€483 million valuation 

©TM/IMAGO

The eyes of the sporting world are currently on Paris with the 2024 Olympics currently taking place in the French capital. It’s been a festival of football this summer with Spain winning the European Championships and Argentina victorious again in the Copa América. 

While the Olympics are significantly less prestigious than those two tournaments for footballers, there’s a star-studded collection of players going for gold in Paris. Managed by legendary Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, hosts France have the most valuable squad at the Olympics and they face Argentina in a mouthwatering quarter-final clash tonight. France are known for producing an abundance of incredible footballers but who would feature in the most valuable eleven from players born in Paris? Let’s find out.

The most valuable XI from players born in Paris

Firstly, it’s imperative to clarify the parameters we’ve used to determine which players to select our XI from. We’ve only included players born in Paris city – as listed on the Transfermarkt website – and have excluded players from neighbouring suburbs, but we’ll analyse those players later in the article. As illustrated in the graphic below, the Paris combined XI would have a total market value of €483 million with Kylian Mbappé the star man. 

The France captain was unable to fire his country to glory this summer in Germany but he finally completed his protracted move to Real Madrid and he’s the joint-most valuable player in the world at €180m. Mbappé would form a front three worth €295m alongside Kingsley Coman and Moussa Diaby, who recently left Aston Villa for Saudi Arabia. Youssouf Fofana lines up in midfield alongside Seko Fofana – who represents Ivory Coast – and N’Golo Kante, who enjoyed a successful return to the French set-up at Euro 2024. Barcelona’s Jules Kounde and Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté are included in defence with West Ham’s Alfonso Areola in goal.

As previously discussed, several famous names were born in the surrounding province of Paris, with the territory known as the ‘Île-de-France’. The combined market value of an eleven from this area registers at €476m, which is just €8m less than the Paris XI. William Saliba is the most valuable player at €80m with the Arsenal star born in Bondy, which is around 11 kilometres from the centre of Paris. Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku (born in Lagny-sur-Marne), PSG’s Warren Zaire-Emery (born in Montreuil) and new Manchester United signing Leny Yoro (born in Saint-Maurice) are other notable names from the surrounding province of Paris.