The prestigious CIES Football Observatory has updated the list of the one hundred best valued footballers in the world and the first place is not occupied by any star of the stature of Mbappé or Haaland. There are two Britons who are in the first two positions of the table, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden, with the Borussia Dortmund footballer in the lead.
The 19-year-old striker has an estimated value of 208.2 million euros and is in the orbit of Real Madrid. He has a contract until June 2025, so it will not be easy for Florentino Pérez to get the services of one of the most promising footballers on the planet.
From the white club they have been working for months to convince the father and representative of the player that his future is in Madrid. They want to close the deal this month and leave it tied up so that it becomes effective in the summer and thus avoid a new soap opera as happened with Mbappé. And even more so knowing that there are a multitude of suitors on the lookout, such as Liverpool, PSG or City.
If the negotiations come to fruition, Bellingham would leave Dortmund on June 30, just like Erling Haaland did last summer, who ended up at Manchester City with Guardiola despite the interest also from the Madrid club. If the operation ends up being completed, it will undoubtedly be a new record for Real Madrid, surpassing the 116 million that Florentino paid for Hazard in 2019.
The second position in the CIES ranking is held by his compatriot Phil Foden, very close to Bellingham, with a market value of 200.5 million euros, and his City teammate, Erling Haaland, fifth (174.9M). In the middle, Kylian Mbappé, who is third (190.7) and Vinícius Junior, fourth. The Real Madrid striker is the first LaLiga player to appear on the list with an estimated market value of €190.5 million.
The young pearls of Barcelona Pedri González and Gavi enter the 'top 10' as the two most valued Spaniards on the market. The canary is trading at 170.2M, while Sevillian follows with a value of 147.6M.
Only twenty footballers exceed one hundred million in valuation, with LaLiga as the most present competition and with Real Madrid at the helm, with five of the nine footballers in the 'top20': Vinícius, Valverde, Rodrygo, Tchouaméni and Militao. Barça, with four footballers, completes the Spanish representation: Pedri, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong and Ferran Torres.
Along with Real Madrid, Manchester City is the other team that, with five footballers, has the most effective contributions among the twenty most valuable players. After the nine representatives from LaLiga, they are followed by seven from the Premier, completed with three from the Bundesliga and just one (Mbappé/PSG) from League1. The Argentine footballer from Benfica Enzo Fernández (80M), for his part, is the one who has the highest value for a player outside of the five main leagues in Europe.
