Football and money go hand in hand in the 21st century, with players across the globe being bought and sold for tens of millions of pounds on a regular basis. Often these transfer costs are based on what both the buying and selling club consider to be the player’s market value.
The CIES Football Observatory, a company that looks at the scientific evaluation of professional players' transfer values, has revealed its list of the 100 most valuable players in the world today. The CIES Football Observatory says it calculates these values through multiple factors such as the clubs’ characteristics, time, contract length, previous fees, performance, player’s characteristics and popularity.
Here, FourFourTwo takes a look at the key findings from the list of the 100 most valuable players in the world.
Jude Bellingham joined by three English players in top ten most valuable players in the world
England and Real Madrid Jude Bellingham tops the list, making him the most valuable footballer player in the world, worth a huge €251 million.
Alongside Bellingham, who ranked at no.4 in FourFourTwo's list of the best players in the world right now, there are three fellow Englishmen in the top ten – Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden who are valued at €157m, €150m and €144m respectively.
Away from England, Erling Haaland and Vinicius Junior are ranked as the second and third most valuable players in the world. Alongside Vinicius and Bellingham, Real Madrid have two other forwards in the top ten, highlighting their dominance in the transfer market. Kylian Mbappe, who is 7/1 to win the 2025 Ballon d'Or, is only seen as the fifth most valuable player, perhaps somewhat surprisingly. He is valued at €175m, whilst Brazilian Rodrygo is tenth in the list.
The youngest player on the list is actually the fourth most valuable player in the world, with Lamine Yamal worth €180m after a breakthrough 2024.
As for the oldest player on the list, Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins claims the title, with the 29-year-old valued at €64m, no doubt thanks to his stellar 2023/24 season and his European Championship semi-final winner for England.
Real Madrid have the most players in the top 100, with 10, but it is Arsenal that dominates from a Premier League perspective with eight Gunners making the list. In fact, 49 of the 100 most valuable players in the world play in the Premier League, including Bart Verbruggen of Brighton, the only goalkeeper on the list.
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold does not make the list, due to his contract length, but Manchester United youngster Kobbie Mainoo is valued at €86m, with his club rumoured to be open to offers. Even without Alexander-Arnold, England is the dominant nation, having an impressive 15 players on the list, with Brazil’s 11 players the nearest of any other nation.
Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol, €115m, is the most valuable defender in the world, while Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres, who has been heavily linked with Arsenal and Manchester United, is the most valuable player outside of Europe’s big 5 leagues, at €73m.
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