One of the hardest things to ascertain in football is the actual value of a footballer. With so many salient factors to be considered, the true value of a football player is often subject much debate and is mostly determined via negotiations which eventually results in a transfer. In a bid to guide the entire football market, CIES Football Observatory has presented a list of the world’s 120 most expensive footballers.
Unsurprisingly, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo make up the top two with Messi valued at £172.6 million and Cristiano Ronaldo valued at £104.3 million. The two, the only players valued above £100 million, are widely regarded as the best players on the planet. Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Paul Pogba make up the top five with Hazard valued at £77.6 million, Diego Costa valued at £65.9 million and Pogba valued at £56.4 million.
The question as regards the methodology which guided CIES Football Observatory’s valuations is answered by the body as it specified that the eventual valuations take various factors into account including player performance, age and contracts. Asides these, other factors taken into consideration are player performance indexes such as number of goals scored and created and other on-pitch statistics. Scientifically, CIES Football Observatory also used their own algorithm which was reportedly based on 1,500 completed transfers since 2009 to arrive at what it describes as a current ‘price guide’. The release of this data is crucial as it coincides with the start of the January transfer window.
On the list of the 120 most expensive players, only FOUR Africans featured with Yaya Toure ranked at joint No. 45 with a valuation of £25 million while Gervinho and Wilfried Bony both ranked at No. 68 with valuation £19.5 million. The only other African on the list is Mehdi Benatia ranked No 87 with a valuation of £18 million.
These prices do not however serve as fixed value points as despite Wilfried Bony’s £19.5 million on the list, Manchester City are said to be close to sealing a £30 million move for the Swansea and Ivory Coast striker.
With the total valuation of the four African stars at £82 million, it represents a tiny fraction of the 120 players valued on the list. Here are the other 116 players listed with their respective valuations.
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £172.6m
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £104.3m
- Eden Hazard (Chelsea) £77.6m
- Diego Costa (Chelsea) £65.9m
- Paul Pogba (Juventus) £56.4m
- Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) £51m
- Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) £49.4m
- Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) £48.6m
- Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) £47.8m
- Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) £47m
- Neymar (Barcelona) £45.4m
- Angel Di Maria (Manchester United) £44.6m
- Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich) £40.7m
- James Rodriguez (Real Madrid) £39.1m
= Oscar (Chelsea) £39.1m
- Luis Suarez (Barcelona) £37.6m
- Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea) £35.2m
= Isco (Real Madrid) £35.2m
- Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) £34.4m
= Koke (Atletico Madrid) £34.4m
- Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) £33.6m
- Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) £32.8m
- Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) £32.1m
- Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich) £30.5m
- Romelu Lukaku (Everton) £29.7m
= Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain) £29.7m
- Luka Modric (Real Madrid) £28.9m
= Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) £28.9m
- Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur) £28.2m
= Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) £28.2m
- Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich) £27.4m
= Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) £27.4m
= Miralem Pjanic (Roma) £27.4m
= David Silva (Manchester City) £27.4m
- Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) £26.6m
= Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli) £26.6m
= Vincent Kompany (Manchester City) £26.6m
= Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) £26.6m
= Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) £26.6m
- Willian (Chelsea) £25.5m
= Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) £25.5m
= Marco Veratti (Paris Saint-Germain) £25.5m
= Ross Barkley (Everton) £25.5m
= Juan Mata (Manchester United) £25.5m
- Mateo Kovacic (Inter Milan) £25m
= Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon) £25m
= Lucas Moura (Paris Saint-Germain) £25m
= Yaya Toure (Manchester City) £25m
= Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) £25m
- Arturo Vidal (Juventus) £24.2m
= Andres Iniesta (Barcelona) £24.2m
- Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) £23.5m
= Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) £23.5m
= Andre Schurrle (Chelsea) £23.5m
= Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) £23.5m
- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal) £22.7m
= David Alaba (Bayern Munich) £22.7m
= Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) £22.7m
= Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina) £22.7m
- Radamel Falcao (Manchester United) £21.9m
- Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) £21.1m
= Alvaro Morata (Juventus) £21.1m
= Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona) £21.1m
= Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad) £21.1m
- Mario Balotelli (Liverpool) £20.3m
= Gerard Pique (Barcelona) £20.3m
= Luke Shaw (Manchester United) £20.3m
- Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) £19.5m
= Wilfried Bony (Swansea City) £19.5m
= Daniel Carvajal (Real Madrid) £19.5m
= Kevin de Bruyne (Wolfsburg) £19.5m
= Roberto Firmino (hoffenheim) £19.5m
= Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United) £19.5m
= Gervinho (Roma) £19.5m
= Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao) £19.5m
= Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund) £19.5m
= Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich) £19.5m
= Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool) £19.5m
- Jose Callejon (Napoli) £18.8m
= Samir Nasri (Manchester City) £18.8m
= Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus) £18.8m
= Marek Hamsik (Napoli) £18.8m
= Julian Draxler (Schalke) £18.8m
= Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) £18.8m
= David Luiz (Paris Saint-Germain) £18.8m
= Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) £18.8m
- Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain) £18m
= Calum Chambers (Arsenal) £18m
= Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) £18m
= Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid) £18m
= Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) £18m
= Medhi Benatia (Bayern Munich) £18m
= Fernandinho (Manchester City) £18m
- Radja Nainggolan (Roma) £17.2m
= Carlos Tevez (Juventus) £17.2m
= Marcelo (Real Madrid) £17.2m
- Roberto Pereyra (Juventus) £16.4m
= Heung-Min Son (Bayer Leverkusen) £16.4m
= Arda Turan (Atletico Madrid) £16.4m
= Adam Lallana (Liverpool) £16.4m
= Adem Ljajic (Roma) £16.4m
= Antonio Candreva (Lazio) £16.4m
= Stevan Jovetic (Manchester City) £16.4m
= Pedro (Barcelona) £16.4m
= Ramires (Chelsea) £16.4m
- Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain) £15.6m
= Juan Bernat (Bayern Munich) £15.6m
= David De Gea (Manchester United) £15.6m
= Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan) £15.6m
= Erik Lamela (Tottenham) £15.6m
= Dries Mertens (Napoli) £15.6m
= Gary Cahill (Chelsea) £15.6m
= Eliquim Mangala (Manchester City) £15.6m
= Henrik Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund) £15.6m
= Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United) £15.6m
= Thiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich) £15.6m
= Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli) £15.6m
= Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich) £15.6m
= Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich) £15.6m
= Robin van Persie (Manchester United) £15.6m
The CIES Football Observatory describes itself as a ‘research group’ within the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) which is a private foundation with affiliations to the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The CIES Football Observatory was set up almost a decade ago in 2005 by Drs Raffaele Poli and Loïc Ravenel and currently boasts staff including four full-time permanent researchers with a particular specialty in the statistical analysis of football. The CIES Football Observatory has regularly published annual reports and has previously been mandated by institutions such as FIFA and UEFA to undergo research.
