Monterrey is preparing to open up its 2025 Club World Cup campaign against Inter Milan - a team whose roster value spectacularly dwarfs that of the Liga MX club.
So much so, indeed, that Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni is worth more on his own than the entirety of Rayados’s first-team group.
What is Bastoni worth? What is Monterrey worth?
According to Transfermarkt, Bastoni has a market value of €80 million ($92.4 million). At 26 years old, the Italy defender has won silverware at both club and national-team level, and is a key figure in the Nerazzuri’s immediate future.
Surprisingly, even with players like Sergio Ramos, Sergio Canales, Lucas Ocampos and Jesús Manuel Corona in Monterrey’s ranks, the total value of the Mexicans’ roster only reaches €71.5 million ($82.6 million), per Transfermarkt.
That’s less than a tenth of the Inter roster’s estimated overall market value of €739.8 million ($855.3 million).
A revealing gap in value
Bastoni is not the most expensive footballer in the world, nor even the most valuable in his position.
The fact that his individual valuation surpasses that of an entire Liga MX club, one of the most economically powerful in Mexico, highlights the gap that still exists between elite soccer in Europe and the competitive and commercial level of the Mexican game.
Rayados, one of the Liga MX teams with the highest investment in the last decade, has assembled an experienced roster with internationally renowned names and several national team players. Yet none of them exceed €6 million ($6.9 million) in individual value, per Transfermarkt.
With 28 players and an average age of 28.6 years, Rayados is a mature team built to compete for titles in the here and now. However, in terms of value growth and potential sell-on potential, their squad can hardly compare to a club like Inter, which, besides titles, could generate significant revenue were it to offload figures like Bastoni, Nicolo Barella or Lautaro Martínez.