Chelsea pro Fofana most valuable non-national player in the world

No German in the top 25

The transfer fee of 80.4 million euros transferred from Chelsea to Leicester City made central defender Wesley Fofana the world’s second most expensive transfer last summer – only for Antony’s move from Ajax Amsterdam to Manchester United did more money flow (overview). Since then, the 21-year-old Frenchman has played two games for the Blues, in each of which he played the full distance. However, the five-time U21 national player has to wait for his debut in the Équipe Tricolore – even though coach Didier Deschamps is struggling with personnel problems on the defensive before the upcoming Nations League duels with Austria and Denmark. With a market value of 65 million euros, Fofana is currently the most valuable professional who has never been nominated for his home country’s A-Elf, let alone played on the field.

The defending champions have a long list of absences two months before the start of the World Cup: Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kanté, Kingsley Coman, Presnel Kimpembe, Lucas Hernández, Karim Benzema, Ibrahima Konaté and Thomas Lemar are all unavailable to Deschamps due to injury. For the defensive center, in which the loss of Munich’s Hernández, who was last placed alongside Raphaël Varane, weighs heavily, the 53-year-old nominated Arsenal’s William Saliba, Barcelona newcomer Jules Koundé and Bayern’s Dayot Upamecano instead of Fofana as possible alternatives. Back in June, the 1998 world champion had already given Liverpool’s Konaté preference over Fofana, reportedly because the then Leicester professional celebrated his wedding during the international matches.

However, Fofana is not the only Frenchman waiting for a call-up to his country’s A-Elf squad – the top 10 most valuable non-national players alone include the 1.90 meter giant Allan Saint-Maximin, Amine Gouiri, Martin Terrier, Evan Ndicka, Robin Le Normand and Hugo Ekitiké seven compatriots. The second dominating nation in the ranking is England, where Harvey Elliott and Jack Harrison, among others, have not yet been nominated for the “Three Lions”. You won’t find a German player among the 25 most valuable, but with the Dutchman Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Frankfurt’s Ndicka and Gladbach’s Kouadio Koné, there are three professionals who are active in the Bundesliga.

Most valuable German non-national players: Mainz’ Burkardt in front

“I’m just putting pressure on myself to perform again here in Mainz, to help the team and to be successful. I don’t worry about other things. There was recently no contact with national coach Hansi Flick. That’s why I think that the U21 national team is still on the agenda for me,” explained Mainz striker Jonathan Burkardt when asked about his national team and World Cup ambitions. For the 22-year-old, who has been waiting for a Bundesliga goal since April, it didn’t work out this time in terms of nominations for both DFB teams – but the captain is missing from the youth team due to an injury. With a market value of 17 million euros, Burkardt is the most valuable German non-national player.

Also in this circle is BVB youngster Youssoufa Moukoko, who has appeared four times for the U21s to date, but not yet for national coach Flick’s team. Meanwhile, hardly anyone doubts that the native of Cameroon has a promising future in the DFB jersey – but the World Cup is likely to come too early for the youngest Bundesliga debutant of this millennium. Third most valuable professional in this ranking is Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt. The 24-year-old, who was trained at HSV and RB Leipzig, had confirmed a meeting with Flick in the spring and, when asked about the national team, announced: “I think he has me on the screen.”

Janelt, who switched from VfL Bochum to the “Bees” for 600,000 euros in 2020 and immediately established himself as a regular at the Premier League club, is still waiting to be called up. Born in Hamburg, he leads the field of legionnaires, which also include keeper Stefan Ortega who has switched to Manchester City, Malick Thiaw from AC Milan, Brighton’s Pascal Groß, Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar and Alexander Nübel from AS Monaco.

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