2 weeks Ago
There are three England stars in the top five of this list of the top 10 players with the greatest increase in their market values in 2024. No prizes for guessing which child leads the way. We’ve differentiated players with the same increase in market value by the percentage increase.
All data is courtesy of the wonderful Transfermarkt . A Liverpool signing made the transfer market decreases. 10) Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich): €2m to €30m (+€28m) Drafted into the team last season by Thomas Tuchel as the beneficiary of them failing to get the Joao Palhinha deal over the line, Pavlovic is quite within his rights to be questioning why Bayern felt the need to reopen negotiations and eventually land the Portugal international from Fulham after his stellar performances at the base of midfield.
9) Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona): €1.5m to €30m (+€28.5m) Came into the team midway through last season and for most of us it was the teenager’s display in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain that really made us sit up and take notice.
Definitely easier to be a child forward than a child centre-back and the fact that he’s now first choice at Barcelona at the age of 17 is testament not just to his supreme talent but his maturity. 8) Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid): €150m to €180m (+€30m) Possibly the best footballer in the world right now, though a couple of his Real Madrid teammates may beg to differ, which we’re sadistically hoping may become a problem for Carlo Ancelotti, though probably not because he’s Carlo Ancelotti. Our Premier League bias has us tipping Los Blancos’ ‘dream’ signing for the Ballon d’Or though.
READ MORE: Can Euro 2024 winner Rodri win the Ballon d’Or ahead of Real Madrid pair? 7) Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen): €100m to €130m (+€30m) The star player in the surprise of last season that prevented a clean sweep of predictable top five European league winners. Bayer Leverkusen did well to hang onto him, or rather Xabi Alonso did. Real Madrid can enjoy them both next season.
6) Arda Guler (Real Madrid): €15m to €45m (+€30m) Unfair that Real Madrid can have a footballer this good and barely use him. Four La Liga starts last season before lighting up Euro 2024 with Turkey, and although Guler’s started two of the opening five league games this term, that was in the absence of Jude Bellingham. Let someone else have a go.
5) Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal): €13m to €45m (+€32m) Not quite at Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah levels, but certainly another Jose Mourinho transfer boob to add to the list. Sold by Roma to Basel for around £3m in 2022, Calafioiri joined Bologna for £20m a year later and then Arsenal a year after that for £42m. An £80m target for Real Madrid next summer then, we guess.
4) Cole Palmer (Chelsea): €45m to €80m (+€35m) A €65m increase since the start of last season, in which he entirely carried a Chelsea side otherwise filled with new players perpetually finding their feet. He got 22 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League on his way to being named Young Player of the Season and few would be against him producing similar numbers this term with his unbridled talent and confidence. He already has a goal and four assists.
€80m would be a snip. READ MORE: Official Player of the Year awards as Bruno Fernandes and Phil Foden crowned 3) Phil Foden (Manchester City): €110m to €150m (+€40m) Quite the feat to be in the top three when he was already valued at €110m but it’s hard to argue after his 14 goals since the turn of the year for the best team in the country. Bit of a shame he was unable to carry that form into the summer with England but that was less about him and more about Bellingham and Gareth Southgate’s square pegs in round holes.
READ MORE: Dunk to Guehi via Kane, Bellingham and Watkins: Ranking all 26 England players at Euro 2024 2) Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United): €6m to €55m (+€49m) Quite simply, and quite irritatingly, he’s the reason not to hate Manchester United (quite so much). Very much like Bukayo Saka, Mainoo just seems like a lovely chap. Quiet, humble, desperate to improve and hugely talented, whatever they’re doing in the Premier League academies these days to produce such players, we would urge them to keep it up.
1) Lamine Yamal (Barcelona): €60m to €120m (+€60m) Absurd that the child who led Spain to European Championship glory in the summer and is now the unrivalled starboy of Barcelona made his first competitive start in August 2023. In 13 months he’s become the 10th most valuable footballer in the world from – in market terms – nothing. It’s taken him 72 senior games to be worth more than 10 current La Liga clubs.
If his start to this season is anything to go by, after three goals and four assists in five games, at the age of 17 he may well be the most valuable footballer of all come the end of the campaign..
