CIES name Mason Mount Chelsea’s most valuable player at over €100m

The CIES Football Observatory regularly publish data about football players, and their latest is an estimate of transfer values that takes into account players ages, contracts, and of course actual skills.

It’s unclear how each factor is weighted by the algorithm, but clearly the first two matter quite a bit. Four of the top five are all 22 or under — Raheem Sterling, 25, the only exception — with Kylian Mbappé topping the chart at nearly €260m. Jadon Sancho, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Marcus Rashford round out the top five. That’s four English players in the top five, if you’re counting.

The oldest player in the top 20 is Antoine Griezmann (29), while the youngest is Alphonso Davies (19). 23 players are valued at over €100m, with Lionel Messi just squeaking in at €100.1m at age 33. Messi, Robert Lewandowski, and Cristiano Ronaldo are the only players over 30 in the top 100. Meanwhile, Davies, Erling Håland, and Rodrygo Goes are the only teenagers in the top 100.

Chelsea’s highest ranked player on the list is perhaps surprising, but perhaps not, when we consider that he’s only 21. Mason Mount is No.19 at €102.5m. Kepa Arrizabalaga (€76.4m), Christian Pulisic (€76.1), Jorginho (€65.9m), and Tammy Abraham (€61.6m) are in the top 100 as well.

These values may not have much bearing in the real world, especially one affected by a pandemic, but it’s still (mildly) interesting. For what it’s worth, Timo Werner is at €90.3m, Kai Havertz is at €94.7m, and Hakim Ziyech is not on the list because it’s only looking at the big five leagues (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France).

You can check out the full top 100 list over at CIES.

CIES Football Observatory