As Wigan look set make £14m on Wilson Palacios we take a look at some of the most lucrative bits of business ever seen in the Premier League…

10 Rio Ferdinand

Although he cost Leeds a huge £18 million, Rio Ferdinand not only played some startlingly good football at Elland Road, but he also made the Yorkshire side a profit of £12m when he moved to Manchester United. While the defender was heavily criticised for leaving, the money Leeds made on his £30m transfer was not to be sneered at given Leeds dire financial crisis.

9 Shaun Wright-Phillips

Unlike most examples where clubs buy a player for pittance and then sell him for a fortune, the case of Shaun Wright-Phillips is somewhat different. Wright-Phillips signed for City as a school boy and it was there that he turned into one of the most promising wingers in the country, running at defenders, scoring goals and breaking into the England team. Then Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea and the world of football changed, as the Russian shelled out millions on anyone he liked the look of. Wright-Phillips cost Chelsea £21 million and it looked like the dream move, but with the size of the Blues squad the Englishman found it hard to cement his position in the side. Three years after his big move to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea sold Wright-Phillips back to City for around £8.5m resulting in the Manchester side earning almost £12m and recovering their star player.

8 Andy Cole

In 1993 Newcastle paid Bristol City £1.75 million for Andy Cole. Cole did not disappoint, scoring an incredible 68 goals in 84 games for the club. Then in 1995 he was sold to Newcastle for £7m, setting a new British transfer record. Despite winning countless trophies with United, Cole was at his most potent while on Tyneside who benefitted from his goals, and the money they made on him.

7 Alan Shearer

In 1992 Kenny Dalglish paid Southampton £3.3 million for Alan Shearer. At the time Saints' manager Ian Branfoot was “the most popular manager in English football,” as he spent the summer taking phone calls from sides interested in the striker. Blackburn paid a British transfer record, and Shearer helped them win the league. Then, in 1996 they sold the former England captain to Newcastle for £15m, making a tidy £12m profit.

6 Kevin Davies

Southampton made a killing on Kevin Davies. First they bought the centre-forward for a meagre £750,000 from Chesterfield before selling him a year later to Blackburn for £7.5 million. Not only was this a startling piece of business savvy, but Blackburn also threw in James Beattie as part of the deal. Beattie was excellent for Southampton, scoring 68 goals, before he was flogged to Everton for £6m – where he also flopped. Southampton laughed all the way to the bank, using the money to pay for a new stadium.

6 John Obi Mikel

Mikel signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2006 from Norwegian side Lyn Oslo, although his arrival came via Old Trafford. Manchester United and Chelsea both battled for Mikel's signature with United winning, and paying £4 million. However during the following weeks, Mikel disappeared, claimed he had been pressured into the deal, and agreed to play for Chelsea. Outraged United complained to FIFA but Chelsea chose to settle the matter themselves, paying Lyn Oslo £4m and United £12m. Aggrieved, Manchester United accepted the offer and made £8m on a player who never even kicked a ball for them.

5 Jermain Defoe

Having signed for Tottenham in 2004, Jermain Defoe had a mixed time at Spurs. Despite making an immediate impact he soon became increasingly frustrated finding his chances few and far between. To his relief, Harry Redknapp brought him to Fratton Park last January for £9 million. What a difference a year makes. This Christmas, Redknapp, who succeeded Juande Ramos at Tottenham, then bought Defoe again, bringing him back to Tottenham for almost £16m. Portsmouth had a quality player for a year who scored 14 goals and they made £7m selling him back to the club they bought him from in the first place. Portsmouth 1 – Tottenham 0.

4 Lassana Diarra

It took Lassana Diarra a few years to find his feet in the English top flight, but when he did he was formidable. Having failed to break into the team at Chelsea, he moved to Arsenal where he again failed to make an impact on the first team. Then Harry Redknapp, the Godfather of wheeler-dealing, took an interest in the Frenchman. Redknapp signed him for Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee - believed to be around £5 million – where he was formidable. Portsmouth won the FA Cup, Real Madrid liked the look of him, and he was sold to the Spanish giants for almost £19m on the 1 January 2009.

3 Marc Overmars

Arsene Wenger signed the Dutchman from Ajax for £5.5 million in 1997. During his three year spell with the Gunners he scored 25 goals in 100 games and also scored in the 1998 FA Cup final and was an integral part of Arsenal's double-winning side. In the summer of 2000 he was sold to Barcelona for a colossal £25 million – a record for a Dutch footballer – and to make it even sweeter, he failed to make the same impact at the Nou Camp as he had done in North London.

2 Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov cost Tottenham £11 million in the summer of 2006 from Bayern Leverkusen. He scored bundles of goals for Spurs and helped them win their first silverware in years when they beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup final last season. Then in a bizarre move Spurs decided to sell all their strikers and got £30.75m from Manchester United for Berbatov. Despite flashes of brilliance the Bulgarian is yet to show his Spurs form at Old Trafford.

1 Nicolas Anelka

Nicolas Anelka cost Arsene Wenger a pitiful £500,000 when he signed him from Paris St-Germain in 1997. The young Frenchman took the Premier League by storm, with his terrifying pace and clinical finishing. Having won the double with Arsenal, relations between striker and manager soured and Wenger cashed in on Anelka selling him to Real Madrid for a whopping £23 million.