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There are 163 new market values in Ligue 1, which ensure that PSG’s squad value overtakes Chelsea, Barça and Liverpool in an international comparison – the Parisians are the seven biggest winners of the update. One of them is Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, who has broken the 100 million mark again after six years. The first plus in almost five years is for Ansu Fati, who excels in Monaco.
Dembélé is once again one of the players with a nine-figure market value – there are currently 19 of them in the world. France expert Ronan Caroff explains why the ex-Dortmunder is now the most valuable professional in Ligue 1.
“Winning the Ballon d’Or had to be celebrated with a plus. It’s ‘only’ 10 million, but that means he leaves Kvaratskhelia and Doué behind. Dembélé’s start to the season has been great, but a thigh injury has kept him off the pitch for more than a month. This brings back memories of his injuries at Barça, so we have been careful with this upgrade.”
Thanks to further upgrades for Vitinha (+10 million to 90 million euros), João Neves (+10 to 90), Lucas Chevalier (+10 to 40), Senny Mayulu (+10 to 25), Nuno Mendes (+5 to 75), Ilya Zabarnyi (+13 to 55) and Ibrahim Mbaye (+12 to 15), the squad value increases Paris Saint-Germain by 76 million to 1.14 billion euros. PSG is the fourth most valuable team in the world. The Champions League winners paid 804 million euros in transfer fees for this squad – homegrown Mbaye moved to PSG free of charge at the age of 10 and is now one of the world’s three most valuable talents up to the age of 17.
“He has secured a permanent place in the PSG squad, which is rare for players from their own youth, as they often move to other clubs in the hope of getting more playing time. The scoring values are not yet outstanding, but the fact that he was in the starting line-up against Barcelona as a winger, even though Kang-in Lee was fit to play, is clear evidence of the trust that Luis Enrique has in him,” says Area Manager France Caroff.
About the PSG squad as a whole, he says: “Stability is now crucial. Among the departures, only Donnarumma had an important role. Luis Enrique knows exactly what he wants and has only signed goalkeeper Chevalier and central defender Zabarnyi. The rest has remained unchanged since the triumph in the premier class, except that you have a Ballon d’Or winner, a Portuguese one Nations League winner and the Club World Cup title. Compared to other big clubs, almost every player is in top form, there are hardly any internal disputes and no major statistical drops.”
Market value doubled: Fati scores a goal every 42 minutes
There have been declines in performance data and market value over the past four years due to injuries to Barça’s former hope Fati – that seems to be over for the time being. The winger started his loan spell at AS Monaco with six goals in five games, bringing back memories of 2020 when he was tipped to be Messi’s successor. Ten injuries meant that he missed over 120 games and was never able to really find his rhythm. After seven devaluations, there is now an increase of 5 million to 10 million euros.
“After failing to impress in the few minutes Barça gave him last season, he sank to his historic low. Bringing in Fati to replace Ben Seghir was a risky move for Monaco as they had to wait a whole month for him to be fit. He had to leave the left wing to Golovin or Minamino, but even as a substitute he makes the difference, scoring an average of a goal every 42 minutes! Now it’s time It remains to be seen how he copes with a long season including the Champions League.” Monaco, which is increasing its squad value by 17.5 million euros to 348 million euros, has a purchase option for Fati worth 11 million euros.
Lyon on the rise in market value – Pavard among the biggest losers in Ligue 1
There is also an increase in squad value for Olympique Lyon, which was listed as a second division team at the beginning of July before forced relegation was avoided in court. Thanks to just one devaluation and seven upgrades, the fourth-place team recorded an increase of 16.6 million euros to 178 million euros, making them the seventh most valuable squad in Ligue 1.
France expert Caroff says: “In view of the departures of Almada and Matic, Mangala’s knee injury and the tight budget, one could have feared for the stability of Lyon’s midfield. Ultimately, the increase in squad value comes almost exclusively from the midfield. Tanner Tessmann (+4 to 10), who was not first choice last season, has not missed a minute this season and is proving to be so as an attacking option. Summer signings Adam Karabec (+2 to 6) and Tyler Morton (+5 to 12) have provided great satisfaction both domestically and in Europe and are reaching new career highs. OL knows that traditionally you can also rely on homegrown players, like Khalis Merah (+5 to 6) and Mathys de Carvalho, who has a starting value of one million.”
The bottom line is that there were 125 upgrades and the red pencil was used 38 times. The biggest loss goes to three professionals from three clubs: ex-Bayer Benjamin Pavard (-5 to 20), who is on loan from Inter to Olympique Marseille, PSG homegrown Warren Zaïre-Emery (-5 to 50) and RC Strasbourg’s record purchase Abakar Sylla (-5 to 5). The latter came from Bruges in 2023 for 20 million euros and flopped. In the second half of the 2024/25 season he was only used sporadically as a joker and this season he is still waiting for his debut due to injury. Nevertheless, Chelsea’s partner club from Strasbourg is one of the biggest winners in terms of squad value, with an increase from 20 million to 278 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 are listed here. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (for detailed market value definition).