The CIES Football Observatory has just unveiled the list of the most expensive players on the planet. And there are some surprises!
The transfer window is launched! And even if the big deals are usually done during the summer market, this month of January may still be quite busy and several big checks will be signed. FC Barcelona, for example, started well, by releasing more than 55 million euros for Ferran Torres, while the English leaders are also expected at the turn. How to calculate the price of a player? Difficult to say, but the CIES has unveiled a list of the 100 most expensive players playing in the major leagues, in which there are only seven Ligue 1 players.
To develop it, the CIES relied on an econometric approach developed by its research team, which is based on a whole number of criteria ranging from the player’s age to his contract, including the level of experience at the highest level that it can have, to its statistical line and to the market trend. Result: Vinicius Junior, the Brazilian from Real Madrid, is the most expensive player on the planet. Recruiting him would currently cost 166.4 million euros.
French players poorly represented
To complete this podium, we find Phil Foden (Manchester City) and the inevitable Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund), which respectively cost 152.6 and 142.5 million euros. Next come Mason Greenwood (Manchester United € 133.9m), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen, € 133m), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund, € 130.1m), as well as Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich, 122.3 M €). Next comes Ruben Dias (Manchester City, € 120.5m) while two Barça players bring up the rear: Pedri (€ 118m) and Frenkie de Jong (€ 115.2m).
It will not have escaped you, Kylian Mbappé is not in the ranking and is even very far from the top 10, which is quite normal given his contractual situation, even if his price remains quite high (71.5 M €) given its situation. Note that the first French player in the ranking is Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich, € 94.2 million), twenty-fourth in the general ranking. The first representative of Ligue 1 is none other than Achraf Hakimi, the fifteenth most expensive player on the planet since the Parisian would be worth 108.2 million euros according to the CIES. Note that apart from PSG, the most expensive Ligue 1 player is Jonathan David of LOSC, with a price of 61 million euros. It should be noted that Lucas Paqueta (OL, 55 M €) and the Canadian are the only non-Parisian players in Ligue 1 who appear in this top 100, where there is no Marseillais or Monegasque.
