CIES name Chelsea’s very own Mason Mount the 10th most valuable player in the world

The CIES Football Observatory have released their annual list of the top 100 players with the highest “estimated transfer value” — in the “big-5 leagues” — which is determined using their super-secret algorithm that supposedly incorporates various statistical, financial, and situational factors (team performance, player ages, etc) and is claimed to be 80 per cent accurate as far as correlation to real-life transfer values is concerned.

All that aside, it’s just a bit of fun.

In any case, last year, Mason Mount led all Chelsea players as our one and only player valued by their model at over €100m. He continues to lead the team this year as well, while also rising nine spots to 10th in the whole world (well, the big-5 leagues) at €123.6m. Two other Chelsea players, Kai Havertz (14th) and Timo Werner (17th) are also above €100m — they were both just below that line last season.

Last year, five Chelsea players were in the top 100 (Mount, Kepa, Pulisic, Jorginho, Abraham). That number has grown to seven this season. In addition to Pulisic again making the list (up to €84.3m from €76.1m), we have a trio of newcomers in Reece James (€75.9m), Callum Hudson-Odoi (€64m) and Ben Chilwell (€63.9m).

As usual, the list favors young players on good teams with long contracts. Only three of the top 20 are 25 or over (including Werner), and unlike last year, there’s no room in the top 100 for Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Robert Lewandowski. Ilkay Gundogan is the oldest player on the list at 30. His teammate, Phil Foden leads all values at €190.2. Last year’s leader, Kylian Mbappé has seen his valuation cut by more than half, down to €118.3m from €259.2, which is still impressive considering he has one year left on his contract. Chelsea-linked Jadon Sancho is just above him at €120.8, while Erling Haaland comes in at number five, with €155.5m, about twice as much as Romelu Lukaku (€76.9m). (Conclusion: let’s sign Mbappé!)

Anyway, like I said, just a bit of fun. You can check out the full top 100 list over at CIES’ rickety, old, and slow website.

CIES Football Observatory