Premier League market values: Haaland draws level with Mbappé - Brighton rise by €101m

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The Premier League market value update gives us a new joint most valuable footballer in the world in Erling Haaland. It also ensures that five of the seven biggest winners are to be found in Brighton’s squad and Chelsea, together with Liverpool, have to accept the heaviest losses. For 19 of the 545 players there is an increase of €10 million or more, while for 14 footballers there value drops by €10m or, as in the case of the suspended Ivan Toney, by even more.

For a good month and a half, Manchester City’s Haaland was the world's most valuable footballer at the end of 2022, prior to an upgrade for Kylian Mbappé after the 2022 World Cup. Now the Man City treble winner is drawing level with Mbappé thanks to a €10m upgrade to €180m. “After a record-breaking season in which Haaland has more goals than games to his name in both the Premier League and Champions League, his market value is rising once again,” Daniel Busch, Area Manager Transfermarkt UK, said. “Hard to defend for more than 90 minutes by most centre-backs, the Norwegian has once again improved physically and has so far been spared injuries. On par with Mbappé, he is once again the world’s number one.”

The world’s most valuable player plays in the most valuable squad, where there are ten upgrades and nine downgrades. The bottom line is an increase of €31m to €1.082bn. The biggest winners in terms of squad value by a wide margin are Brighton, who gained €101m and now stand at €444.5m until June 30. On July 1, Alexis Mac Allister (+€23m to €65m), the biggest winner of the market value update, will leave the club for Liverpool, and Moisés Caicedo (+€20m to €75m) will most likely follow suit. In the case of the second biggest market value winner, the only question is who will break the transfer record for a Brighton player.

Market Value

A. Mac Allister Central Midfield

€70.00m

Premier League market values: Mac Allister and Caicedo biggest winners

“Representative of Brighton’s great season, in which the club qualified for the Europa League for the first time, are Mac Allister and Caicedo,” Busch said. “The South Americans are poster boys for the club’s strong scouting and contribute a large part to a squad value increase of over €100m. Caicedo will almost certainly move to a top club for over €70m.” The Seagulls only paid a total of €16.5m for both players.

In retrospect, the €35m Arsenal paid Real Madrid for playmaker Martin Ødegaard in 2021 could almost be described as a bargain. Since then, the Norwegian’s market value has risen steadily – this time from €80m to €90m, but that only puts him in second place in the Gunners’ internal ranking behind homegrown talent Bukayo Saka (+€10m to €120m). “In addition to Saka, who now stands at the top of the ranking of the most valuable English players alongside Jude Bellingham, Ødegaard in particular has been instrumental in the success of the Arsenal attack,” Busch said. “The young captain is the world’s most valuable attacking midfielder behind Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala.”

In terms of squad value, the runners-ups are up by €41m to €976m, bringing them closer to the €1bn mark. Slipping below the €1bn mark after a dismal season are Chelsea, whose squad is downgraded by €89m to €926m. There has been a decrease in value for a total of 21 players, including young winter signings such as Enzo Fernández (-€5m to €80m) and Mykhaylo Mudryk (-€10m to €50m), as well as veterans such as Kalidou Koulibaly (-€10m to €15m) and N'Golo Kanté (-€5m to €15m), who are set to move to Saudi Arabia this summer.

Market Value

E. Fernández Central Midfield

€80.00m

Premier League market values: Toney biggest loser - Shifts in top ten

Those who do not live up to their market value on the pitch are downgraded. So is a footballer who, at 27, played the best season of his career and scored 20 goals for a surprise team this time around: Brentford striker Toney drops from €50m to €35m. “Although performance-wise even an upgrade was on the cards, Toney is now the biggest loser of the update,” Busch said. “Due to his eight-month ban for violations of various betting rules, the attacker is less attractive on the transfer market this summer and a move to a top club could be postponed. The downgrade is drastic, but can be made up quickly after a successful return to the pitch.”

Other winners at the top of the Premier League market value rankings include West Ham’s Declan Rice (+€10m to €90m), who will join a top club this summer, fellow defensive midfielder Rodri (+€10m to €90m) of Man City and Arsenal’s young Brazilian winger Gabriel Martinelli (+€10m to €80m). Together with the treble winner Rúben Dias (+€5m to €80m), who is now the sole most valuable defender in the world, they make the top ten in the English top flight’s market value ranking after the update.

Market Value

D. Rice Defensive Midfield

€110.00m

Among the losers at Man City are Kevin De Bruyne (-€10m to €70m) and Ilkay Gündogan (-€5m to €20m), whose downgrades have nothing to do with their performances on the pitch. “The devaluations are 100% age-related,” Busch said. “De Bruyne will turn 32 next week, while Gündogan will be 33 in October and is out of contract from July 1. A look at the Transfermarkt database shows that the highest transfer fee ever paid for a midfielder beyond the age of 32 was €9m.” That amount was paid by Bayern Munich to Real Madrid for Xabi Alonso in 2014.

Market Value

K. De Bruyne Attacking Midfield

€60.00m

Premier League market values: Top keepers downgraded - Plus for Raya

There are also downgrades for top goalkeepers like Liverpool’s Alisson (-€10m to €35m) and City’s Ederson (-€5m to €40m), who are part of a general trend in the keeper rankings where younger players will claim the top spots after all market value updates are completed. One of the winners in the position is Brentford’s David Raya, who is linked with a move to Tottenham after a strong season and rises by €5m to €30m for now.

Market Value

D. Raya Goalkeeper

€35.00m

How Transfermarkt market values work

The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees. 

The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).