Neymar below €100m mark
For the first time in the 2021/22 season, Transfermarkt.fr has given all Ligue 1 players a new market value. The most downgrades can be found in the squad of league leaders Paris Saint-Germain – the most significant for Lionel Messi and Neymar. Ronan Caroff, area manager France, explains how this came about, why a Canadian is the biggest winner and Kevin Volland is among the losers this time.
“The motivation behind the €20 million devaluation for Messi is his age,” Caroff says about the minus for the 34-year-old Ballon d’Or winner, for whom it goes from €80 million to €60 million. This is the lowest market value for the Argentinian since 2009. “He will definitely not bring in a transfer fee equal to his old market value and this trend will continue,” Caroff explains.
A trend can also be seen in the case of Neymar, who is devaluated for the fifth time since 2019 – for the first time since 2015, the Brazilian drops below the €100 million mark in terms of market value, dropping by 10% to €90 million. “He continues to be an exceptional footballer, but can no longer prove it as regularly. The lack of fitness at the start of the season is compounded by injuries that prevent him from getting into the rhythm he needs,” Caroff says. After the downgrade, there are only seven players left in the world with a market value in the triple-digit millions.
David biggest winner of market value update – In Ligue 1 top 10 now
Meanwhile, the biggest winner of the update has broken the €50 million mark: Jonathan David of LOSC Lille. “He is one of the keys to Lille’s group win in the Champions League – when he has scored, the French have won. In Ligue 1, he is the leader in the scoring charts and has almost equalled his numbers from his debut season before Christmas,” Caroff says.
David, who has scored 14 goals in 25 matches for the reigning titleholders this season, rises from €35 million to €50 million – in 2020, Lille brought the Canadian attacking allrounder for €27 million from KAA Gent. “This season he has taken his game to the next level and is one of the leaders in the team. His new market value makes him the most valuable Ligue 1 player outside Paris.”
David & Co. – The most valuable Ligue 1 players
Before this update, David and Monaco’s Volland were separated by just €5 million in market value – now the difference is €28 million. The Germany international is downgraded from €30 million to €22 million in the biggest devaluation of his career – he last held that market value in 2018 as a Bayer Leverkusen forward. Caroff says: “Volland’s performances go hand in hand with those of Monaco’s attack. The bottom line is that the season has been rather disappointing for him so far, with four goals in 16 Ligue 1 matches, and so just like fellow strikers Ben Yedder and Golovin, there is a downgrade for him this time.”
Overall, it goes down for AS Monaco by €14.2 million to €354 million after three upgrades and seven devaluations. PSG receive 14 downgrades, which corresponds to a minus of €64.9 million or 6.6% of the squad’s value.
“It may seem strange that the team at the top of the table with a lead of 13 points receives so many devaluations, but eight of them go to Messi, Ramos, Wijnaldum and Co. due to their age – for the others it is due to a lack of playing time, because the squad has many experienced stars. Consequently, Icardi, Bernat or Kurzawa, for example, have not been able to confirm their market values, and players like Hakimi or Verratti are already at such a high level that it takes something special to climb even further – I haven’t seen that at PSG yet,” Caroff points out.
PSG 2nd
The most valuable squads in the world
Zur Übersicht
The highest downgrade percentagewise goes to Olympique Lyon (-8%), who sit eight points behind the Champions League spots and eight points ahead of the relegation places. This is a disappointing result for the team with the third-highest squad value in the league, which is now down by €26.8 million to €308 million. One of the bright spots recently was homegrown Malo Gusto, who was thrown in at the deep end by head coach Peter Bosz and rises from €3 million to €7 million.
“At 18, he rather unexpectedly advanced to become an important part of OL, filling in for injured captain Léo Dubois and doing a good job. He brings a lot of intensity to the pitch and it will be exciting to see who plays at right-back when both are fit. It would almost be unfair if Malo had to sit on the bench for his captain,” Caroff says.
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).
