Marcus Rashford and Erling Haaland have been valued as the most expensive footballers on the planet in a new study published by the CIES Football Observatory. Arsenal’s England wonderkid, Bukayo Saka of Nigerian parentage stands a close 6th in the pecking order.
Manchester United star Rashford, 23, is valued at between £130m-£172m (€150m-€200m) and is rated at 14.8 per cent of the club’s total squad value, while 20-year-old forward Haaland has the same value but is a much bigger asset to his club Borussia Dortmund at 21.5 per cent.
Below the leading pair, England internationals Phil Foden, 20, and Bukayo Saka, 19, are two of the next four players to finish in the next-highest transfer bracket, between £103m-£130m, alongside Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix and PSG’s Kylian Mbappe.
Further down, the bracket of £77m-£103m features seven players in total, two of which are English: Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold and Tottenham forward Harry Kane.
Alongside them is Chelsea striker Timo Werner, Bayern Munich left back Alphonso Davies, Barcelona playmaker Frenkie de Jong, Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt and Inter Milan forward Lautaro Martinez.
It should be noted that the list compiled by CIES only features one player per club and only involves clubs in Europe’s top-five leagues, namely England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.
In the Premier League, Pedro Neto is Wolves’ highest-valued player at between £60m-£77m, with Everton’s Richarlison and Leicester’s Youri Tielemans valued in the same range.
Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish is valued at upwards of £34m, as is Southampton skipper James Ward-Prowse.
Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr. is Real Madrid’s highest-valued player, at £60m-£77m, while Bayer Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby and RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo are the other players at the fourth-highest transfer bracket in the study.
In the lower echelons of the list, Burnley winger Dwight McNeil’s inclusion is a standout, as whilst valued at £43m-£60m, he has a value to his club of 35.3 per cent – the second-highest in the whole list.
Eibar midfielder Edu Exposito is top of that list, at 39.6 per cent, while Ozan Kabak is third for Schalke (32.3 per cent), despite the fact the centre back is currently on loan at Liverpool.
The lowest dependance on the top valued player was recorded for AS Roma: centre back Gianluca Mancini represents 8.7 per cent of the total estimated squad value.
Eberechi Eze, at £25m-£34m, is Crystal Palace’s highest-valued player and has a percentage asset to the club of 28.4, while West Ham’s Declan Rice is valued at the same level of McNeil: £43m-£60m.
Elsewhere in England’s top-flight Sander Berge and Raphina – at Sheffield United and Leeds respectively – are alongside Eze at upwards of £25m.