Ignited immediately or fell short of expectations
©IMAGO
Last summer, clubs spent over 9 billion euros on new players – a record in the history of European football. The Premier League was largely responsible for this, and the Bundesliga also set a new record. But who has made the best investment and who is still waiting for their signing to break through? To assess this, the market value of all new arrivals was used as a benchmark and how much this has risen or fallen since September 2, 2025 – the day after the end of the summer transfer window.
The Bundesliga is represented several times among the ten biggest market value winners and occupies the top three places. RB Leipzig’s winger Yan Diomande is clearly first. The Ivorian was signed by Spanish club Leganés for €20 million when his market value was just €1.5 million. Nine months, 22 goal participations and three upgrades later, this value is 75 million euros, which corresponds to a whopping increase of 73.5 million euros.
“His speed coupled with his ball control and his one-on-one skills are very rare to find in this form. Due to his outstanding performances in the last few weeks, he has taken another big step and is undoubtedly one of the greatest offensive talents in the world. If he continues this as the season progresses, the next jump in market value towards the 100 million mark could occur before the World Cup,” explained TM market value coordinator Tobias Kröger Diomandes as part of the last Bundesliga update.
In second place is central defender Luka Vuskovic, who came to Hamburger SV on loan from Tottenham. Valued at 12 million euros at the time, it has now climbed to 60 million euros – an increase of 48 million euros.
A trio from Bayer Leverkusen is also at the forefront. Christian Kofane, Ibrahim Maza and Jarell Quansah have all increased significantly in value since their summer moves. The steepest climb was for Kofane, who, with a market value of 5 million, cost a reasonable 5.25 million euros and is now worth 40 million euros. Meanwhile, there was an increase of 28 million euros for Maza and 25 million euros for Quansah.
Two German national players are also in the top 10: Nick Woltemade and Malick Thiaw. The former has had a lot of difficulties at Newcastle United recently, which is why his market value is likely to fall in the upcoming Premier League update. However, mainly due to his transfer fee of 75 million euros and his strong start, his value is currently 35 million euros higher than last summer. Thiaw, on the other hand, is a regular in the Magpies’ defense and has therefore recorded an increase of 27 million euros since September.
With Wirtz & Frimpong: Summer new arrivals with the largest loss in market value
At the other end of the scale there are some Premier League professionals. The red pencil was most clearly applied to Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz. The 22-year-old had a market value of 140 million when the Reds transferred 125 million euros to Leverkusen – the highest sum ever for a German footballer. The height of the fall was correspondingly high. It has now fallen to €110 million in two steps, largely due to its stuttering start. In the Champions League and the Premier League, the attacking midfielder only scored his first goalscorers at the end of October and the beginning of December respectively. There are now seven goals and ten assists in 46 games.
Behind Wirtz there is a trio of newcomers with a loss of 20 million euros. This includes another new Liverpool player, Alexander Isak, for whom the LFC broke the Premier League transfer record. But after a poor start and a long injury, his value fell to €100 million over the course of the season. Also on par with Isak are ex-Liverpool striker Darwin Núñez (at 25 million) and Tottenham’s Xavi Simons (at 50 million).
Jeremie Frimpong, another newcomer from Liverpool and a former Leverkusen player, is included in this list. Since his move, the 25-year-old’s money has fallen by 15 million to 35 million euros. The same figures are in the balance sheet for former Dortmund player Jamie Gittens, for whom Chelsea FC paid 56 million euros last summer.
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).
