Messi only valued as 22ND most expensive player in world, Ronaldo way down in 70TH as football boffins reveal new transfer ratings

8 Jun, 2020 15:08 / Updated 4 years ago

Ballon d'Or holder Lionel Messi is not among the 20 most expensive players in the world while Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer even in the top 50, according to transfer experts at the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory.

The transfer experts released their biannual ratings of the most valuable players on the planet on Monday, taking into account what they say is a finely-tuned "scientific" algorithm based on factors including player age, position, predicted interest and the economic level of their current club.

As with the last list in January, top of the pile is France and Paris Saint-Germain prodigy Kylian Mbappe, 21, who even in these coronavirus-affected times would command a transfer fee of a colossal €259.2 million ($294 million), according to the brains at the CIES.

Next on the list is Manchester City and England winger Raheem Sterling at  €194.7 million, followed by countryman and Borussia Dortmund starlet Jadon Sancho, who at 20 years old has established himself as one of the hottest young prospects in the game.

A top 10 laden with young English talent also includes Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold in fourth (valued at €179.1 million) and Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford in fifth at €152.3 million.

Next come Liverpool's Egyptian King Mo Salah in sixth (€144.9 million) and teammate Sadio Mane (€139.2 million).

In eighth is Barcelona's French World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann with a predicted price tag of €134.6 million, followed by Canadian sensation Alphonso Davies, the 19-year-old jet-heeled full-back who has burst onto the scene at Bayern Munich this season and is worth €133.5 million, according to the CIES calculations.

Rounding out the top 10 is England captain and Tottenham striker Harry Kane, with an estimated value of €118 million.

You have to travel some way down the ratings to find Barcelona magician Messi, who is only in 22nd with an assigned value of a fraction over €100 million, perhaps reflecting the advancing years of the man who turns 33 later this month.

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Even further down is fellow serial record-breaker Ronaldo, who is said to be worth €62.8 million, still a remarkable fee considering his 35 years of age. 

Ronaldo and Messi have both dropped significantly down the table since the last CIES transfer rankings were revealed in January, when Messi was in eighth place at €125.5 million and Ronaldo in 49th with a value of €80.3 million.

READ MORE: Messi down in 8th and Cristiano Ronaldo just scraping into top 50! Football boffins name game's most valuable stars

Both men continue to make a mockery of their senior citizen status however, with Messi bagging 24 goals in 31 games this season for Barca despite an injury-hit start to the campaign, while Juventus frontman Ronaldo has managed 25 goals in 32 games for the Turin powerhouses.