EPL market values: Arsenal surpass Liverpool - Rashford among biggest winners

The richest and most valuable league in the world has added another €100 million in market value. 

Overall, 171 players saw their market values updated. The cumulative squad values of the 20 Premier League clubs now amount to around €10.4 billion. The biggest winners are Arsenal, Brighton, and Manchester United, while Liverpool, Tottenham, and Chelsea have to accept the biggest losses. Despite massive upgrades for winter transfers such as Enzo Fernández and Mykhaylo Mudryk, the bottom line for the Blues is a minus as several players, including Kai Havertz (-€10m) were downgraded.

Chelsea made Fernández the most expensive signing in Premier League history after signing him for €121m in January. Despite the transfer fee the World Cup winner sees his market value upgraded from €55m to just €85m as part of the intermediary update. “Due to the exit clause and Benfica’s negotiating skills, we remain below the transfer fee for the time being,” Daniel Busch, Area Manager UK, said about the new market value. “Directly an undisputed starter at Chelsea, the Argentine moves up into the top 5 of the most valuable central midfielders in the world thanks to the biggest upgrade of this update.”

Biggest squad value winners: Arsenal surpass PSG, Real Madrid & LFC

Similarly, Chelsea’s Mudryk (+€20m to €60m) and Noni Madueke (+€13m to €28m) are among a total of 18 players whose market value goes up by at least €10m. The group also includes Man United’s top scorer Marcus Rashford (+€25m to €80m), and five Arsenal players.

Martin Ødegaard is having the season of his life and is a crucial player in the attacking midfield of the Gunners, rising from €60m to €80m. “Ødegaard has become the lynchpin of the second-best attack in the league,” Busch said. “Partly acting as the club’s captain, the Norwegian has already been involved in 17 goals in 26 league games.”

Overall, there is a market value increase of €87m to now €890m for Arsenal’s squad, also thanks to Gabriel Martinelli (+€10m to €70m), Jakub Kiwior (+€12m to €20m) and Bukayo Saka (+€10m to €110m). Together with Jude Bellingham (BVB) and Phil Foden (Man City), Saka is now the most valuable English footballer. The league leaders surpass not only Real Madrid (€851m) and PSG (€889m) in the international squad value ranking, but also Liverpool (€879m), who suffer a minus of €52m.

On September 1, 2022, the Reds were €220m ahead of the Gunners in terms of squad value. Since then, it has become clear that Mikel Arteta has moulded the league’s second-youngest team into title contenders, while Jürgen Klopp’s top performers are aging or currently unable to keep the level they have shown over the past few years.

As a result, there are dowgrades for a total of eleven Liverpool players, including Virgil van Dijk (-€5m to €45m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (-€5m to €65m) and Mohamed Salah (-€10m to €70m) and Fabinho (-€10m to €45m), who are among the biggest market value losers of this update. “At Liverpool, the downgrades mainly affect the older players in the squad who are playing a weaker season and have degraded performance-wise,” Busch said. “A radical overhaul, especially in midfield, is urgently needed and has been addressed too hesitantly so far.”

Chelsea also have to accept eleven downgrades following their record spending spree in January. In Marc Cucurella (-€15m to €40m), Kalidou Koulibaly (-€10m to €25m), and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (-€5m to €7m), there are three players who were only signed last summer for sometimes significantly higher transfer fees, while Havertz is devalued from €70m to €60m. “Mostly used as a centre-forward under Graham Potter, Havertz no longer plays in his ideal position and consequently can’t play to his strengths as much.”

Brighton: Big market value boosts for players bought on the cheap

While Chelsea, in tenth place, and Liverpool, in sixth, have disappointed in the Premier League to date, Brighton, under head coach Roberto De Zerbi, are one of the positive surprises. The Seagulls’ squad value has increased by €47.5m to €356m. Brighton have become specialists in pushing up market values of players signed for low transfer fees: the best examples are midfielder Moisés Caicedo, who arrived for €5m from Ecuador in 2021—his market value increased from €38m to €55m—and Kaoru Mitoma, who was bought for €3m from Japan in 2021.

“Since the World Cup, the hard-working Japanese has been in top form and has been involved in eight goals in eleven games,” Busch said to explain the winger’s upgrade from €8.5m to €22m. “He is a starter on the left wing and has impressively proven his Premier League level.”

De Zerbi took over Brighton in mid-September after Chelsea bought Potter out of his contract and is five points ahead of the Blues with one game in hand in mid-March. Brighton managed to do so while increasing their squad value by almost 50% in the past six months and even made a transfer profit of around €100m during that time, including the transfer fee earned for Potter.

The Premier League made the start in terms of intermediary updates in the top 5 leagues. Serie A (March 21), LaLiga (March 23), Ligue 1 (March 27) and the Bundesliga (March 29) will follow before Mexico and the South American leagues will be updated from March 30. MLS will be updated on March 31.