Premier League player valuations are getting out of hand

The Premier League has long stood head and shoulders above other leagues in terms of player valuations, and that gap is only widening. Transfermarkt updated its player market values for England’s top flight last week, increasing its total value by €240 million to an eye-watering €11.1 billion ($12.1b). For reference, that’s enough to buy 10.5 billion Cristiano Ronaldo NFTs.

Movers and shakers

While Erling Haaland maintains his status as most valuable player in the league at €180 million, he’s got some stiff competition in Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka, whose transfer values each rose from €110 million to €130 million. They’re far from the only players to receive significant upgrades.

• Man United’s 18-year-old sensation Kobbie Mainoo received a 583% increase in market value, going from €6m to €35m.

• Nine Liverpool players received upgrades – the most of any club – with Darwin Núñez now being valued just short of his transfer fee at €70m.

• Cole Palmer was rewarded for his sensational season at Chelsea, receiving a 22% upgrade now valuing him at €55m.

The good news stops there for Chelsea fans, however. The Blues had eight players receive market value downgrades – more than any other team. After investing a whopping €1 billion on their current squad, Chelsea’s total market value is hovering just above €900 million.

Moisés Caicedo received the biggest downgrade at the club (-€10m to €80m), and no longer finds himself in the league’s most valuable XI, which is now dominated by Man City and Arsenal players.

Unsurprisingly, City’s squad further solidified their position as the league’s – and the world’s – most valuable at €1.3 billion. League leaders Arsenal have the world’s second-most valuable squad at €1.1 billion, thanks to players like Kai Havertz, Martin Ødegaard, and William Saliba receiving upgrades.

How does the PL stack up with other top leagues?

The “English tax” is very real. The Premier League’s player market valuation is nearly the same as that of the next three biggest leagues combined (La Liga €5b, Serie A €4.8b, Bundesliga €4.4b), with the average player (€21m) valued more than twice of La Liga’s (€10m).

There’s a whole host of reasons I won’t delve into explaining why Premier League player valuations are higher than those of other leagues, and they certainly manifest themselves when looking at the list of the world’s top ten most valuable players. Man City and Arsenal players alone claim five spots on this list. 🤯 

What’s more is that Premier League players are receiving more significant upgrades too.

Wonderkid inflation: a case study

Take the case of Kobbie Mainoo and Juventus youngster Kenan Yıldız. While they admittedly play different positions – Mainoo is a CM and Yıldız is a second striker – both have had strikingly similar career trajectories thus far.

Both are 18, played their way into regular minutes at top clubs as academy graduates, have similar goalscoring numbers, and nearly identical advanced analytic scores from Soccerment. And while both players started the season with valuations around €1 million, Mainoo has received a whopping 4275% increase in transfer value since then (€800k to €35m), while Yıldız saw only a 2900% jump (€1m to €30m). 🚀 

That’s not to diminish Mainoo’s incredible debut season with the Red Devils. The newest member of England’s senior squad has been an integral part of United’s mini resurgence, and his lung-busting performances from the midfield have earned him every penny of that upgrade and the massive contract he’s about to sign.

That said, his skyrocketing valuation does lend credence that Premier League players are dramatically overvalued. And with an injection of cash coming in 2025 with a new TV deal, player valuations show no signs of slowing down – bad news for Todd Boehly’s wallet.