The transfer market has gone crazy in recent years with astronomical fees being paid for the likes of Neymar, Mbappe, Countinho, Dembele and Pogba. PSG and Barcelona have changed the game forever with record-breaking fees being paid, Neymar’s £198m being the current highest transaction. However, with him now being linked with a move to Real Madrid, that record could get broken again in the near future.
With the World Cup starting this week, all of these expensive players will be taking centre stage and it is interesting to see which squads competing in Russia are the most valuable, when you add the value of each squad player up. The values are based on estimations of fair prices, considering factors like age, contract duration and sporting performance (as calculated by the CIES Football Observatory algorithm).
- France – £1.24bn
At a jaw-dropping combined value of £1.24 billion, the France national team includes some of the biggest transfers in world football. Mbappe (£128m), Dembele (£97m) and Pogba (£97m) make up a large part of that sum. Griezmann, Umtiti, Varane, Kante, Lemar and Fekir are also players of high value that have ensured that France take top spot for most valuable squad.
- England – £1.22bn
This one is something of a surprise given that England do not have any players that have commanded transfer fees in the bracket of Neymar and co. However, the squad is very youthful and this will have been taken into account in calculating the values, with right-back Alexander-Arnold still only 19 years old.
Harry Kane has just signed a new contract with Tottenham but his transfer value would hypothetically break the £100m barrier. Kyle Walker signed by Man City for £50m, which at the time was a world record for a defender. Young stars such as Sterling, Dele Alli, Rashford and £30m goalkeeper Pickford all add huge value to the squad.
- Brazil – £1.12bn
With players like Neymar and Coutinho lining up for Brazil, there is no real surprise that their squad goes overs the £1bn mark. Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino and Paulinho have all commanded high transfer fees in recent years and their whole squad is filled with superstars that would be highly valued in the transfer market.
Will value of the squads reflect how well they perform? Brazil and France are likely to have good runs in the tournament but England are out at around 16-1, behind Belgium in terms of the betting odds.
Source: www.skysports.com
