Pogba and Lukaku drop
Serie A has a new most valuable player after today’s market value update: Rafael Leão surpasses Dušan Vlahović to claim the top spot. The Serbian striker is one of a number of players in Juventus’ squad who are downgraded significantly. The biggest part of the €50 million drop in squad value is down to the devaluation of Paul Pogba, who has been injured since the summer. High-flyers Napoli, led by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and once again the biggest market value winners, overtake Juve and move closer to Inter and AC Milan.
For Leão, who was voted player of the 2021/22 Serie A season by the Transfermarkt community after Milan’s Scudetto win, it goes up by €15m to €85m. “The Portuguese is the new superstar in Serie A and has largely carried his top form from last season,” Jatin Dietl, TM’s area manager in Italy, said. “15 goal contributions in 19 games speak for themselves and he only struggled against Chelsea. If Leão also performs well in these important games in the Champions League and at the World Cup, it could go further up in terms of market value.”
Six Napoli players – The biggest market value winners in Serie A
Vlahović previously topped the ranking in the Italian top flight with a market value of €85m. Now, the 22-year-old has been devalued for the first time in his career, apart from the Covid-19-related cut in April 2020, to €80m. “Vlahović is a bit of a victim of Juventus’ poor attack this season,” Dietl said. “The style of play and Massimiliano Allegri’s demands don’t really suit him. Despite his physicality, he still struggles to win duels, claim long balls and then distribute them quickly and accurately. But that is exactly what Allegri expects from his centre-forward. If he wants to get to the €100m mark in the future, he will have to improve exactly these things. Nevertheless, his numbers are good and with the Bianconeri’s rising form and the return of Federico Chiesa and Ángel Di María, he could find his old strength again in the second half of the season.”
Pogba biggest market value loser at Juve – Kvaratskhelia in top 10 now
The biggest drop in the Juventus squad, which is devalued by €50.1m to €452.3m and thus only just ranks among the 20 most valuable teams in the world, is suffered by summer signing Pogba. The 29-year-old midfielder, who has yet to play a game since returning from Manchester United due to injury and will miss the World Cup with France, is down €13m to €35m. Chiesa (-€5m to €60m), Manuel Locatelli (-€5m to €30m) and Weston McKennie (-€4m to €21m) are also downgraded. On the positive side, the club’s young talents that have provided positive moments in recent weeks, especially in Serie A, are shining: 19-year-old Fabio Miretti has already been upgraded to €15m in the interim update, Nicolò Fagioli rises by €1.5m to €8.5m, while Matías Soulé is up by €1.5m to €4m.
From De Vrij to Chiesa: The biggest losers from the Serie A market value update
The squad value of unbeaten league leaders and Champions League group winners Napoli goes up by €59.3m to €539.8m and the club now only sit €30m behind AC and €22m behind Inter Milan. At the beginning of September, they were still valued at €480m after a major upheaval in the summer. “Kvaratskhelia, Serie A’s top scorer Victor Osimhen, dominant midfield duo Frank Anguissa and Stanislav Lobotka, defensive summer signing Min-jae Kim and Co. are currently almost unstoppable,” Dietl said. “Therefore, another significant adjustment of Napoli’s market values was necessary.”
For Kvaratskhelia, it goes by a whopping €25m to €60m and thus into the Serie A top 10. The 21-year-old Georgian is the biggest winner in a team full of players in top form and rumours about interest from the biggest clubs in the world are already gathering pace. Osimhen, who is now scoring important goals against top clubs, rises by €5m to €70m, now putting him in the league’s top 5. Lobotka and Kim each go up by €10m to €30m and €35m respectively, while Anguissa increases his market value by €8m to €38m.
Serie A: The most valuable squads in the Italian top-flight
Market values: Inter Milan’s Lukaku suffers biggest drop in Serie A
On the contrary, Inter lose €36.5m in squad value. “Although great performances against FC Barcelona helped them reach the round of 16 in the Champions League, the Nerazzurri are clearly lagging behind their own expectations in the league,” Dietl said. “They already conceded 20 goals after 14 league games.” As a result, in the defence, which still played a major role in 2020/21 Scudetto season, two key players are downgraded. Milan Skriniar, who is wanted by PSG, drops by €5m to €60m, while Alessandro Bastoni, who recently only sat on the bench several times due to suffering from colds, is downgraded by €5m to €55m.
The biggest minus in the Serie A update, however, is received by Romelu Lukaku, who loses €15m and falls to €55m. Dietl justifies the decision with the striker’s age and increasing susceptibility to injury. “Lukaku came back with great expectations, but unfortunately has only been on the pitch five times,” the Italian expert said.
In Marcelo Brozovic (-€5m to €35m), Paulo Dybala (-€5m to €30m), Ciro Immobile (-€4m to €23m), Ruslan Malinovskyi (-€10m to €18m), Duván Zapata (-€10m to €18m), Tammy Abraham (-€5m to €45m) and Robin Gosens (-€4m to €18m), there are other prominent players whose market value is reduced, partly due to their advancing age and partly because of injuries, poor performances or the lack of game time. Gosens, for instance, continues to fail to make an impact at Inter, while his competitor Federico Dimarco is one of the winners, with an increase of €7m to €25m. The left wing-back missed out on Germany’s World Cup squad and is reportedly considering a move to the Bundesliga for a transfer fee of less than €20m.
Serie A: Lookman doubles market value after summer move to Atalanta
Meanwhile, the winners of the update include younger talents who have taken the next step, such as Atalanta defenders Giorgio Scalvini (+€10m to €20m) and Caleb Okoli (+€5m to €10m), Milan’s Pierre Kalulu (+€7m to €35m) and Roma’s Nicola Zalewski (+€3m to €15m). For the club from Bergamo, former Everton player Ademola Lookman also doubled his market value to €20m. The London-born Nigeria international is in the form of his life after his permanent transfer from RB Leipzig to Atalanta in the summer and already scored six goals and provided three assists in 13 league games.
How Transfermarkt market values work
The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees.
The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).
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