Aghehowa & Quenda top winners
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Viktor Gyökeres’ rise continues and sets a record in Portugal. In the domestic league’s market value update, the Sporting Lisbon striker recorded his eighth plus in a row and, after jumping from 5 million to 75 million euros, is now on a par with top international strikers such as Julián Alvarez, Victor Osimhen and Kai Havertz. But the 26-year-old is not the biggest winner. Five players made even greater gains in the update, which includes 413 professionals, including FC Porto’s Samu Aghehowa (20), who moved up to second place in the ranking of the most valuable players and is now Gyökeres’ new first pursuer.
“Gyökeres increases his value as he continues to score one goal after another. He scored 18 goals in just 14 league games, plus another five in six Champions League games,” says Goncalo Santos, Content Manager Portugal at Transfermarkt. “And be careful: With his new market value, Gyökeres is now the most valuable player in the history of the Portuguese league and has broken João Félix’s record.” This has been 70 million euros since 2019, which the current Chelsea professional held before he Left Benfica and moved to Atlético Madrid.
Whether and how many more records Gyökeres will set in Portugal remains to be seen, as interest in the Swede is still high. The same applies to his teammate Morten Hjulmand (25). “Hjulmand remains a key player for Sporting. Although it is only his second season at the club, he is already the captain of the team and the main man in midfield,” said Santos. “There’s no doubt that he should get a lot of offers in January. If he stays until the end of the season, it will be difficult to keep him beyond the summer despite his contract until 2028.”
This development has an impact on the market value of the Dane, who has already been linked to several top European clubs. For him it goes up by 5 million to 45 million euros, making him the third most valuable in Portugal’s upper house.
Update Liga Portugal: Aghehowa climbs – talents Quenda & Araújo stand out
One place ahead of him is Aghehowa, one of two top winners of the update with an increase of 15 million euros. “The Spaniard was one of the surprises this season,” says Santos. “At just 20 years old, he made an immediate impact at Porto and became the team’s best player with ten goals in eleven league games and five in six Europa League games. These performances even earned him a debut in the Spanish national team.” Against this background, an increase to 50 million euros is only logical.
Also worth mentioning are Sporting’s Geovany Quenda, the biggest winner along with Aghehowa, and Benfica’s Tomás Araújo (22). “The 17-year-old Quenda had no market value at the beginning of the season, but is now valued at 30 million euros after establishing himself as a regular and one of Sporting’s most important professionals in the first half of the season,” explains Santos about the shooting star, who is one of the players with the biggest jump in market value this season. Meanwhile, Araújo experienced his breakthrough with the Águias and displaced António Silva (21; -2 million to 38 million euros). The market value of the central defender will therefore be increased by 13 million to 28 million euros.
Benfica’s best is losing market value slightly
Of the four German legionnaires in Portugal, only ex-Heidenheimer Jan-Niklas Beste (25) has changed. The Benfica professional will lose one million euros and will henceforth be valued at 14 million euros. The valuations of Braga’s Bright Arrey-Mbi (21; 6 million euros), Rio Ave’s Ole Pohlmann (23; 2.5 million euros) and Arouca’s goalkeeper Nico Mantl (24; 1.5 million euros) are confirmed.
As with Beste, the red pencil is also applied to two other former faces from the Bundesliga: Ex-Mainz player Leandro Barreiro (24) loses 2 million to 15 million euros and former Munich player Renato Sanches (27) loses 1, 5 million to 5 million euros.
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 will be here listed. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (for a detailed definition of market value).