June 7 – Neymar may hold the record as the most expensive transfer in football history, but he isn’t the most valuable player in the world. Tottenham’s Harry Kane holds that position, valued €3.7 million higher than the Brazilian money machine, according to a new ranking of the Top 100 players in Europe’s Big 5 leagues.
The CIES Football Observatory values Kane at €201.2 million against Neymar’s €197.5 million. In third spot is Neymar’s PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe at €186.5 million.
Players from six countries make up the top 10, five of them play in the Premier League. Perennial list toppers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still forces to reckoned with but both are slipping downwards as they get older and their playing years left diminish. Messi still ranks high at 4th at €184.2 million, but Ronaldo, the oldest player in the ranking has dropped to 24th with a value of €103.4 million.
The youngest player in the ranking is Italy and AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in 73rd position and valued at €67.5 million.
“The highest estimated values per position were recorded for Ederson Morales (goalkeepers, €104.6 million), Samuel Umtiti (centre backs, €111.5 million), Kyle Walker (full backs, €89.8 million), Saul Niguez (defensive midfielders, €100.5 million), Kevin de Bruyne (box-to-box midfielders, €167.2 million), Dele Alli (attacking midfielders, €171.0 million), Neymar (wingers, €197.5 million) and Harry Kane (centre forwards, €201.2 million).
See the methodology for the CIES Football Observatory algorithm here.
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