Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Haaland: Who is the most valuable player in football history? | OneFootball

Erling Haaland is now the most valuable footballer in the world.

The latest update in market value estimations over on Transfermarkt has seen the Manchester City striker usurp Kylian Mbappe as the male player with the highest price tag attached to them.

Haaland has seen his calculated transfer value rise to a dizzying €170.00 million, which surpasses the €160 million put on Mbappe’s head, to become the first Premier League player to take the number one spot in Transfermarkt history.

Haaland: The world’s most valuable footballer

The data gurus are revered across the globe for their complex updates and adjustments to the perceived transfer values of thousands upon thousands of of professional players.

Taking into consideration factors such as performance, age, reputation, injury susceptibility and demand, everyone from fans to journalists always take a keen interest in how Transfermarkt values the world’s best players.

It can, after all, offer a more impartial and unaffected outlook on potential transfer fees compared to the real market where contract lengths and time pressures can either drive prices up or down.

And Haaland‘s ascension to top spot isn’t just significant in the current climate, but football history as a whole, because it’s one of the highest transfer valuations that the sport has ever seen.

Since Transfermarkt started stabbing away at their calculators to work out transfer values in 2004, only three players have ever reached a total higher than the €170m currently assigned to Haaland.

The highest transfer values in football history

Given the significance of that fact, we couldn’t resist digging a little deeper and looking at Transfermarkt’s ‘Record market values’ list to see which players have reached the most dizzying transfer heights of all.

And let’s face it, we’d be rude not to include you on that journey, so be sure to check out the 31 players with the highest recorded Transfermarkt valuations in football history down below:

31. Mauro Icardi (2018) – €100.00 million

30. Christian Eriksen (2019) – €100.00 million

29. Romelu Lukaku (2018) – €100.00 million

28. Jan Oblak (2019) – €100.00 million

27. Paul Pogba (2019) – €100.00 million

26. Virgil van Dijk (2019) – €100.00 million

25. Leroy Sane (2018) – €100.00 million

24. Jack Grealish (2021) – €100.00 million

23. Dele Alli (2018) – €100.00 million

22. N’Golo Kante (2018) – €100.00 million

21. Bernardo Silva (2019) – €100.00 million

20. Joao Felix (2019) – €100.00 million

19. Paulo Dybala (2018) – €110.00 million

18. Trent Alexander-Arnold (2019) – €110.00 million

17. Phil Foden (2022) – €110.00 million

16. Cristiano Ronaldo (2014) – €120.00 million

15. Ousmane Dembele (2019) – €120.00 million

14. Vinicius Junior (2022) – €120.00 million

13. Jadon Sancho (2020) – €130.00 million

12. Eden Hazard (2018) – €150.00 million

11. Philippe Coutinho (2018) – €150.00 million

10. Kevin De Bruyne (2018) – €150.00 million

9. Antoine Griezmann (2018) – €150.00 million

8. Harry Kane (2018) – €150.00 million

7. Mohamed Salah (2018) – €150.00 million

6. Sadio Mane (2019) – €150.00 million

5. Raheem Sterling (2019) – €160.00 million

4. Erling Haaland (2022) – €170.00 million

3. Lionel Messi (2018) – €180.00 million

2. Neymar (2018) – €180.00 million

Who has been more valuable than Haaland?

Well, well, well, so Haaland might be on the ascendancy with his electric start at the Etihad Stadium bringing him close to the podium, but he’s still got none other than Paris Saint-Germain’s insane front three to contend with if it wants that gold medal.

On December 17, 2018, Mbappe entered the history books by earning a record-breaking valuation of €200.00 million on the back of winning the World Cup with France and thriving at PSG.

And given that his form has only occasionally drifted in the years since, the main reason for his slight decline in transfer valuation is more than likely the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yes, Transfermarkt really is that thorough with their calculations and that’s why there’s a great swathe of players who were seriously in-form throughout 2018 and 2019 that rank particularly highly.

Plus, the general inflation of transfers makes it a lot harder for players like Ronaldo, who peaked a lot longer ago, to compete with stars entering their prime in the post-Neymar-to-PSG era.

Though, none other than Ronaldo’s eternal rival, Messi, was clearly still holding his own in 2018 to such an extent that he was able to compete with the transfer values of stars many years his junior.

And although, yes, the Transfermarkt valuations only date back to 2004, the fact that the transfer world record ‘only’ stood at €77.5 million back then means that we can safely call this list of players the most valuable in football history.

Not adjusted for inflation, granted, but in terms of the big and juicy overall total, yes.

And as far as that’s concerned, it feels as though Haaland could only be one goalscoring push away from attaining the highest transfer value that the beautiful game has ever seen. Bonkers.

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