Advertisement
Cristiano Ronaldo (file pic).

Ronaldo just the 49th most valuable player in the world as 5 Premier League stars make top 10

The Real Madrid star barely scraped into the top 50 in a list calculated by the CIES Football Observatory.

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.

The42 has just published its first book, Behind The Lines, a collection of some of the year’s best sports stories. Pick up your copy in Eason’s, or order it here today (€10):

Lukaku seeking legal advice over ‘voodoo’ claim>

Celtic have ‘not had one bid’ for Dembele, insists Rodgers>

Author
View 12 comments
Close
12 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel