Marcus Rashford Is the Most Valuable Player In the World, Bruno Fernandes 4th

When it comes to the total worth of players, the football world almost always seems to be throwing up surprises. An inflated transfer market and outrageous release clauses have ensured that even seemingly ridiculous sums of money are quite doable for certain clubs.

However, when it comes to objective worth, commercial factors like social media presence and fan appeal may actually influence the final price more than raw performances alone.

Despite that, it seems that valuing players is a vital task and CIES’s latest work in that regard has thrown up some intriguing talking points.

As per CIES, Marcus Rashford is now the most expensive player in the world with an estimated value of €165.6 million. Coming at second is Erling-Haaland with a value of €152 million. Rashford being 23 years of age and the Norwegian only 20 shows that youth and potential are the main metrics that have been taken into account.

As such, it is no surprise that the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kylian Mbappe, and Jadon Sancho also feature on the list.

Manchester United certainly have their fair share of names in the estimates, with Bruno Fernandes slotting in at no.4 valued at €151 million, ahead of the likes of Mbappe, Mo Salah, and Kai Havertz. Mason Greenwood is another Red Devil with an enormous estimate at €102 million.

Since many of these youngsters are yet to switch from their boyhood clubs, it will be interesting to see whether or not their eventual sales, if they are ever sanctioned, live up to the hype that such a list pegs upon them.

Further still, the more experienced names who are well into their prime may not necessarily command such a fee if a transfer is sanctioned down the line.

Given the market conditions at the moment, it will be interesting to see when the next blockbuster transfer takes place.