Sporting biggest winner
For a long time now, six footballers with a market value of over 40 million euros have been playing in Portugal – first place in the market value ranking is now shared by four professionals. All 477 players in the Liga Portugal have been re-evaluated and the big winners are once again João Neves (19, Benfica), Viktor Gyökeres (25) and Ousmane Diomande (20, both Sporting). While Benfica and Porto are falling slightly in terms of squad value, league leaders Sporting are making gains and are currently the 36th club to break the 300 million mark (among the most valuable squads).
The fact that things are going well for Sporting is also due to the transfers that were made in 2023, which were expensive by Portuguese standards. Portugal expert Marcel de Almeida says: “Sporting scored three absolute hits with Hjulmand, Gyökeres and Diomande. They haven’t been able to do that often in recent years. The transfer strategy has been adjusted slightly: It is better to spend more and get quality instead of quantity for lower transfers. “It pays off.”
Market value update Liga Portugal: Four players share 1st place
The trio came for a total of 45.5 million euros and is worth 111 million euros after this update. Center forward Gyökeres, who has been involved in 25 goals in 20 games since his move, rises from 32 million to 45 million, defensive talent Diomande climbs from 25 million to 40 million and “sixer” Morten Hjulmand from 24 million 26 million euros. In terms of market value, Gyökeres is ahead of Bayer’s Victor Boniface and Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy. “At least one, if not two, could be sold in the summer for a high transfer profit,” says de Almeida.
Despite ten devaluations and only five upgrades, Sporting’s squad value climbed by 27.8 million euros to 307 million euros – this means that the “Leões” overtake FC Porto (286 million) in the league’s internal ranking, while Benfica (358 million) despite a slight minus of 2.5 million euros is still a long way off.
Benfica talent Neves at the top – four players share 1st place
The biggest plus from the update, 25 million euros, goes to Benfica’s own Neves, who, according to Portugal expert de Almeida, is currently the best player in the league along with Gyökeres. The midfield talent, now valued at 45 million euros, is not only the most valuable player in the Portuguese league alongside teammate António Silva, Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa and Gyökeres, but also the second most valuable “six player” under the age of 21 in the world. In the ranking of the highest rated Portuguese, Neves is placed in the top 15.
“Benfica has two players from their own youth, Antonio Silva and Joao Neves, who are the next candidates for sale. There is interest in both from the Premier League and LaLiga. January will show whether Benfica can withstand the offers or whether there will be a similar case to Enzo Fernandes in 2023,” says de Almeida. By summer at the latest, it will be exciting for the three big clubs to see which stars want to stay and which ones want to leave or have to be sold in order to improve their balance sheet.
“The final table will have a major influence on the summer transfers. The Portuguese league only has one fixed starting place in the Champions League and this goes to the champions. The second place team has to qualify and the third team can go to the Europa League. This means that one of the big three will come away empty-handed and will be forced to sell,” says de Almeida.
Ex-Bundesliga professionals: upgrade for Zalazar, minus for Bernat
Among the market value losers this time are big names such as Sporting’s Pedro Gonçalves (-4 to €28 million), Porto’s Mehdi Taremi (-6 to 12) and, due to age, Benfica’s Ángel Di María (-3 to 5). Among the players with a Bundesliga past, former Schalke player Rodrigo Zalazar (+2 to 6, Braga) can record a plus, while Juan Bernat (-4 to 6, Benfica), Jerry St. Juste (-2 to 8, Sporting) and Marko Grujić (-1 to 8) is going down.
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).
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