A new football study that ranks the world’s most valuable players has been released – and there’s even room for a Scot.
According to the analysis carried out by CIES, Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe would go for the highest transfer fee – a whopping €205.6million or more than £175m.
No surprise there, then.
Real Madrid’s Brazil icon Vinicius Junior is second on the list with an estimated value of €183m.
But there among the global superstars there’s a place for one of Steve Clarke’s players.
Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay lies just outside the top 50 in the world.
But there is no spot for McTominay’s Scotland team-mates and English Premier League rivals Andy Robertson and John McGinn.
Old Trafford star McTominay is rated at €67.5m euros in the study - above the likes of Jack Grealish who moved to Manchester City in a British record £100m transfer fee last summer.
Grealish’s superstar Etihad team-mates Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are also listed below McTominay.
McTominay, came through the ranks at Old Trafford and has been capped 31 times for Scotland.
The 25-year-old is under contract at Manchester United until 2026 which will be a key factor.
That is also the case with Mbappe who recently signed a mega-bucks extension at the Parc des Princes.
They said: “Thanks to his fresh three-year contract extension with Paris St-Germain, Kylian Mbappé (€206) is back at the top of the list.
“The French world champion outranks the previous leader and recent Champions League winner Vinícius Júnior (€185M), as well as the new Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (€153M).”
Explaining their criteria for the list, boffins at CIES Football Observatory said: “This paper presents an econometric model unveiling the key factors coming into play in determining fees on the transfer market for professional football players.
“This paper notably highlights the importance of taking into consideration the remaining duration of contracts binding players with the club to which they belong, a factor often neglected in the existing literature.”
