Europe's biggest clubs are planning to flex their muscles in the January transfer window despite the markets being reined in by Covid implications. Transfer fees continue to defy economic sense, but which player is actually worth the most? The <a href="https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2021/wp362/en/" target="_blank">CIES Football Observatory,</a> based in Switzerland, has worked it out, and has released their bi-annual list of the top 100 most valuable players – including familiar names such as Mohamed Salah of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/liverpool/" target="_blank">Liverpool</a>, Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund, and Romelu Lukaku of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/chelsea/" target="_blank">Chelsea</a>. CIES calculate the values using an algorithm developed by their own research team, and factors in players' ages, length of contract, salaries and other measures to determine a figure for the transfer market from clubs in the five major European leagues. Because of their ages, it means there is no place in the top 100 for superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The full list is in the gallery above. 1. Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior is the world's most valuable player, according to <a href="https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2021/wp362/en/" target="_blank">CIES</a>, worth £138.7m ($188m). 2. Manchester City's Phil Foden, £127.2m. 3. Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund, £118.8m. 4. Mason Greenwood of Manchester United, £111.6m. 5. Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz, £110.9m. 6. Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, £108.4m. 7. Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich, £101.9m. 8. Ruben Dias of Manchester City, £100.4m. 9. Barcelona's Pedri, £98.4m. 10. Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona, £96m.
