominay score 12 goals for Napoli as they won the Serie A title.   During the run-in, he became the go-to man in big moments. A burst of six goals in seven games over the final few weeks — including a stunning bicycle kick in the final match of the season — saw Mc Tominay drag Napoli over the line to win the title, duly earning himself cult hero status in Naples. Value 10/10.

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