The 100 most valuable footballers in European football - see which Portuguese players made the list

Football Observatory have recently published the latest transfer market valuations of footballers currently plying their trade in the five most lucrative leagues in European football using their highly-acclaimed algorithm, which takes into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

These leagues include the Spanish La Liga, the English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, the German Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1. It does mean that footballers currently playing within the Portuguese Primeira Liga were not considered in the study. However, plenty of Portuguese players still made it into the top 100 most valuable footballers list.

Topping the list by some considerable margin was PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, valued at 259.2 million euros. Meanwhile, in second was Raheem Sterling, who was well short of the valuation put on the 21-year old French striker, estimated to be worth 194.7 million euros in the current post-Covid-19 market. It’s still a jaw-dropping sum of money, but illustrates just how far ahead Kylian Mbappe is in the footballing world.

In total, 22 players were given a valuation of over 100 million euros - of which three were Portuguese. The most valuable Portuguese footballer currently playing the game is deemed to be Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, his estimated market value being 115 million euros, which put him 12th in the overall list of players.

Not far behind Bernardo was Atletico’s young star Joao Felix; though he was bought from Benfica for 120 million euros in the summer, he is now deemed to be worth slightly less than that, currently standing at 107.9 million euros, sitting two places below Bernardo Silva in the rankings in 14th place. It does, however, mean that he is still valued at a marginally higher level than Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haland.

The other Portuguese to be valued at over 100 million euros was Bruno Fernandes; Manchester United’s January signing from Sporting CP has burst onto the list in 17th place, above the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Mason Mount and Frenkie de Jong, all of which are at least a couple of years younger than the Portuguese international, while he is also deemed to be worth more than Barcelona legend Lionel Messi, who only sits in 22nd on the list (valued at 100.1 million).

Just two other Portuguese players then made the top 100. Despite now being 35 years of age, Cristiano Ronaldo is still deemed the 70th most valuable footballer amongst those that play in the world’s five most elite leagues, making him the oldest footballer to make the list. He is estimated to be worth 62.8 million euros - putting him ahead of some far younger top-class footballers in the game, including Tammy Abraham, Anthony Martial and Luka Jovic, among many others.

The other Portuguese to make the list is Wolverhampton Wanderers star Ruben Neves. The 23-year old midfielder is deemed to be the 92nd most valuable footballer in Europe’s top five leagues, given the estimated price tag of 50 million euros. His teammate, and former Benfica striker, Raul Jimenez is valued marginally higher than that, at 50.3 million euros.

Former Benfica goalkeeper Ederson, 26, is estimated to be the most valuable goalkeeper in football at 86.8 million euros, also making him the 33rd most valuable footballer overall, while his former Lisbon teammate Victor Lindelof is one place above Cristiano Ronaldo, in 69th, at 63 million euros.

Raphael Guerreiro makes the top 20 most valuable players within the Bundesliga alone, valued at 47.5 million euros.

You can see the full list of players and their valuations via this link.

Bernardo Silva. Photo author: Антон Зайцев. License link.