Reassessment by the championship – Newspaper Kommersant No. 240 (7441) dated 12/24/2022

The World Cup in Qatar has changed the perception of the value of a number of football players. For example, the Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, the top scorer of the tournament, he allowed to take the top line in the ranking of the most expensive players in the world according to Transfermarkt, displacing Norwegian Erling Haaland, who did not participate in the Qatari championship, from it. Jumped up the estimated value of several players who took gold from the Argentina national team. And the most impressive growth was demonstrated, of course, by the numbers related to the players of the Moroccan team that unexpectedly reached the semi-finals.

Transfermarkt, the most respected resource in the industry for analyzing the market value of football players, has revised its estimates in light of the World Cup that ended on Sunday in Qatar. Commenting on their appearance, the head of the international department of Transfermarkt, Christian Schwarz, said that the world championship is a “showcase for players”, “attracting general interest”, and therefore affecting the demand for assets. At the same time, according to Mr. Schwartz, the experts of the resource corrected the assessments only of those players who either improved their self-image during the championship, or “riveted attention” with their achievements, which could affect the demand for their services in a positive direction.

There were quite a few changes – 53, and some look very curious. First of all, it is striking, of course, the change in the leader of the main rating. Before the World Cup, the most expensive player, according to Transfermarkt, was the Norwegian scorer Manchester City Erling Haaland. Its cost – € 170 million – remained the same for a completely understandable reason: the Norwegian team did not make it to Qatar. But the French team made it there, which eventually reached the final, and its leader Kylian Mbappe showed himself superbly, becoming the top scorer of the tournament with eight goals, sending three of his balls into the net in the decisive meeting. For Transfermarkt, PSG striker Mbappe’s accomplishments turned out to be a reason to increase his value by €20m to €180m, and the Frenchman overtook the Norwegian.

In the top ten of the hierarchy, two representatives of the national team also added value, which was prevented from achieving real success in Qatar by Kylian Mbappe and his partners, who stopped her in the 1/4 finals. These are the Englishmen Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka. Both deserve a €10m raise from Transfermarkt analysts. Bellingham’s current valuation is €110m, Saki is €100m.

In contrast to these players, the corresponding figure of Lionel Messi, the player who turned into the main hero of the World Cup and who, after the Qatari tournament, stood on a par with the greatest of legends – Pelé and Maradona, remained the same and extremely modest compared to the performance of even two Englishmen. not to mention teammate Kylian Mbappe – € 50 million. However, there is nothing strange in this. Transfermarkt always takes into account the potential of an athlete, his career prospects, reducing the rating to veterans. Messi is already 35 years old, while the entire top ten consists exclusively of young people. By her standards, the veteran is just the 24-year-old Mbappe. The vast majority of the pursuers are two or three years younger, and Bellingham, the German Jamal Musiale and the Spaniard Gavi are not even twenty.

But the championship raised the score of seven other Argentine players. And midfielder Enzo Fernandez looks especially impressive. He started the season in the status of a player whose transfer from River Plate to Benfica – €12 million – seemed slightly overpriced to a number of experts, including Transfermarkt experts. An excellent performance for the Portuguese club forced them to raise Fernandez’s estimated market value to €35m. And his performance in Qatar, coupled with the recognition of the best young player of the tournament (the Argentine will turn 22 in January), provoked another jump – up to €55m.

The World Cup also had a good effect on the assessment of the players, whose teams were one step short of reaching the final. For example, the €15 million that Transfermarkt added to Croatian Josko Guardiola made him the most expensive central defender along with the Portuguese Ruben Dias: the cost of each is now, according to the resource’s staff, €75 million.

However, the most noteworthy, of course, are the ups and downs of the footballers of the Moroccan national team, which sensationally reached the fourth place, and, first of all, provided it with a fantastic density in the center of the field, Sofyan Amrabat and Azzedine Unai, who were not quoted so highly before the world championship. Amrabat’s valuation jumped up 150% (from €10m to €25m), Unai’s valuation jumped an incredible 328.6% (from €4.5m to €15m).

Alexey Dospekhov