Top 20 list revealed 

Top 20 nations with best attackers revealed ahead of World Cup

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They say putting the ball in the back of the net is the hardest component in football and that’s generally why the best paid players in the world are attackers. As Jamie Carragher famously said ‘nobody grows up wanting to be a Gary Neville’ and it’s true. All good jokes contain some truth in them and aspiring footballers will seldom idolise a full-back with their heroes far more likely to be strikers or wingers.

The biggest superstars in the history of footballer have been attackers; Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Pelé to name just a few. In modern football, Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland are the three most valuable players in the world and they all occupy positions in the front threes of their respective teams. As part of a series on Transfermarkt, we’ve analysed which nations have the most valuable collection of players in each position and it’s concluded with attackers.

Which nation has the most valuable collection of attackers?

We’ve used Transfermarkt’s renowned market values and combined the valuations of every attacker from that nation to formulate the results. Using our parameters, Brazil ranks first with the South American superpower famous for producing global superstars like Ronaldo, Neymar and Ronaldinho. Vinicius Junior is the most valuable Brazilian attacker at €150m but he’s their only entry in the top ten with Estêvão next up at €80m. A significant factor for Brazil ranking first is the sheer volume of their attackers in the Transfermarkt database (1,151), which is more than double second placed England.

Bukayo Saka is England’s most valuable attacker at €120m with the Arsenal star almost double Harry Kane (€65m), who ranks second. Few would dispute that Didier Deschamps will have the best forwards at his disposal at the World Cup with Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise amongst his options with France ranking third. Eight of the top ten nations are European with Morocco leading the way for Africa and the United States for North America.