Barcelona forward, Lionel Messi, is the most valuable player in the world and worth almost twice as much Cristiano Ronaldo.
According to a study by the CIES Football Observatory the Argentina captain is worth £161.5m (R 2.9 billion)
Portugal captain and FIFA Ballon d’Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, is the second most valued player with £85.2m (R 1.5 billion) and Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, worth £79.4m (R 1.43 billion), follows in third.
Chelsea starlet, Eden Hazard and Brazil’s World Cup hope, Neymar, complete the top five, valued £61.2m (R 1.1 billion) and £50.6m (R 912 million) respectively.
World record-signing, Gareth Bale, comes in seventh place, valued at £47.1m (R 850 million).
The top 10 is completed by Paul Pogba of Juventus in fifth, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, PSG’s Edinson Cavani and Bayern Munich’s Mario Goetze.
Strangely, young English starlets, Rahem Sterling (£31.2) and Ross Barkley (£29.7) are valued more than the likes of Andres Iniesta, Wayne Rooney and Thomas Mueller.
The authors of the study explain Messi’s value, which is almost twice as much as Cristiano Ronaldo, based on his younger age.
“This is mainly related to the younger age of the Argentinian prodigy, who was born 28 months after the Portuguese superstar.
“However, with respect to the last year, Messi’s market value has gon down (by £19m) while that of Ronaldo increased (by £4m).
Do you think Lionel Messi is worth twice as much as Cristiano Ronaldo? Have your say in the comment section below.
