Record Market Values for Football Players - Who Were the Top Investments and When

Even though it’s not a term used commonly in football, truthfully only under its step-parented name soccer, the most valuable player is still a valuable metric. Although in the manner we’re discussing today, it doesn’t directly mean the most useful player of the season or the game. Rather to the importance a player had in the entirety of sport at a certain point in time. Depicted in money. Record market values for football players pinpoint the crosssection of a player’s ability/potential with the market’s strength.

By using the most trusted source for matters of player values and transfers - Transfermarkt, we’re discussing individual players’ highest record values. That is, who had the biggest value in the market, regardless of whether a transfer transpired.

Interestingly, the highest-ever market value is still €22,000,000 short of the biggest purchase of all time. Saying a lot about that highly profitable transfer for the selling party.

Because of the football inflation, the players with the same record market value will be aligned based on the date of the record. As the football industry keeps growing and eyebrows-raising transfers of yesteryears are the new norm nowadays.

Three of the world’s current most highly-touted players all hold the joint record, however, two of them have reached the appraisal in 2024, while one did so much, much earlier.

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) €150,000,000 - 28.05.2018
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) €150,000,000 - 28.05.2018
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) €150,000,000 - 28.05.2018
Eden Hazard (Chelsea) €150,000,000 - 17.10.2018
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) €150,000,000 - 31.10.2018
Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona) €150,000,000 - 31.10.2018
Sadio Mane (Liverpool) €150,000,000 - 10.12.2019
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) €150,000,000 - 11.10.2024
Phil Foden (Manchester City) €150,000,000 - 27.05.2024

Nine players have reached the sum of €150,000,000 at the top of their career. Four of them have had transfers above the €100,000,000 mark - Coutinho, Griezmann, Kane, and Hazard. Although for all but Coutinho, the record market value came before their big transfer.

Lamine Yamal and Phil Foden have managed to get these high appraisals despite never having major transfers, which do in fact also increase the market value of a player.

Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) €160,000,000 - 10.12.2019

Perhaps the most surprising inclusion on this list of players who reached record-high market values in football. Raheem Sterling truly did shine through after departing from Liverpool. In 339 games for City he scored 131 goals and made 73 assists. While at LFC, he had a return of 23 goals and 18 assists in 129 matches. The season in which he reached the €160,000,000 estimation was the one where he scored 31 goals in 52 games for City. Just two and a half years from this astronomical estimation he was sold to Chelsea for €56,200,000 in a deal that left City as the more satisfied party.

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) €180,000,000 - 22.12.2023

Being one of the best English players puts you in the running for some of the most valuable players due to the financial power of the Premier League and the need for domestic players. But Jude Bellingham’s performances would’ve placed them on the list of football players with the highest market values even if he was from Cape Verde. He was that good. Half a year after his €113,000,000 move from Borussia Dortmund, the midfielder shone through more than it was expected, at the tender age of 20. His market value has remained at this high placement of €180,000,000 for nearly a year and with a long contract until 2029 it can be bumped further with a string of stellar performances.

Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain) €180,000,000 - 24.01.2018

The most expensive player ever and the most expensive player ever cumulatively, yet Neymar isn't among the players with the highest market value. As he was valued at €150,000,000 at the time of his €222,000,000 move to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona. Six months in, the estimation of the Brazilian rose to €180,000,000. Yet as Ney established an abysmal fitness record in Paris soon after, his market value stayed this high only for a year and a half before making a steady decline.

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) €180,000,000 - 01.01.2018

It could be argued that this is the biggest market value for a football player adjusted for inflation. Fitting, as it is the world's greatest footballer of all time. The man with the record-breaking hobby was listed as a €180,000,000 player after being well into his fourth decade. Aged 30, he was five years the senior of Neymar who was riding on the brink of the still-largest transfer ever. As if the experts knew that Messi would still be making the top 10s of tournaments he would play in. Or that his biggest successes only waited. From 2012 to 2017 Messi's market value was estimated at €120,000,000 yet it had this short, year-long ascension to €180,000,000.

Considering market value takes in consideration of the player's age at the time, as younger players can produce for more seasons and have re-sale value, the older the person on this list is at the time of the market value record - their skills were perceived as higher.

Erling Haaland (Manchester City) €200,000,000 - 01.10.2024

The man with a near 1:1 goal-to-game ratio in his last three clubs. For Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund, and Manchester City the Norweigan has played joint 227 matches which resulted in 219 goals! His record of 34 goals in 37 caps for Norway is not to be forgotten too! It's not at all surprising that he is one of the highest-rated players ever on the market. Especially as the centre-forward showed a - for the modern superstars forgotten - love for the game. As well as professionalism that nearly no 20-year career veterans displayed. Haaland was a safe bet.

With a deal until 2027, Haaland stayed on a €180,000,000 evaluation before another red-hot start to the 2024/2025 season. Aged 24, with an unsatiable hunger for success, Haaland is probably the prime candidate to pierce through the €200,000,000 margin.

Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) €200,000,000 - 11.10.2024

In the summer of 2024, Real Madrid finally got Kylian Mbappe. However, by the autumn of 2024, the Spanish media was writing about how the club already had the best player in the world - Vinicius Jr. Taking the spotlight from Mbappe, after collecting two Champions League and three La Liga trophies by the age of 24, Vinicius has preserved and prospered quickly.

Persevered, as not that long ago he was the laughing stock of football as a player whom teammates needed a half-time tactic for. "Don't pass to him, he's playing for the opposite side" were the words of Karim Benzema captured by the cameras. Now, on the backs of the 2023 contract extension that holds him at Santiago Bernabeu until 2027, Vini is one of two €200,000,000-worth players.

Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain) €200,000,000 - 17.12.2018

The story of Kylian Mbappe's career through the financial market value metric doesn't really follow the narrative of the media. The superstar reached the milestone six years before Erling Haaland and Vinicius! His appraisal stayed at the high ceiling for a year, before significantly plummeting in the following years, down to €160,000,000 where it was for the longest time.

All that despite the common transfer drama with Real Madrid and the monumental contract extensions. Now, Mbappe's market value is at €180,000,000 but even though he is just about to turn 26, his ceiling monetarilly doesn't seem higher than €200,000,000! Being a primary weapon at PSG was maybe a better choice for his reputation and legacy. Although interesting from the football historian's perspective, record market values for football players is the last thing on the mind of the superstars on the stock market.