Mainoo biggest winner 

©TM/IMAGO

The most valuable football league in the world has received 128 new market values, increasing its total value by around €240 million to €11.09 billion. Nine Liverpool players, Manchester City’s outstanding Phil Foden and Manchester United’s home-grown Kobbie Mainoo, who at the age of 18 has secured the biggest increase in value in the Premier League, have played the biggest part in this update. Meanwhile, things are going downhill for numerous Chelsea footballers, some of whom are seeing their market values plummet at Stamford Bridge.

If England manager Gareth Southgate wants to, he can field the most valuable pair of wingers in the world at Euro 2024: Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Man City’s Foden will each be upgraded to €130m and share fifth place in the ranking of the most valuable footballers worldwide. While Saka’s value has increased by €10m, Foden has climbed by €20m, leaving Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen and Lautaro Martínez behind, among others. Foden is already enjoying the highest-scoring season of his career and has recently played a key role in helping Man City keep pace with Arsenal and Liverpool.

At Anfield, they are working towards giving Jürgen Klopp a fitting farewell with a second Premier League title and the strong form of his team is reflected in the new market values. Nine upgrades totalling €52m have been made for the Reds, with the biggest ones going to talented right-back Conor Bradley (+€13m to €15m), central defender Ibrahima Konaté (+€7m to €45m) and World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister (+€5m to €70m). Darwin Núñez (+€5m to €70m), who this season increasingly justifies the €85m transfer fee that Liverpool paid to Benfica in 2022, will receive the same increase as Mac Allister.

“He has the most important attitude a striker needs to have,” Klopp praised his striker after his brace in a 5-1 win over Sparta Prague. “He misses chances, which all strikers are doing, but he is not really bothered by it. He just keeps going and that is why he has now a nice number of goals.” Núñez has been directly involved in 28 goals in 40 games and is trying to win the Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup with the Reds.

Premier League market value update: Most downgrades at Chelsea

Justifying the transfer fees has been difficult for some Chelsea players both last season and this campaign. Despite upgrades for Cole Palmer (+€10m to €55m), Conor Gallagher (+€6m to €48m) and Malo Gusto (+€7m to €32m), there is a €19m drop in squad value. This is due to eight downgraded players, six of whom were bought during the biggest shopping spree in football history, which lasted from July 2022 until September 2023.

Moisés Caicedo (-€10m to €80m), Christopher Nkunku (-€5m to €70m), Roméo Lavia (-€10m to €40m), Mykhaylo Mudryk (-€5m to €35m), Benoît Badiashile (-€3m to €32m) and Robert Sánchez (-€5m to €25m) cost a total of €374.8m. Today, these players have a cumulative market value of just €282m. Adding up all transfer fees, Chelsea have spent €1.02b on their current squad. Despite these investments, manager Mauricio Pochettino’s team currently occupy eleventh place in the Premier League table.

London rivals Arsenal invested their €235m in the transfer market in a much smarter fashion this season, and are once again in contention for the title. €75m of the money went to Chelsea for the services of Kai Havertz, who after initial difficulties now has hit some top form. “Havertz had a tough start to life at Arsenal, mainly because he arrived from rivals Chelsea, and many felt Arsenal had overpaid for the German,” Ben Littlemore, Content Manager at TM UK explained. Littlemore also revealed why Havertz’s market value now climbs from €55m to €60m.

“He was still making unselfish intelligent runs and stretching defences, but looked nervous on the ball and was struggling to deliver final product. However, in the last few months we have really seen the impact of Havertz on this Arsenal team. After an injury to Gabriel Jesus, Havertz has been deployed as the focal point of Arteta’s attack and has been superb. His ability to occupy centre-backs with his awkward style and persistent runs has allowed the likes of Saka and Martin Ødegaard (+€5m to €95m) to flourish, whilst he has also added final product to his game.”

Man United: Rashford down – Mainoo biggest winner league-wide

While Havertz’s form and market value are trending upwards, forward Marcus Rashford (-€10m to €60m) is heading in the opposite direction with only seven goals in 34 games. “Last season, Rashford enjoyed the most prolific campaign in his career after scoring 30 goals, but he has failed to replicate those performance levels,” Euan Robertson, Content Manager at TM UK, said. “Rashford has struggled badly, with his commitment and work-rate severely questioned, and his goal return a major disappointment. Manchester United’s attacking has not functioned cohesively and although Rashford has produced some excellent finishes – against Arsenal, Wolves and Man City – he needs to improve considerably for his market value to increase again.”

So far, the Red Devils have had a mixed season. The biggest discovery in manager Erik ten Hag’s squad is undoubtedly Mainoo from the club’s own youth ranks. At the age of 18, the Stockport-born central midfielder is already a regular at one of the biggest clubs in the world and has increased his market value from €6m to €35m – the biggest rise of the update.

“He plays with a maturity beyond his years and possesses every characteristic required from a top-class midfielder,” Robertson said. “Mainoo had the biggest market value increase in this update, and he has been strongly tipped for an England call-up due to his excellent performances. The academy graduate has started United’s last 12 league games. Ten Hag had earmarked Mainoo for a major role at the start of the season before injury deprived him of several months.”

How Transfermarkt market values work

The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees. 

The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).

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