REAL MADRID FORWARD Cristiano Ronaldo has been ranked just the 49th most valuable player in the world by a new study.
The 32-year-old is behind Manchester United’s Anthony Martial and Manchester City’s Nicolas Otamendi in the table, and comes in one place ahead of Monaco’s Fabinho.
Neymar is top of the list of the world’s 100 most valuable footballers, compiled by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory, ahead of Lionel Messi in second and Harry Kane in third.
The PSG star is given a value of €213 million, while Messi is rated at €202.2m and Kane comes in at €194.7m.
Ronaldo, meanwhile is worth just €80.4m according to the study, coming in below 48 other players.
The annual assessment of players in Europe’s top five leagues takes into account a variety of factors, including age, position, contract duration, performance and international status.
Ronaldo ranks relatively low on the list due to his age, while his substandard return of just four goals from 13 La Liga matches in 2017-18 could also be a factor.
Still, the 32-year-old Portugal star won both the Best FIFA Men’s Player and Ballon d’Or awards in 2017, and has 16 goals in 23 appearances overall this term.
Ronaldo is the oldest player on the list of 100, and one of only three players older than 30 (Roma’s Edin Dzeko and Man City’s David Silva are the other two).
Meanwhile, Barcelona contributed both the most valuable goalkeeper on the list (Marc-André ter Stegen at €96m) and the most valuable defender (Samuel Umtiti at €101m).
The top 10 includes five players from the Premier League: Kane, Dele Alli (€171.3m), Kevin De Bruyne (€167.8m), Romelu Lukaku (€164.8m) and Paul Pogba (€147.5m).
Neymar is evidently Ligue 1′s most valuable player, with Messi leading the way for La Liga players. Paulo Dybala is top of the Serie A contingent at €174.6m, with Robert Lewandowski setting the benchmark for the Bundesliga at €107m.
The Football Observatory is a research group that operates within the CIES, an independent study centre located in Switzerland.
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Thoroughly deserved award for VDF. Pretty much a guaranteed 8/10 performance every time he takes the field these days.
@Cian Nolan: I tried to get him to sign my springbok shirt at a club event few months back … ( at least I got a sarcastic comment and smile :)
@Stuart Collins: would he not do it? He strikes me as such a lovely guy.
VdeF has to be a contender for world player of the year
Fair dues Enniscorthy.
Fantastic year for the 7s team as well. Well done Kennedy
Is nick timoney was as good?
@Gary Galligan: Nonsense.