Progression of the British football transfer fee record lagged behind those paid by clubs in Italy, France and Spain to take British players abroad until 1995, when Manchester United paid Newcastle United £7,000,000 for Andy Cole. The fees paid by the Premier League's top clubs began to increase at a rapid rate, with Alan Shearer commanding the first £15,000,000 fee in 1996, and the new millennium heralding the first £30,000,000 transfer, although sources differ as to whether this barrier was broken by Rio Ferdinand's move to Manchester United in 2002 or Andriy Shevchenko's transfer to Chelsea four years later for some reason, however Veron' s transfer to United
History of Liverpool F.C. (1985–present) businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought the club, in a deal which valued it and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. Liverpool once more came third in the league, this time 21 points behind Manchester United. They went out of both domestic cup competitions to Arsenal, but reached the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final where they again faced Milan. Unlike 2005, Liverpool were unable to recover from going behind, and lost the match 2–1. During the summer, Benítez strengthened his team by signing Fernando Torres for a club record £24 million, and midfielders Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun. They