The 20 most valuable players in the world featuring Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Sadio Mane and more

The CIES algorithm takes into account player performance for club and country, age, position and the ‘economic level’ of his club and those who could potentially buy them

Freddie Keighley
Wednesday 08 January 2020 12:01 GMT
Comments
January transfer window 2020 round-up

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The 20 most valuable players in Europe's top five leagues have been revealed by CIES Football Observatory.

The Swiss research group's algorithm finds the player with the highest transfer value to be worth €265.2m, while many English players from all areas of the pitch feature prominently on the list.

The top 20 players are all forwards with the exception of Leicester City's James Maddison in midfield and Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold at full-back. Liverpool also have the most valuable goalkeeper in Alisson (€87m) and centre-back in Virgil van Dijk (€93m), but neither of these players make the top 20.

The CIES algorithm takes into account player performance for club and country, age, position and the 'economic level' of his club and those who could potentially buy them.

Liverpool are the English club with the most players in the top 20 with four, while Manchester City contribute two. Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Everton and Leicester all have one player feature, and the Premier League is the home of 11 of the 20 most valuable players.

There are some surprises, such as Manchester United star Paul Pogba only being valued at €80.4m.

Elsewhere, 34-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is valued at just €80.3m despite the five-time Ballon d'Or winner still producing marvellous displays for Juventus.

In fact, Lionel Messi is the only player over the age of 30 to feature in the top 20 - which has an average age of just over 24.

Neymar is also ranked relatively low down the list despite his record £200.6m move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.

Check out the full list of the top 20 most valuable players in Europe's top leagues in the gallery above

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in