Kane, Mbappe, Rashford: Europe's most valuable players feature Man Utd and Barcelona stars | OneFootball

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GiveMeSport

·7 June 2021

Kane, Mbappe, Rashford: Europe's most valuable players feature Man Utd and Barcelona stars

Article image:Kane, Mbappe, Rashford: Europe's most valuable players feature Man Utd and Barcelona stars

England are entering Euro 2020 with one of the most exciting squads on the continent.

On the back of a fourth-place finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, it feels as though the country is uniting around its national team once again and we're now only a few days away from their return.


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Sunday's long-awaited Croatia clash will be their first game at an international tournament since their semi-final loss to the very same opponents three years ago, give or take a third-place play-off.

England's young talent

However, there's good reason to think that Gareth Southgate has more firepower at his disposal this time around than he did when the Three Lions suffered that heartbreaking 2-1 defeat in Moscow.

Besides, the likes of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden had barely made a stamp on the pro game as a whole in the summer of 2018, never mind having forced themselves into England contention.

As such, Croatia should prepare themselves for some of the best young players in the world to cause them some really problems at Wembley Stadium - or at least that's the theory.

Harry Winks to Man Utd (Football Terrace)

But if there is any doubt surrounding the starlets at England's disposal this summer, then they can surely be dismissed by the latest findings of the CIES Football Observatory this week.

The revered footballing statisticians have released their biannual ranking of the players in Europe's top five leagues with the highest estimated transfer value.

Their fascinating algorithm, which you can inspect in all its thoroughness here, has found that some of the young talent in England's squad are amongst the most valuable players in the entire sport.

Most valuable footballers in Europe

In fact, the three most valuable footballers in Europe do indeed hail from English shores with Foden (€190 million), Mason Greenwood (€178m) and Marcus Rashford (€159m) filling the podium.

And that's no small statement when you consider the likes of Erling Braut Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, who are tipped as future Ballon d'Or winners, are biting at their heels.

So, without further ado, be sure to check out the list of transfer valuations in all its glory down below:

Article image:Kane, Mbappe, Rashford: Europe's most valuable players feature Man Utd and Barcelona stars
Article image:Kane, Mbappe, Rashford: Europe's most valuable players feature Man Utd and Barcelona stars

There is only one possible conclusion we can draw from the findings: it's coming home.

Lofty transfer fees for Young Lions

Ok, jokes aside, it's a long-running jokes that the transfer values of English players can often be inflated and such an Anglocentric set of rankings will do nothing to change that perception.

However, it's not as though we can sit here and genuinely claim that players like Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho aren't top-class when they continue to produce such impressive performances.

Granted, it's hard to justify Greenwood and Rashford being ranked above Mbappe and Haaland, but make no mistake that they're worth blockbuster fees regardless of their exact ranking.

Article image:Kane, Mbappe, Rashford: Europe's most valuable players feature Man Utd and Barcelona stars

Besides, at the end of the day, it's only natural that players with great potential will inspire hefty transfer fees with buying clubs hoping to secure themselves a world-class player for years to come.

We'll just have to wait and see whether the Euro 2020 performances of some of the England players on the list will be just as lucrative as their supposed transfer values. We can dream, we can dream.

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