Reuters
- A prominent think tank in Switzerland has released a power ranking of the most valuable youngsters in world soccer.
- To produce the list, the CIES Football Observatory monitored soccer transactions for almost a decade, spoke to market actors, and studied other factors to determine a player’s worth if he was bought today.
- The most valuable teenager in world soccer right now is worth more than $150 million.
- Read all of Business Insider’s coverage for the 2018-19 soccer season here.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Some of the most valuable assets in all of sport play on a soccer pitch, and even the next generation of superstars are commanding extraordinary valuations.
Identifying a player’s transfer value is not easy, but a prominent research group in Switzerland — the CIES Football Observatory — has done just that by publishing a ranking of the most valuable under-20 soccer players in Europe’s best leagues according to its own algorithm.
The Observatory only considers athletes competing in England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, and France’s Ligue 1, but says it has been able to calculate a player’s value by monitoring soccer transactions since 2010, speaking to market actors (club executives operating in elite soccer), and studying factors like playing activity, the club the athlete plays for, the athlete’s age, playing position, and economic level of the releasing club.
While the Observatory’s list includes a number of players aged 20, Business Insider has omitted these to only look at world soccer’s most valuable teenagers — and the most expensive would cost more than $150 million if he was bought today.
Here are the 15 most expensive youngsters in soccer, ranked in ascending order by transfer value:
=T15: Moise Kean, an exciting superstar for the future in Italy, is already worth $22.75 million.
Associated Press
Age: 18.
Club: Juventus FC.
Style: Moise Kean is yet to become a first-team player at Juventus, but with six goals in 11 Serie A appearances (or one goal for every 73 minutes he has played), we get the impression it will not be long before the striker becomes a regular.
=T15: Callum Hudson-Odoi, worth $22.75 million, is one of the brightest young talents in England.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Age: 18.
Club: Chelsea FC.
Style: Callum Hudson-Odoi has an eye for a pass, finesse on the ball, and is capable of a goal or two. He will likely become ever-present for club and country for years to come.
13: Turkish defender Ozan Kabak, who has an eye for a tackle, has a $23.3 million valuation.
Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images
Age: 19.
Club: Stuttgart.
Style: Ozan Kabak is as strong in the air as he is on the ground and is capable of developing into a wall-like presence in Stuttgart’s defense.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- David Beckham has been banned from driving for 6 months and fined $1,000 after using a cell phone behind the wheel of his Bentley
- Harry Kane hinted that he might be healthy enough to play in the Champions League final
- Mauricio Pochettino broke down in tears and said ‘thank you football’ after watching Tottenham Hotspur advance to the Champions League final
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Alan Dawson)