Manchester City’s poor form in the Premier League would not possibly start until November, however, there are signs that the decline may also be more of a long-term trend.
The International Centre for Sports Studies’ (CIES) Football Observatory releases a list of the top 100 players in the world based on transfer value every six months. Last January, Manchester City had eleven players on that list. That’s more than any other club. This year, City only have seven of the 100 most valuable players.
The list is calculated by looking at a player’s ability, age, contract length, and the club and league they play in.
In all areas, players have decreased this year and, as the list is called in euros, the player’s dollar price has fallen again. The player with the highest price of movement, the English midfielder of Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham $ 293 million in 2024 to $ 258 million in 2025.
Real Madrid dominates the 2025 list. The Spanish giant has 10 players on the 2025 list, and three in the top five, with Bellingham top, Vinicius Junior third at $211 million, and summer signing Kylian Mbappe in fifth at $180 million.
Mbappe was once the most expensive player on the list but dropped down to 27th last year with just six months left on his Paris Saint-Germain contract. His move to Real and new contract have blasted Mbappe back into the top five, but now 26 years old, he is the oldest player in the top fifteen.
Making up the top five are Manchester City’s Erling Haaland in second at $228 million and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal in fourth at $185 million.
The decrease in Manchester City can be reduced to its age profile. Ciudad has very few players in its peak years, with much of the existing team by spending its maximum and beginning to fall into value. Three of the players on the list last year: Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Jack Grealish have been on the list for 29 years. The city has also sold its third valuable player Máximo, Julian Alvarez, to Atlético de Madrid, however, the summer firm Savinho replaces it as the third maximum valuable player in the city, Haaland and Phil Foden.
The decline of the city is relative, Manchester Sky Bleu has more players on the list than the red side, because Manchester United has only 4 players on the list. Arsenal has the top league with 8 players, Liverpool has seven and Chelsea Six.
Barcelona has also noticed that their number of players falls, from 8 last year to six this year. It shows how much football can replace in twelve months as the maximum valuable player of Barcelona this year, Yamal, not on the list last year, while the player’s maximum of the club the player last year, Gavi, is not on the list of this anus.
Possibly the biggest surprise though is the appearance on the January 2025 list of two Bournemouth players, Ukrainian defender Illya Zabarnyi and Brazilian striker Evanilson. The Cherries are having a sensational Premier League season, currently challenging for a European place and actually performing even better than their league position according to expected goals. This comes from good work in the transfer market, shown by the two Bournemouth players making the top 100.
In general, 49 players on the list are from the Premier League, 20 of LaLiga, thirteen of the Bundesliga, 12 of series A, 4 in Ligue 1 (all of the PSG) and two of the Portugal League.
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