Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior, and Erling Haaland are the three most valuable players in world football, according to research group CIES Football Observatory.
Mbappé comes in as the most valuable, having had a stellar season with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), with 60 goal involvements (39 goals, 21 assists) in 46 games in all competitions.
Vinícius, a Brazilian, won the Spanish LaLiga and UEFA Champions League double with Real Madrid.
Norwegian Haaland is soon to make a lucrative move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City after scoring 86 goals in 89 games during his time in Germany.
Mbappé turned down a move to Real Madrid to sign a new three-year deal with PSG last month.
The France international and 2018 FIFA World Cup winner is valued at an estimated 205.6 million euros (220 million dollars) by the CIES.
Vinícius is second at 185.5 million euros.
Haaland supposedly has a value of 152.9 million euros in spite of costing Manchester City just 60 million euros, thanks to a release clause.
The rest of the top 10 includes FC Barcelona’s trio of Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, and Ferran Torres.
The rest are Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Rúben Dias, Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham, and Liverpool’s Luis Díaz.
CIES’ research is based on a range of measures such as age, the value of the club, level of player performance, and inflation.
The CIES report states: “The statistical model to estimate the transfer values for players from teams of the five major European leagues was built from a sample of 1,790 paid transfers carried out between July 2012 and January 2020.
“The correlation between the sums paid and estimated is greater than 80 percent.
“This shows that the variables taken into account explain more than four-fifths of the gaps in the level of fees paid for transfers included in the model.”
Top 10 valued players in world football (according to CIES Football Observatory)
1. Kylian Mbappé (PSG) – 205.6 million euros (175.7 million pounds)
2. Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid) – 185.5 million euros (158.3 million pounds)
3. Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) – 152.9 million euros (130.4 million pounds)
4. Pedri (FC Barcelona) – 135.1 million euros (115.4 million pounds)
5. Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund) – 133.7 million euros (114.2 million pounds)
6. Phil Foden (Manchester City) – 124.0 million euros (105.9 million pounds)
7. Frenkie de Jong (FC Barcelona) – 112.5 million euros (96.1 million pounds)
8. Luis Díaz (Liverpool) – 110.1 million euros (94.0 million pounds)
9. Rúben Dias (Manchester City) – 109.6 million euros (93.6 million pounds)
10. Ferran Torres (FC Barcelona) – 109.5 million euros (93.5 million pounds).