Historical values at FC & HSV
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Just before the winter break, there are new market values for 496 Bundesliga players, and the five biggest winners are 17, 18 and three times 19 years old. The update brings the first devaluation in Jamal Musiala’s career, a personal record for Nico Schlotterbeck and the most valuable player ever under contract with Hamburger SV and 1. FC Köln.
Lennart Karl is far from being the most valuable player in the FC Bayern squad, but he is the world’s most valuable footballer up to the age of 17. The shape curve of Munich’s home-grown product only knows one direction – just like its market value. This climbs from 20 million to 60 million euros, making him not only the biggest winner of this update, but the biggest market value winner in Bundesliga history. There has not been a major appreciation since market values were introduced on Transfermarkt in 2004. The attacking midfielder received a starting value of 1.5 million euros in mid-June and, six months later, is already one of the ten most valuable professionals in the Bundesliga.
Market value coordinator Tobias Kröger says of Karl: “The 17-year-old established himself in the Bayern team within a few weeks and showed that he is one of the most exciting players of the season. He was also able to score in three consecutive games in the Champions League – no one at his age has ever done that.”
First market value loss of career – FC Bayern’s Musiala devalued
Due to injury, Musiala has not been able to draw attention to himself this season, and so the market value of the most valuable German footballer has fallen by 10 million to 130 million euros. The offensive all-rounder now shares first place in the ranking of the most valuable Bundesliga professionals with his teammate Michael Olise.
“As part of the winter updates, Transfermarkt decided to take a closer look at the top players. This resulted in a new sorting in the top 10. Musiala is still recovering from his serious injury and it is not clear when he will be back on the pitch. In addition to him, stars such as Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak have also received devaluations,” explains market value expert Julius Weißenstein.
Even for the most accurate player in the world there is a devaluation that is 100 percent age-related: Harry Kane receives the fourth minus in a row, this time from 75 million to 65 million euros. This means that the Bayern striker in the age group aged 32 and over is worth as much as Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois combined, who are in second to fourth place.
BVB increases squad value despite nine devaluations
After five upgrades and nine devaluations – including Min-jae Kim (-7 to 25 million), Serge Gnabry (-2 to 20 million) and Leon Goretzka (-7 to 15 million) – the record champions’ squad value increases by 28 million euros to 980 million euros. In an international comparison, they defended 8th place among the most valuable squads behind Liverpool FC.
Despite ten devaluations and only four revaluations, Borussia Dortmund recorded an increase of 10.9 million to 511 million euros and overtook Crystal Palace and Napoli in the international ranking. The fact that BVB is now in 18th place is thanks to Nico Schlotterbeck’s career high, which rose from 40 million to 55 million euros. This means that the now most valuable German defender just misses the top 10 most valuable central defenders in the world.
Market value expert Weißenstein says: “Thanks to his contract expiring in 2027, coupled with consistently strong performances, Schlotterbeck is increasingly coming into the focus of Bayern Munich, Barça and Liverpool. A quick contract extension is not in sight as the player appears to be spoiled for choice. In terms of play, he is one of the best central defenders in the world who has also made his way into the national team.”
Midfielder Felix Nmecha, who has been injury-free since April and has proven his class with good performances in the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the DFB selection, also achieved a new career high thanks to an increase of 10 million euros to 45 million euros. Borussia’s market value losers include the recently unsuccessful Serhou Guirassy (-5 to 40 million), new signing Jobe Bellingham (-5 to 25 million) and the longest-serving Dortmund player Julian Brandt (-5 to 20 million).
When Brandt moved from Leverkusen to Dortmund in 2019, Said El Mala was twelve years old and dreaming of the Bundesliga – today he is the most valuable professional at 1. FC Köln. With his next major upgrade from 18 million to 40 million euros, he overtakes Lukas Podolski, Anthony Modeste and Jonas Hector as the most valuable FC player since the start of the market values on Transfermarkt. The trio each achieved 20 million euros in the Cologne jersey. This is what FC sports director Thomas Kessler says about El Mala’s record market value:
“His breathtaking speed dribbling moves the spectators out of their seats. His great shot and excellent technique make him a player with a very special overall package. National coach Julian Nagelsmann also recognized this and nominated him for the DFB for the first time. El Mala is likely to be one of the hottest stocks in the coming transfer phase,” says market value coordinator Kröger.
While the Domstadt residents can look forward to El Mala – as of today – until 2030, Luka Vuskovic will leave Hamburger SV for Tottenham in the summer of 2026. The 18-year-old central defender is only on loan for one season and so far the Croatian is doing his job outstandingly. At the start of the loan, his market value was 12 million euros, before this climbed to 18 million euros in October and now stands at 40 million euros.
Vuskovic has equaled El Mala and is now the most valuable professional in HSV history – he inherits Rafael van der Vaart, who defended this unofficial title since 2012 with a market value of 24.5 million euros.
Thanks to Diomande & Ouédraogo: RB Leipzig biggest market value winner
Things go even higher for RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande, who ensures that they will have great difficulty in the Bundesliga deciding who is the biggest whiz kid this season. The 19-year-old Ivorian is the top scorer for the resurgent Red Bulls behind Christoph Baumgartner (+8 to 20 million) and climbs from 20 million to 45 million euros. This makes Diomande the most valuable player in the squad and has been linked to Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal after just five months in Saxony.
Assan Ouédraogo could also be viewed as a new addition. After his 10 million transfer from Schalke to Leipzig, the 19-year-old midfielder missed almost all of his debut season due to injury in order to start in 2025/26. With 500 minutes, some of which were outstanding, in the RB jersey, Ouédraogo earned his nomination for the national team and scored on his debut to make it 6-0 against Slovakia.
A knee injury followed shortly afterwards – nevertheless, Schalke’s homegrown player recorded one of the largest increases in this update, with an increase of 18 million to 28 million euros. The Leipzig squad increases by 48 million to 414 million euros and is the biggest winner in the league. In an international comparison, that’s enough for 27th place behind Bayer Leverkusen (+17.7 to 444 million) and ahead of AS Roma (401 million).
The list of big market value winners among this season’s high-flyers is far from over: Hoffenheim’s Fisnik Asllani (+12 to 30 million) impressively shows that he can maintain his hit rate from the 2nd league in the Bundesliga and his 19-year-old strike partner Bazoumana Touré (+10 to 25 million) is on his heels in terms of market value.
In Leverkusen, things are going up steeply for the 19, 20 and 21-year-old newcomers Christian Kofane (+10 to 22 million), Ibrahim Maza (+13 to 25 million) and Ernest Poku (+10 to 20 million) – the trio is working better and better under coach Kasper Hjulmand and is already one of the permanent staff. In Bremen, ex-HSV talent Karim Coulibaly (+12 to 20 million) became the most valuable Werder professional at the age of 18 after a strong first half of the season.
As of this update, the most valuable footballer in the current SC Freiburg squad is Johan Manzambi, who has doubled his market value to 30 million euros. The 20-year-old Swiss midfielder, who moved from Geneva to the sports club’s youth team in 2023, is historically just behind Nico Schlotterbeck, who was valued at 33 million euros before his transfer to BVB in the summer of 2022.
This is how transfer market market values work
The transfer market market values are created taking into account various pricing models as well as a strong involvement of the transfer market community, which deals with the values in detailed discussions. The transfer market market values cannot generally be equated with the transfer fees actually paid.
The goal is not to predict a price, but rather an expected value. When determining the market value, both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant to a certain extent. Examples of this are listed here. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (for detailed market value definition).